20 word description: A ’social decision-making tool’, for you to research and make all sorts of purchase decisions online, with the help of friends/family/colleagues.  CEO’s 100 word description: You can use Skimbit for all sorts of group decisions, like choosing accommodation for a group holiday, wedding planning, choosing a home with friends, or for more private decisions like researching a TV or car. It’s like an online scrapbook that is populated automatically with sites you pick.  With Skimbit, when you find a site you like you simply click a button we install into your browser and we automatically skim the best bits from that site. We create a project web page for you with these bits so you continue your normal search, and continue skimming, eventually compiling a page with all your options presented in a way that makes it easy to compare and analyze. Friends can view and give feedback on the page, and then Skimbit collates this and tells you what the consensus is.  Mashable’s Take: Skimbit is a new service that’s designed to provide you tools for easily collecting research items across the web, turn that into a cohesive file within your Skimbit account, and share your collection with others in order to receive the feedback that will help you reach a decision. It’s kind of like a community-driven Delicious folder.  For instance, let’s say you’re looking to purchase the iPod Touch. You can download the Skimbit browser button, and add webpages to your Skimbit iPod Touch project whenever you come across an iPod Touch review or related information as you surf the web. A handy Skimbit sidebar will appear once you hit the browser button, and here is where you can insert all sorts of useful information, such as a description of the page, and other criteria.  This criteria is one feature that I really appreciate with Skimbit’s service, because what appears for the criteria section is actually determined by the user that created the initial project. So in your research for the iPod Touch, you could indicate that the specific type of information you’re looking for is in regards to price, current features, and upcoming features for the next model.  Now, when you bookmark a webpage, you’ll have these key points accessible, so you’ll remember to “fill in these blanks.” If you’ve decided to share your project publicly, and allow others to add bookmarked items to your project, then the criteria will be displayed for them as well. This really lets others know the exact information you’re looking for, so the data that’s collected will be the most relevant.  Other options for community feedback on a project include ratings, comments, and action items. For public projects, any Skimbit user can offer their two cents. Projects are broken down into three main categories: the bookmark display page, the feedback page, and the Next Steps action items page. While the bookmark display page can be a little confusing at first, I was even more lost when going to the feedback page. This is because the feedback given for individual bookmarks has been somewhat removed from context.  While this is an attempt to level the incoming information across various users, it may end up being more confusing in the end. The Next Steps page is also helpful, as it enables users to draw up tasks needed in order to come to a decision or follow through on a decision regarding a specific project. While this isn’t a fully functioning task-management service, it does offer the basics that could help get a project under way. Integration with other task management tools could aid in Skimbit’s use case for this particular feature.  Editor’s Note: If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion in “The Startup Review” series, please see the details here.
STARTUP DETAILS: Company Name: Skimbit Company Website: http://skimbit.com/ 20 word description:  A 'social decision-making tool', for you to research ...