How a New Search Engine Entered the Market

It seems everywhere you look on the web today Google has an application or free service offering.  They are truly ubiquitous (I’m refraining from saying the 800lb gorilla) when it comes to the web and search.

If you were a start-up entering the search engine market today how would you do it?

You may want to ask the guys at Deep Dyve search engine.  DeepDyve has launched a free search engine that is used to access databases, scholarly journals, unstructured information and other data sources in the so-called “Dark” or “Invisible Web” (otherwise really hard to find content) where traditional search technologies are not as effective.

The DeepDyve content focuses on life sciences, patent, humanities, and Wikipedia data. The company’s technology is aimed at allowing users to type in a few words or copy an entire article into a query box to find all the related articles.  It goes beyond basic keyword-based search, DeepDyve indexes every word in a document, but also computes the factorial combination of words and phrases in the document and uses some industrial strength statistical techniques to assess the “informational impact” of these combinations.  (http://searchengineland.com/deepdyve-explores-the-invisible-web-15417 ) (http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?rss&newsid=106973 )

DeepDyve has a long ways to go, but they have taken a few initial steps that other challenger brands can learn from when entering a hyper-competitive space.

1)      Grab a toe-hold in one area first. This is easier said than done for fast-growing companies because many times they feel they are excluding some potential market opportunities, but it is critical to stay focused at this point. DeepDyve is focusing on a specific niche in scientific data.  Their brand vision maybe to become the search engine for “serious searchers only.”  Some day they could serve all kinds of scholarly researchers and students, but for now they are aiming to become successful in one niche before moving on.    Furthermore this specialization allows them to “fly under the radar” as not to awaken the giant beast in the market before they are ready.

2)      Make sure your processes (and intellectual property) are truly differentiated. Is your IP easily replicated by a larger competitor?  DeepDyve is focusing on the invisible web, rather than the World-Wide-Web.  They also have a proprietary process for aggregating data, which further differentiates them from other search engines and search services.  Google has a service called “Google Scholar,” but DeepDyve has even differentiated itself from that service.

3)      Put your product benefit in the brand name. When you hear the name DeepDyve Search Engine you have some semblance what they do.  It saves a lot of explaining in your communications.  DeepDyve used to be called Infovell.  Which is more impactful?

DeepDyve has also built credibility by adding Steve Wozniak to their Board of Directors.  Having someone of his stature will help create a buzz in the blogosphere and in the news for some time.  Not to mention his background and experience would be a goldmine to a growing company.