Xerpi's #1 Fan
October 7th, 2008

"Every time I use my computer, I use Xerpi. And I use my computer every day!"
I asked Xerpi's founder who our #1 fan was — and he pointed me to Ali Lopez.
She's been using Xerpi almost since the day it was started (after hearing about it from the site's founder, Con Way Ling.) In fact, Ali was using Xerpi when I called her, even though she was at work! "That's what's great about it," she says. "I use it everywhere!"
Her home page probably looks a lot like yours. She's got 22 different blocks, filled with nearly 100 favorites. But even when she's at a friend's house, Ali still brings up her favorites on her Xerpi page. "Even when I was in Mexico, I always brought up my Xerpi page," Ali remembers — and that's not all. As she travelled through Mexico, she brought up her Xerpi home page in over 20 different internet cafes throughout the country!
What was our #1 fan doing with Xerpi in a foreign country? "Basically, I'd keep in touch with people," she says. "I'd email my friends and family and that sort of thing and talk on Skype." Xerpi was especially useful because Ali has four different email addresses — and the links are all waiting for her on her Xerpi home page. "There's school email, HotMail, Gmail accounts... If I'm going to check my email, it's easier to have all of them there. It's just really efficient for me!" On another trip, Ali even pulled up her Xerpi home page in Spain!
I asked a few more questions, and discovered that there's a reason why some people crave Xerpi over a giant list of bookmarks in their web browser. "The 'bookmark' system is always very messy for me, because I'm a very visual person," Ali says. "I like to see everything organized in sections.
"So I just added all my stuff to Xerpi — and I just thought it was the greatest thing! I'm on my computer a lot, and Xerpi has everything that I use." Now whenever Ali opens her browser, Xerpi is the first thing she sees. "It makes it really efficient for me... I don't understand why more people don't use it!"
Ali's a graduate student getting a masters degree in community organizing, and her link blocks have everything a student could need — financial aid, yoga, art, weather, religion, movies (And she even created a separate page of links to help with her homework.) But what makes Xerpi useful for Ali isn't a complicated philosophy. In fact, if anything, it's a simple value proposition. "I feel like it works for me," Ali says. "It feels familiar. It's like part of the life of my computer."
I asked if there was anything else she liked about Xerpi, and her answer showed her enthusiasm. "I like the way the logo spells Xerpi with a heart."
And as we talked, Ali suddenly thought of more things she wanted to add to her home page. "I always add things... To me the thing that's great about Xerpi is it's very practical and efficient."
As a final question, I asked if she was excited about Xerpi.
"Of course I'm excited. I love it!"
The Wedding Planner
November 16th, 2007
Paolo DiVincenzo lives in North Carolina, where his company makes the special slips worn with wedding gowns. ("Soft taffeta...with multiple layers of gathered tulle...") And there's an equally special line of jewelry for weddings. They're in over a thousand bridal stores around the world...
Somehow, Xerpi is a part of the mix. Ultimately Paolo created a Shared View on Xerpi filled with all the links that his team needs. "I like knowing that any of our employees have access to the links to check in on the business while they're away," says Paolo. "And their email!"
To find the magical materials that eventually become wedding wear, Paolo works with over 50 companies scattered across the planet — so every day his team checks their web sites for ordering numbers, new products, and sometimes even their inventory levels. Paolo arranged all the links into dedicated blocks, which makes them much easier to find.
And that was just the beginning. For example, another block links to all Paolo's own wedding apparel sites. This block also has links for shipping terms and other information to answer question quickly. And there's another block for "administration" links, which let his team enter orders, update their product listings, and, yes, even access the company's email remotely. If a call comes in about a specific ad, Paolo's team can just go to an "Advertising" block of links and pull up that specific offer. He's even created a special link block for his team that's filled with the latest articles about the industry, along with key data and useful market information.
Anyone who's ever been part of a wedding party knows that it involves an almost endless amount of preparation — and Paolo knows it too. When wedding season hits, it's vital that Paolo's company has all their materials ready, and it's the "Established Suppliers" block lets his whole team access the 50 supplier links for placing orders. A second block also lets Paolo save URLs for possible future suppliers that he needs to research. (Sometimes Paolo finds these links when he's surfing the web at home on his laptop!) "We find a link once, we 'Xerpi' it, and then we all have access to it, indefinitely. It's simple!" Paolo said in an email.
"Xerpi helps ensure that important information is not falling through the cracks. We can get to our suppliers' web sites easily, and we can access market data we've discovered." But there's also one last link block that's popular with his team. It's called "Water Cooler."
"It's fun stuff we find that we want to share."
It's pretty common in the workplace for people to use the same URLs — but what's not so common is having the ability to collect them all together into one shared place. "How many times have you dug through your email archive to find a link someone sent you?" Paolo asks. "It's a terrible time waster!"
So when he finally discovered Xerpi — it was love at first sight.
How do you use Xerpi? Send us an email!

