Gizmo.Com was launched with the goal of helping customers dispose of excess equipment. But the company itself has ended up on the dot-com scrap heap.
Gizmo.com, based in Rochester, N.Y., was conceived as an asset management specialist focusing on “e-disposition.” The startup was to help customers eliminate surplus IT gear through its B2B exchange site. But the company quietly folded after investors pulled the plug on additional funding, according to a former Gizmo.com business partner.
Attempts to reach company executives for comment were unsuccessful.
Ironically, some Gizmo. com executives joined the company from Inacom, which closed its doors last June. Gizmo.coms VPs of information technology, business development, and services all came from Inacom, which attempted to build an asset management practice prior to its demise.
Still, other companies are taking a crack at the computer aftermarket. Tradeloop runs a B2B exchange for IT equipment that is excess, idle, used, refurbished or coming off lease.
So far, business appears to be strong. Tradeloops membership has grown from 500 last April to 2,400 today.
Many of the companies using the Tradeloop exchange are resellers and distributors. Rohi Sukhia, president and CEO of Tradeloop, says the 10-person company is soon to be profitable. “I think we are the right-sized company for a B2B exchange,” he says.
Small can be both perilous and beautiful.
