I saw a link to the beta of a new Australian search engine called Mooter. Be gentle on the server folks. It’s also a bit buggy.

However it is exciting for two reasons.

Firstly it uses a clustering approach to help you narrow down what you are looking for. It actually helps you while you search. Mooter presents the initial results in a mind map. How cool is that?

So mooter aims to deliver the results a user is looking for within three or four clicks. I am a search engine power-user. At IBM I did many of the searches for obscure network bugs on behalf of our team as I could find the information faster than other people. I’m not bragging here, I just think the right way. It’s weird.

The second exciting thing is the enterprise behind the technology. It’s CEO Leisl Capper has experience in fast growth franchised ventures (use mooter to look her up and test it out or google her if you like). I’m not sure fast growth b2c (business to consumer) is a good grounding for search engines, but it can’t be worse than many other backgrounds. I’ve only just found out about them but I want to keep an eye on this company.