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"The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.\nName: Aprizi\nQuick Pitch: Aprizi is a highly curated \"Pandora for shopping\" with a focus on emerging designers and independent brands.\nGenius Idea: Shopping for beautifully designed products \u2014 think apparel, accessories and home decor \u2014 online can sometimes feel like wandering through a jungle with a blunt machete, especially when one is after goods from emerging designers and lesser-known brands. \nOne is left to wade in the mire of mixed-quality goods (Etsy), poorly built recommendation engines (most of which are limited to apparel and wearable accessories, like Boutiques.com), unsorted finds from online curators (a.k.a bloggers) and search. \nAprizi is a New York-based startup that combines a programmatic recommendation engine with human curators to help shoppers surface the best in independent design on the web. The site was conceived by seasoned startup exec Giff Constable (CEO) and computer science PhD Liz Crawford (CTO), who comes with a research background in artificial intelligence. \nAdmittedly, its recommendation engine, which is currently in beta, is a bit wonky (heavy users will quickly become frustrated to see items they've \"liked\" and \"disliked\" reappearing); and the site crashes on occasion. Still, we think it has the potential to excel in an underserved niche when it's fully developed.\n\n\n\n\nGoods are divided into six categories: accessories, shoes, home, apparel, tech and miscellany. Visitors can browse by category, keyword and price range and can vote items up or down to help the engine understand their preferences for particular categories, price levels, stores and styles. Clicking on an item pulls up a close-up and a link to the third-party site where it can be purchased. \nUsers can also see which of Aprizi's 11 curators selected the item and click to explore their other finds, as well as add their own finds to the site by using Aprizi's bookmarklet tool.\n\n\n\n\nAprizi lacks two essential things: opportunities for greater user engagement and a solid business model. \nAlthough the startup has an active blog and consumers can share individual items by Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, they should also be encouraged to set up their own boutiques (thus becoming curators) and develop a following, a model that has proved successful for Polyvore and  Boutiques.com. \nRetailers should also be encouraged to get more involved; those that prove to be successful should be invited to set up shop on the site and market on Aprizi's behalf.\nAprizi has done indie goods-lovers a service by eliminating major and commonplace brands from its site. The downside is that the startup is excluded from generating revenue through affiliated seller programs. \nAprizi plans to use data mined from users to determine what kinds of products are trending among different groups and then sell limited edition runs of products in those trending categories to interested users through its site and customized e-mail newsletters. \nWhile we think taking a data-driven approach to e-commerce is a good idea, the startup is going to need to pursue a different business model if it wants to generate more than marginal revenue.\nDo you agree? How would you recommend Aprizi become profitable?\nImage courtesy of sinead o moore.\nSeries Supported by Microsoft BizSpark\n\n\n\n\nThe Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/01/05/aprizi/>