Tizra
Tizra, n. 1. An extract of Moroccan sumac trees used to make leather for flexible, valuable and enduring book bindings. 2. An innovative software company with web tools that will change the way publishers use PDF documents.
Established in 2006, Providence-based Tizra is creating a new way to sell electronic content and giving publishers control. AgilePDF, Tizra's first product, is a flexible web application that gives publishers the ability to price, package, market and sell their content with the speed and agility that the web demands.
Tizra is currently targeting the book market with AgilePDF. "Only 5 percent of books are available online," says David Durand, CEO of Tizra. "Downloading an entire book is long and tedious, and then you can't find the information you need." With this new tool, publishers can quickly upload a PDF, reorganize the content to meet the customer's needs, brand it to meet their own needs and sell access to the content. Print-oriented PDF dominates publisher inventories, but publishers can't use it to deliver tailored web products cost-effectively. Until now.
AgilePDF changes the way a PDF is created and used. With smart search results, AgilePDF brings readers directly to a customized landing page, rather than a generic chapter or book URL. With the ability to manipulate content in a PDF document, publishers get easy re-packaging, while the readers benefit from a browser-friendly, full-searchable site that supports bookmarks, the browser "back" button and all other web features they come to expect.
The usability that the readers enjoy is based on the ease-of-use Tizra provides for the publishers. Tizra provides so much web support for its software that promotion, marketing and sales people with no web expertise can use it without IT help.
Tizra is now is the beta phase of the AgilePDF software, with several clients. The software will be officially launched by the end of this summer. So far, the usability of AgilePDF has produced positive feedback from beta clients, says Orens. "The need is there."
Many local companies seem to think so. The majority of Tizra's beta clients are from Rhode Island and enjoy the PDF version AgilePDF delivers that is as familiar and easy-to-use as a normal HTML website. The Slater Technology Fund has committed to a seed investment that will support Tizra's initial marketing and product refinements.
Tizra has been enjoying the technology-savvy community Rhode Island offers. Though they considered located in Massachusetts, Tizra felt the publication software company would work well in Rhode Island. "We'd feel a bit lost in Massachusetts," say Anne Orens, Chief Marketing Officer for Tizra "Our focus fits in with the state - the size of the state makes it easy to access the talent you need."