A VC in Vacationland

I had been watching Confego for about a year, with the idea of writing of eventually writing a post on their innovative mass customization technology once they got a bit more market traction.  Then Zazzle scoops them up and will incorporate them in their overall product offering.  Well, the post is still valid, so here goes.

As stated on the web site, Confego’s mission is to help global brands offer mass customized products to their consumers. As a comprehensive integrator for mass customization, they build supply chains optimized to source customized products quickly and efficiently, including customizing and personalizing products and services for individual customers at a mass production price.

Mass customization has been the dream of academics and supply chain pundits for years.  The idea that you can order products that are truly individual and customized to your needs is not a new one. Amazon lists numerous books in the mass customization space.  H-P, Nike, and Levi are  examples of companies who have successfully used mass customization to develop specific products for individuals, generally at much higher margins than regular products.

But the big issue for mass customization for most companies is that mass customization requires a unique and dedicated supply chain with different technology and manufacturing needs.  Confego’s software solved many of those problems, across a variety of industries, which made their approach and technology interesting to me.  They were still in early stages of proving out the market when Zazzle decided that their solution was scalable across a wide product range.

So, congratulations to the Confego team for an early exit and now keep an eye on Zazzle to see how they will drive the mass customization market.