Working hard on a SaaS set of publishing tools and was analyzing what it takes to "cross the chasm" from unknown SaaS to successful, well loved tool. Here is what I found:
* Critical that a new tool create community.
* Haiku Deck demonstrates this idea with their feature gallery:
http://www.haikudeck.com/gallery/featured and Scoop.it with their posting wall.
* Community must scale in size and diversity.
* Diversity creates community "intelligence".
* Community intelligence helps monetize.
* Money helps create new tools.
* New tools help build community faster.
and so on creating a positive virtual cycle.
Tools can solve a problem like Haiku Deck (easy access to creative commons), plant a flag on an emerging trend (Scoop.it and Paper.li) and mashup scaled systems such as ZipCar.com.
Via
Martin (Marty) Smith