Pajama Entrepreneur

Tjoos is an online coupon code finder that is unlike all the others. It has a clean, elegant interface which is easy to use and pleasing to the eye. Where other online coupon sites abuse you with horrible flashing banners, and trick you into clicking on ads, Tjoos (pronounced “choose”) just does what it says with style and efficiency.

I tried Tjoos by selecting the VALENTINES coupon code from Philosophy, a skincare and cosmetics company whose products I use. When you click on the coupon code VALENTINES, you are taken to the Philosophy online store. When you click on link “Philosophy Cosmetics coupons”, Tjoos presents you with a snapshot of the online store (see below);  on the left side and underneath the snapshot, you see a list of related stores that sell skincare products. This is very handy because you can see quickly which other skincare stores have coupons on Tjoos. You also see the verified coupons, so you’re not wasting your time clicking on coupons that have already expired (this is the biggest problem on most coupon sites).

If you have a hobby or sport like cycling, you can also enter it into the search box and find coupons for online cycling accessories from online stores based in your country and stores around the world (see below). Cyclists frequently order helmets, gloves and other accessories from other countries where the items may be available (and even cheaper) and the merchants ship for free.

I like Tjoos very much. The interface is minimalist and intuitive, and they have thousands of valid coupon codes for online stores all over the world.

Q&A with Bart Jellema (co-founder)

Who are the founders of Tjoos?

My girlfriend, Kim Chen, and I started Tjoos when we were living in Mountain View, CA. We further developed it when we lived in my parents’ attic in the Netherlands for 3 months. Then, we moved to Australia.

Where is Tjoos based?

Sydney.

Why did you move from the Netherlands to Australia?

The weather is much better in Sydney and the people are more relaxed and still have respect for each other.

What was the inspiration for Tjoos?

The original idea was around product comparison, hence the name tjoos (pronounced as ‘choose’). Then, we ended up building a contact lens price comparison site because Kim needed to buy contacts and we realized none of the price comparison sites out there were any good. We integrated coupons into the price comparison and had more success with the coupons than with the price comparison, so we focused more and more on coupons.

How many people now work in your company?

Our total team size is 18, but only 5 are direct employees. We use outsourcing where possible.

How do you distinguish yourself from the other online coupon places like retailmenot and couponcodes.com?

Quantity
We have more coupons than any other coupon site. We probably have more exclusives than all other coupon sites combined (over 4000). There are two distinct types of coupon sites: Affiliate only and social coupon sites. Affiliate only sites such as savings.com and couponcode.com only list a limited amount of coupons/offers that they make money off. Social coupon sites such as retailmenot and Tjoos list coupons regardless and allow their users to share coupons with others. Our goal is to collect every single coupon in the world and we’re getting close.

Quality
For affiliate only coupon sites keeping the quality reasonable isn’t too hard with only a few thousands coupons listed, but expired or non-working codes is the biggest problem that social coupon sites face with hundreds of thousands of coupons on offer. Tjoos has a dedicated team of “coupon verifiers” that manually verify coupons. On top of that we have worked like crazy for the last 6 months to create automated verification (patent pending). Our TjoosBot now verifies coupons for over 10,000 stores on a daily basis. We are still in the process of rolling this out, so not all the results flow through to the website yet, but this should come live soon. So when it comes to quality we’re providing a level unparalleled in the industry thereby creating a much better experience for both our users and merchants.

Where do you see Tjoos going in 2010?

This year is going to be a key year for Tjoos where we will see the results of our focus on quality. We’re aiming to grow direct traffic by 300% and grow even further through strategic partnerships.

You are self-funded. Do you plan to raise outside funding?

No. Tjoos was bootstrapped with only about $15k investment from my parents. We are highly profitable and I don’t see a need for investment to continue growing.