Jigsaw Data Corporation

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Jigsaw Data Corporation is an online business directory whose website allows users to find, collect and trade business contacts through a subscriber built database. While this method of info gathering has raised questions of privacy, it has proven popular with its target niche of recruiters, marketers and sales professionals looking to expand their business contacts. Jigsaw Data Corporation was founded in 2004 by veteran sales executives Jim Fowler and Garth Moulton and is ventured funded by El Dorado Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Austin Ventures. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

1 How It works
2 Making contacts
3 How accurate is the information?
4 Controversy
5 External links

[edit] How It works

The site builds its collaborative, self-correcting database through subscribers who contribute data to get data in return. Members can access the database by paying a monthly fee, or gain free access by entering 25 new contacts a month. Free access is based on a point system and members get a contact back for each contact they enter. Members are also given points for fixing inaccuracies.

[edit] Making contacts

Jigsaw makes for a kind of electronic rolodex, assembling information found on most basic business cards, including corporate email addresses, business, and in some cases, direct phone numbers for individual contacts.

Corporate searches offer company information like address, website and phone numbers. Users can also search for companies by industry and geography, number of employees, and by Fortune 500 or 1000 ranking. Cell phone or fax numbers are not offered for individual and corporate contacts.

[edit] How accurate is the information?

The company reports a 75% accuracy rate due in part to the collaborative effort between the site and its members. Still, discrepancies arise. The Arizona Star recently reported that several of the paper’s 134 employees listed on Jigsaw had incorrect job titles. The newspaper itself was listed under the “government” grouping rather than the “media and entertainment” category (The Arizona Star, 10.29.2006).

[edit] Controversy

Critics feel Jigsaw’s method of information exchange raises privacy issues since most of the site’s database is entered without permission from the person being listed. In a March 2006 article, Tech Crunch writer Michael Arrington questioned the ethics of such methods, stating that business professionals often have no idea their information is accessible online (TechCrunch.com, 03.23.2006).

The site’s fans see Jigsaw as filling a valuable niche, allowing sales professionals to bypass gatekeepers to contact prospects directly. Inc magazine states, “There are a number of websites that invite businesspeople to upload and share their contacts with one another. The most popular is probably Jigsaw.” (Inc magazine, December 2006). The company also points out that information can be removed from the database by directly contacting the company.