Business Networking Arrives.

About a year ago, I was working on my new web site - which by the way a few weeks from now will become my 'old' website - and I came came across a story on a gentleman named Axel Schultz. Axel's pedigree was heavily steeped in channel work and very connected to how the channel would play a role in the (then) emerging world of the SaaS world. My networking antenna went up instantly - Axel was someone I should know.

Little did I know that I would soon connect with the uber of all uber networkers, and with someone steadily working on the next generation of social networking applications. You see Axel was an early adopter of LinkedIn; I thought I was early until I found out that he had been on the Alpha invite list and that he blew through his first 500 connections before all the lights were on there. While he still likes LinkedIn, seems he needed more.

Fast forward to today and Axel and his team have just launched the generally available version of Xeequa - the world's first application devoted exclusively to business networking. Not to posting pictures of yourself as a kid; not to hoping someone three degrees from you will talk to; but to real, dynamic networking that moves you forward as it should. Think of it as LinkedIn meets Facebook meets SalesForce and you have a pretty good picture of what it can do for you.

I have been fortunate to be included in the Beta and watch the application race ahead with every new release. Surely, with new users now joining on, it will re-invent itself through additional iterations. But what is important here is that we are finally moving social software into the corporate environment. Lets see where it takes us.