You probably already know about Goowy Media, the San Diego based widget startup, that’s been making noise since mid 2004. You may have read about them when they first appeared on the scene, but you probably read some of the more recent press in February when they were acquired by AOL. I skimmed all the posts on the AOL acquisition, and they all include the basic info - Mark Cuban was an angel investor for a undisclosed sum, rumored to be around $1 million, the AOL financial acquisition details were also undisclosed, and Goowy plans to continue their growth and expand upon what they do best, widgets. That’s all been said before, so Matt Browne and I recently sat down with Alex Bard, Goowy’s CEO, to get the underreported take on the history behind Goowy Media.

The History

Back in mid 2004, Goowy was just starting out in a pre-Gmail, web-based email lacking world, and Bard’s vision was centered around developing a web-based email client superior to Outlook. The space was pretty empty in the early days, and Goowy found themselves in a world just discovering the joys of broadband connectivity and consumers more than satisfied with 100 free MBs of email space.

Goowy’s alpha email client launched in early 2005, and consumer and VC interest exploded after they were profiled in TechCrunch in the middle of that same year. In 2006, around the time of Cuban’s investment, Bard was starting to overhear that the email experience was overwhelming to users, but that the widgets they were building on top of the email client were being received extremely well. Eventually, Goowy used the user feedback and the changing landscape around email to shift course; YourMinis, a suite of widgets, became the central product in the limelight.

When YourMinis was born, the widget platform and repository directly paralleled the iGoogle and Netvibes experience. To stay on the forefront of a saturated widget world, Goowy, under Bard’s guidance, banked on the notion that users would see real value in being able to take the widgets with them to their own preferred home online. Goowy also started working with MTV Networks, a company primarily interested in engaging users with widgets throughout the MTV framework of pages. During the relationship, they built a widget platform that prides itself on it’s ability to track everything - widget views, interactions, mouse clicks, custom actions, virality, and other attention metrics. Bard was kind enough to send over some screenshots (see below) that demonstrate the power of the reporting dashboard.

The Investment

When we asked Bard about his relationship with Cuban and whether or not Cuban’s investment directed the course of YourMinis development, Bard actually stated that Cuban “didn’t necessarily steer the ship, but provided important guidance.” Bard even credited Cuban for his flexibility surrounding the change in vision, which enabled Goowy to seek bluer oceans with their widget platform. Bard did mentioned that there were a few other offers on the table during the initial (and only) round of financing. He wouldn’t mention any names, but Bard did attribute much of Goowy’s success to his decision to run with Cuban’s offer, which was less than some of the other offers on the table.

The Acquisition

We did make it a point to get back to the almighty AOL acquisition line of questioning. Our questions were, “Why did AOL want Goowy?” and “Why choose AOL?”

Of course some of the more interesting details cannot be disclosed, but essentially AOL’s interest in Goowy is rooted in three core goals. AOL is interested in widgets because they’re desirous, now more than ever, to allow users to spend their time online wherever they choose. Secondly, AOL is focused on driving the AOL brand to areas outside of AOL web properities. And, AOL is extermely interested in using widgets as advertisements (don’t forget about Platform A, AOL’s ad-buying platform). Essentially, AOL wants to leverage Goowy’s expertise around widget tracking to serve widgets as ads in traditional 300×250 ad space. With widgets as ads, the possibilities for creating more engaging content are limitless; widgets can be micro applications that play trailers, or allow users to download ringtones, widgets (as ads) can also be embedded anywhere, making the advertisers return on the investment increase exponentially if the content is good enough that users decide to take the particular ad/widget and share it elsewhere.

Bard claims that his decision to go with AOL, given other offers on the table (that he can’t disclose, although yours truly has an idea of one major player), was a combination of two important factors. Bard truly believes that the previous working relationship between AOL and Goowy, cemented a mutual trust and understanding that Bard believes will translate in AOL’s support of Goowy’s vision and growth in the future. Bard also spoke passionately about wanting to be the underdog, wanting to contribute to AOL’s comeback. He believes AOL’s rise and fall, and current upswing puts the company in prime position to regain the glory of days gone by, even drawing a parallel between Apple and AOL’s history. Other offers, bigger offers, were turned down because he felt that those companies didn’t hold a candle to AOL’s ability to remake a name for itself.

What’s Next?

Besides taking over the world (no he didn’t say that), Bard will be attending the Web 2.0 Expo and moderating a panel discussion about widgets growing up. If you’re at the event, make sure to check it out, it should be an interesting conversation about the future of widgets.

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