Celeste LeCompte

At last I can pull back the curtain on the big project that’s kept me at the office days, nights and weekends for the last few months!

Last week, we launched GigaOM Pro, the GigaOM Network’s subscription-only market research offering. I’ve written dozens of descriptions of the service — for the web site; for emails to project partners, friends and colleagues; and for press releases — but I think the site’s awesome developer, Mark Jaquith, has the most digestible description:

GigaOM Pro is a WordPress/BuddyPress-powered premium research membership site, focused on four initial verticals: Mobile, Green IT, Infrastructure, and the Connected Consumer. A network of independent analysts provide in-depth research papers and research notes, which subscribers can view on the site or download as PDF documents. GigaOM Network contributors provide “long view” posts — topic-focused long form posts. And each of the topic verticals has a curator who provides weekly updates on the topic, as well as a constant stream of curated links to relevant external stories. Subscribers can access all the content, comment on the content, have a profile on the site, and send messages to Analysts, Contributors, Curators, or other subscribers using the BuddyPress messaging system.

(He’s also had some other Nice Things To Say — read ’em here.)

A little personal backstory: When I first came to GigaOM, I was working part time as a copyeditor to earn a little extra cash after my resource-sapping move from Portland to San Francisco. I’d been working here a few months when the company put out a Cloud Computing 101 report in conjunction with our Structure conference. At that event, I talked with CEO about the company’s interest in doing more premium research; it sounded exciting, if vague. Shortly thereafter, GigaOM offered me a job as the Special Projects Editor, in part to help try and puzzle together this offering and act as the editor supporting it (and, in true startup fashion, a bunch of other stuff as well!).

The approach we pulled together was the result of interviews and conversation with our colleagues and contacts across the technology world about how they gain the knowledge they need for business, what kind of research they needed, and how they wanted it delivered. Rather than traditional static documents, they said they needed more dynamic resources — insight that updated daily and weekly, not quarterly — and more comprehensive overviews of emerging technologies. So, that’s what we tried to produce.

Let us know if you think we’ve succeed!

Read more:

• GigaOM: Official blog post announcement
• DealBook: “GigaOM seeks non-ad revenue,” NYT Bits Blog
• BusinessWeek: “GigaOm to begin subscription service“
• VentureBeat: “Paid content comes to the Ompire“
• Silicon Alley Insider: “GigaOM Starts $80/Year Subscription Service“