Q&A with Rajeev Malik

Who are the founders of Kikscore?

Joel Springer, Mike Mauseth, and I are just part of the great team that makes up KikScore. The three of us (plus our extended management team) have previously launched other start-ups, as well as new product lines for existing businesses. KikScore, however, is the first new product we’ve launched solely on our own nickel — which is both exciting and stressful.

When did you launch Kikscore?

We launched late Q4 of 2009. Take a look at our initial blog posting announcing KikScore and our service.

Where are you based?

We have two locations, Washington D.C. and Denver, Colorado.

How would you describe your business?

We are at the intersection of reputation management and data transparency. We are passionate about entrepreneurs and small business. Our goal is to increase trust online by giving small businesses and online sellers a trust score that is based upon multiple data sources about a person or business. Then shoppers can use this trust score and the data provided, to make a better buying decision. Ultimately our company is about empowering small businesses to use information about themselves to help them build trust so they can sell more. With new and smaller businesses, their reputation and trustworthiness are a combination of both the business (its security, practices, policies) and the operator/owner (personal character, financial responsibility). KikScore combines both to give a shopper an objective and transparent view of the online business.

Here’s a link so you can see how it work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3YiL59pBCc

What inspired you to launch your product/service?

We are a bunch of night and weekend entrepreneurs (we have day jobs! – see post about it http://bit.ly/QD5ql) who kept hearing from friends, family and other people about how difficult it is to get information about small merchants and e-tailers that sell online.

On the flip side, we are married to small business owners and have other types of business folks in our circle of family and friends who have also said that it is difficult to build a brand and compete online against big retailers. That’s because those bigger brands are known entities that online shoppers will often decide to buy from, instead of the smaller business even when the latter are less expensive and have better service.

We said we can solve this issue. The Kikscore team comes from e-commerce and data analysis backgrounds. So we said let’s make it easy for the data (about small businesses and their management) that relates to trust, reliability and track record of delivering results, to be displayed to online shoppers. We scoured the different proprietary and public databases that contains information about these small businesses and we display that information to the public.

But we decided to take it even further by also analyzing and scoring the information based on various trust factors we are familiar with that reveal a low or high likelihood for fraud and lack of trustworthiness. It is akin to a credit score for small businesses, but it is a trust score. The trust score and the information transparency allow KikScore to create a dynamic business report card that online sellers can display to shoppers so these small businesses can demonstrate that they can be trusted.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?

We are in a free beta phase right now, but will start charging on a subscription basis soon. We also have product extensions that we will be launching this spring that will also bring a revenue string through a subscription model.

Where do you see your product/service within a year?

We are already seeing our beta customers telling us that their sales have increased after they added the KikScore seal! That makes us excited. We want to continue to build on that. In a year, we will: (a) continue to build our customer base; (b) increase the base of the new products we will be launching this spring and (c) provide data and trend analysis on a transactional basis from these small business websites. We are getting the word out through our blog at blog.kikscore.com, on Twitter at @kikscore and on the KikScore Facebook page.

Are you self-funded or do you have angel investors?

We are completely self funded.

This conference will bring together leaders in the Flash game space to share industry insights and strategies for monetization, distribution and analytics.

Who Should Attend

Game developers and Flash artists
Entrepreneurs
Marketers and advertisers interested in games
Flash portal and gaming website owners
Technologists
Business development and venture capitalists
Representatives from companies in the gaming and social media space

If you are in a developer, designer, or product role you may be eligible for a discount. Please email info (at) flashgamingsummit.com for additional details.

Location: Mission Bay Conference Center, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94143-3008 (map)

Register: http://fgsummit2010.eventbrite.com/

Mobile Monday Silicon Valley is holding a seminar in San Francisco on 8 February 2010 featuring companies who are addressing the challenges of discovery so they can share their lessons with you.  Topics will range from Advertising, Cross-selling, Social Media Marketing, Free Trial, and more. Come and learn best practices from developers and other commerce enablers who have tested and identified what drives effective discovery in the App Store.  Learn, mingle and enjoy a hosted bar!

The format will be a series of rapid fire presentations from developers including Flixster, Booyah and TripIt.

Sign up information: http://momosvfeb10.eventbrite.com/

Date: 8 February 2010, Monday

Time: 18:30 – 22:00

Price: Free

Parc 55
55 Cyril Magnin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

But Flexhire is so much more than that. Much of Flexhire’s value resides in the software that is visible only to employers. Flexhire’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) for employers includes text-based job alerts, hosted employment websites, applicant tracking systems, pre-employment testing, background checks, and more.

In this sense, Flexhire is both a consumer Internet application and a robust web-based enterprise application that specifically targets high-turnover businesses.

Flexhire makes money by charging employers for its recruiting and candidate management system. At the time of this writing, Flexhire charges a company $249 for hiring in one location with unlimited job postings, and employee searches for 30 days. For 2 to 4 locations, Flexhire charges $499. Flexhire has high-volume pricing discounts, too. Flexhire has a Text2Hire ”Pay as you go” service using text-based job applications (prices start at $100 for 100 messages).

Q&A with Joe Regallis, co-founder of Flexhire

Who is behind Flexhire? When did you launch?

Michael Cate and I started Flexhire. We launched it in January 2009.

Where are you based?

Cleveland, Ohio.

Are you self-funded or angel-funded?

We are self-funded.

What inspired you to launch Flexhire?

My previous experience as a retail merchandiser and point-of-sale consultant exposed a gap in the market. High-turnover businesses are underserved, and still rely on traditional processes for recruiting, tracking, and selecting applicants.

How do you plan to make money?

Flexhire has several revenue streams including:
- recruiting tools (job boards, advertising)
- applicant tracking systems
- white label website integration
- hosted solutions
- Text2Hire text message job alerts and application processing
- commissions from sales of partners’ products and services
- third party advertising revenue

What is the strength of Flexhire compared to other systems?

Flexhire has a turn-key SaaS model that can be sold to clients in whole or in part. Our system is flexible enough to fit a specific need or provide an entire solution. We offer traditional job postings and website recruiting, as well as applicant tracking and candidate management systems to keep track of high volumes of candidates.

Furthermore, we offer integrated pre-employment testing, screening, and background verification tools from our third-party providers. Our systems can be re-branded and sold to third parties that can host the Flexhire technology and resell it. For example, a Chamber of Commerce can purchase the Flexhire hosted solution for their website. The Chamber can then administer the functionality and resell the employment services to the members of the Chamber, thus creating a revenue stream for Flexhire (as well as helping to build Flexhire’s database of job seekers and advertising revenue).

Where do you see Flexhire in a year?

Flexhire is working to increase awareness and market share while continuing to improve its products and services. We will be moving from a large beta-test marketing in the Cleveland, Ohio market to placement in larger retail and mall operations throughout the United States. We will also be moving into the Spanish speaking job space as well as foreign solutions for China. We are developing GPS job location services.

www.flexhire.com

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.

Companies that use ZapMe utilize SMS and mobile applications for their advertising campaigns and manage them through the ZapMe distribution platform. The platform has modules for user management, content management, security and reporting. ZapMe clients get real-time information about the people who receive their ads: age, gender, geographic location, brand preference, type of mobile device, and brand patterns. Recipients of advertising from ZapMe clients can choose from among the brands represented by ZapMe, i.e. tell ZapMe from whom they would like to receive offers.

Q&A with Cameron Wall, founder of ZapMe

When did you launch ZapMe?

January 2007.

What inspired you to start ZapMe?

I wanted to solve the following problem: how does a brand and/or information service use traditional media (newspaper, magazine, TV, Outdoor, radio etc.) to engage people via the mobile channel? There are so many different handsets, platforms, operating systems, versions of firmware etc. when it comes to mobile devices that it’s difficult to make the user experience enjoyable. Moreover, it costs companies too much time and money managing their ad campaigns across a variety of mobile devices. ZapMe is a platform that can distribute content to any device at anytime on the fly, usually via simple SMS which is a standard communication method available on all handsets globally.

Where do you see ZapMe in a year?

Most powerful platform in the mobile marketing industry.

www.zapme.com.au

FaceCash is not yet available to the public; it is still in the private beta stage.

What’s in it for merchants?

For merchants, FaceCash acts as web-based point of sale (POS) system. No expensive software installations required. Several merchants in Palo Alto (e.g. Red Mango) are using FaceCash on a trial basis. The advantage of using FaceCash is that it is not part of the VISA/Mastercard network and charges much lower fees. For example, merchants typically pay 2.5 to 4 percent to a credit card network, while FaceCash charges 1.5 percent. Moreover, FaceCash does not impose authorization or monthly fees.

Merchants need a barcode scanner, an Internet connection and a computer with a screen that displays a browser. FaceCash is targeting small- to medium-sized retailers. It incorporates a POS system with a full accounting suite in the back-end. The web-based software coupled with a clean, simple interface makes it much easier for small merchants (who don’t have a huge staff). It’s unlikely that a large retailer such as Target, which has its own POS system and thousands of cash registers and computers to upgrade, will move to FaceCash overnight. But for Mom-and-Pop stores, this could be a huge time and money saver. FaceCash is in private beta with several merchants in Palo Alto and they are getting Stanford University students to try it out.

Challenges confronting FaceCash

(1) Adoption by merchants: FaceCash needs to get more merchants on board otherwise, even if I have it on my iPhone, if I can’t find enough places to use it, I won’t transfer money from my bank account to my FaceCash account.

(2) Adoption by individuals: Many people in the US are still accustomed to paying for things using credit cards. However, as Michael Anderson (business development manager for FaceCash, who I interviewed for this article) pointed out, debit card payments in the US exceeded credit card payments in Q4 2009 for the first time in history. Because people are more careful with their money, and many credit card companies have canceled or lowered people’s credit, paying with a debit card, or with a mobile virtual debit card like FaceCash,  has become more acceptable.

Who is behind FaceCash?

FaceCash is developed by Think Computer Corporation, which is owned by Aaron Greenspan, based in Palo Alto. Aaron has worked on finance and accounting software for many years. He created FaceCash because of his frustrations with existing POS and back-end accounting systems for merchants. Think Computer Corporation has other products for enterprises (SaaS) and developers, e.g. Lampshade – a web-based programming environment that uses LAMP (Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP).

Q&A with Thomas Kessler

When did you start MyPokerCoach?

We released the beta version in May 2009 and the final version in January 2010.

Where are you based?

Brussels, Belgium.

What inspired you to create this application?

I wanted to leverage my Artificial Intelligence knowledge and my poker skills.

How many people work at your company (including contractors)?

The number varies between 1 and 5, depending on the stage (e.g. early on I had a poker pro player to help advise on the best game style, later on I had designers for the website and game).

Are you self-funded or do you have angel investors?

So far self-funded.

www.mypokercoach.net

• Send out a video or voice recording email.
• Quick chat: you can chat with people you have been emailing (but they have to be using eMailaya, too).
• Calendar
• Google Search box
• Last send/receive: Know when was the last time you corresponded with your contacts.
• RSS2Email: Instead of scanning a lot of RSS feeds, let eMailaya update you with what’s important to you.
• Backup your files. You can switch your mailbox to a backup storage, including a full backup mechanism.
• ISP switching: You just need to know your email and password, eMailaya will define everything else automatically.
• MailDrive: Switch your mailbox to another drive on your computer using a familiar interface.
• Statistics: You can view statistics of your mailboxes, read/unread/spam emails and much more.
• Administrative graphical information: Administer your information using sophisticated and flexible graphical tool with the option to drill through the information.

Q&A with Amos Szust

Who are the founders of eMailaya and where are you based?

I am the sole founder. I am based in Israel.

When did you launch eMailaya?

2008.

Are you self-funded?

Yes.

How many people work at eMailaya?

I am responsible for development. There are two people working on a consulting basis doing QA.

Why should people switch from Outlook to eMailaya?

(a) It is portable, no need to install anything, and it consumes only 3 megabytes.

(b) Instead of waiting for all the emails to be downloaded, only the headers are downloaded and the user chooses which email to download and when.

(c) Built in spam detection, no need to install an additional application just for that. Spam detection is a combination of an automatic process and manual definition by the user.

(d) To start working with eMailaya, all the user needs to know is his email and password. Technical information is filled automatically.

(e) Special emails (video, audio, scans, screenshot and more) can be sent very quickly from within eMailaya itself.

(f) The application is secured with many layers, like encrypted data and multi-level password protections. There are many more advantages over Outlook and you can find there on: http://www.emailaya.com/?p=55/Product-Features

What inspired you to create eMailaya?

eMailaya started out as my own need for a lightweight email application that any user, even a novice, can work with, without the need to know complicated and technical stuff. Users should just be able to doubleclick it and run it. I wanted an email application where the user decides what to do and when, without the application itself will deciding for him. Over time, I made it more than just an email client. It is now a portable and secured working environment. It contains a toolbox to extend its capabilities. eMailaya started out as a hobby, but at some point I realized that I have an excellent tool (email and data management) that a lot of people need.

What is your background?

I spent over 13 years in software development, including system design of applications. I started developing at school, throughout my army service, and then in high tech companies.

www.emailaya.com

Teacheo.com mainly operates in France but it is preparing an international launch soon. Teacheo has recently extended its virtual classroom technology to launch Blueteach.com, whose goal is to allow online communities to hold classes, for example, language courses, professional training, coaching, game learning, etc. For more information, visit: http://www.slideshare.net/blueteach/blueteach-in-4-slides. Blueteach is being used by Xihalife.com. Teacheo will offer the Blueteach product to end users soon.

Q&A with Kemal El Moujahid

When did you start Teacheo?

I started Teacheo in 2007.

What is your background? Why did you start Teacheo?

I’m 34, French Moroccan. I studied engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique.  The inspiration came from two distinct sources. When I was in the French equivalent of undergraduate school, I was a private math tutor to finance my studies. I was wasting a lot of time in transportation. Meanwhile, I was working on VOIP protocols in IT labs, and had then the idea of using this technology for private tutoring. But bandwidths were too limited at the time for mass market services.

Years later, I was studying at Stanford, and I discovered C2C online marketplaces like freelance.com or rentacoder.com and had the idea of building live teaching C2C marketplaces. Imagine learning online poker for $50 per hour from a real professional, or couture with a Milanese designer, or economics with a Harvard teacher, or guitar — endless possibilities.

So I combined both ideas and started Teacheo with the goal of building a transversal technology (which is now branded Blueteach) and marketing it on online tutoring first. Now we at an important step of the company with the internationalization of Teacheo and the opening on new markets with blueteach.

And more generally, I like Education and Training ideas. My parents are teachers and I’ve always valued education as a way to go further in life and society. Using Blueteach to enable learning in rural areas, or in developing countries, is something we actively investigate.

How may employees do you have? Where are you based?

We have 10 employees and we are based in Paris.

Are you self-funded or angel-funded?

We have received angel-funding from the Parisian Innovation Program and the French Innovation Fund.

* * * * * * *

Read my article on MuniWireless.com on how applications like Teacheo can revolutionize education and retraining, and benefit people living in rural areas. This ties in with the broadband stimulus funding for unserved and underserved areas in the US.