Michael Robertson, famously the founder of the now defunct MP3.com (as well as a Linspire, SIPphone, and presently MP3tunes), has done it again. He went out and created a new company, and this one is called Dealipedia, a site designed (as you might guess) to be an encyclopedia of deals.
"Dealipedia is a combination of news, reference and perhaps a bit of gossip for business deals," said Robertson to CNET earlier today. "After continually getting frustrated that i couldn't find historic data on business deals, I decided to remedy the problem."
When I first read the profile of the site, I had to admit I wasn't particularly enthralled with the concept. In general, niche wikis aren't that successful by the numbers (though there are a few notable exceptions). This one could be one of those exceptions.
Right now, there isn't much there, which is to be expected for a wiki that just launched. The success of a wiki depends largely on factors that have very little to do with the design of the site, but the concept behind the potential community.
Discounting Wikipedia and Mahalo, who are clearly successful Wikis, but are hardly niche, it's difficult to find a popular niche wiki amongst the landscape literally littered with the carcasses of failed attempts. It's honestly so hard to think of a good example that three of us (myself, Adam O, and Kristen) sat around for almost an hour trying to come up with a good example of a well-used nich Wiki, and the best we could come up with was the Lost Wiki over at WetPaint.
The point being, people tend not to get compensated for their general additions to a wiki, so there has to be a compelling reason for those interested in the topic to want to contribute (as well as read). I can think of a number of target demographics who would find the intended subject matter of Dealipedia very interesting (bloggers, journalists, VCs, those wanting to create a new business plan). Those wanting to part with their hard-won wisdom with no compensation for it? I'm not so sure that idea's a lock.