Lycos Launches Vertical Strategy with Discussion and People Search Products

Lycos U.S. recently launched a Discussion Search product that should be a hit and a People Search product that might charitably be called a sacrifice bunt. The two new vertical search tools are the initial components of the company's personal connectivity strategy, which aims to help users search and find the individuals and topics that are significant and relevant to their lives. The Lycos strategy is sound. The executives at Lycos U.S., seem to have read Peter Drucker's classic book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In Chapter 17, Drucker describes one entrepreneurial strategy as "Hit Them Where They Ain't." It is based on the famous line from Wee Willie Keeler, one of the first players to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Keeler was just five-foot-four and 140 pounds, but, in 1897, he had an incredible batting average of .432. A reporter asked him, "Mr. Keeler, how can a man your size hit .432?" Keeler replied, "Simple. I keep my eyes clear and I hit em where they ain't." The metaphor seems apt. Although Lycos was one of the three leading search engines a decade ago, it is now a fraction of the size of Google and Yahoo. So, its new vertical search products are part of a strategy to "hit" these bigger competitors in vertical segments where they "ain't" dominant. While this strategy is sound, Lycos has many fans worried about its execution. The Lycos Discussion Search product (News Blog