HiveLive

Founded in 2006 by brothers John and Geoff Kembel, HiveLive was a software company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The firm specialized in on-demand software for creating enterprise-level online communities. Its business model centered on providing a platform for companies to develop customer communities to enhance brand loyalty, internal employee communities to foster organizational intelligence, and partner communities to align strategic goals and boost revenue.

The core of HiveLive's offering was its patent-pending technology called a "Hive," a set of configurable Web 2.0 building blocks. These components, such as blogs, wikis, forums, and FAQs, could be combined to construct custom-fit social networks for businesses. This approach allowed companies to connect people based on their relationships and shared knowledge, moving beyond individual, siloed applications. The platform served clients who needed to integrate social CRM capabilities into their customer service offerings.

After securing a seed round of $1.15 million in November 2006 and an early-stage VC funding round in February 2008, HiveLive demonstrated its potential in the emerging social business software market. This trajectory culminated in its acquisition by RightNow Technologies in September 2009 for approximately $6 million in cash. The acquisition was seen as a strategic move by RightNow to incorporate robust social functionalities, such as customer-to-customer support communities, crowdsourcing for innovation, and user-generated content, into its existing CRM platform.

Keywords: enterprise social software, online communities, social CRM, customer engagement, knowledge management, Web 2.0, software as a service, brand loyalty, partner ecosystems, business communication