Pajama Entrepreneur

oQuizo is a multi-player quiz site where players compete in free or money games. You participate in online quizzes on various subjects (trivia, music, movies, science and sports) for free or cash prizes. If you decide to play for a cash prize, the amounts you put at stake are small: 50 cents, $2 and $5. Each game consists of ten questions and can have up to eight players. You have 10 seconds to answer each question. To win a quiz game you need to score better than a half of all the players in the given game. Both correctness and speed count.

Example: There are 8 players in a $2 money game. When the game starts, oQuizo will debit your account by an amount of $2. Say you play and you are the best. The accounts of the top four players (including you) will be credited with $4 each. Then oQuizo will charge a commission – 10% of $4, i.e. 40 cents.

You can deposit money into your oQuizo account using secure payments like premium SMS, PayPal or credit/debit card. You can withdraw your money using our automated withdrawal tool. You just specify how much you want to leave on your oQuizo account and they take care of the rest.

I played (against a bot) a free trivia game on oQuizo today. The game was fun and addictive, and I defeated the bot. Questions were fairly easy but I suspect if you are up against other people, the time pressure is much more intense. Check out the YouTube video showing how oQuizo works.

Q&A with Tom Mleko, co-founder of oQuizo

Who are the founders of oQuizo?
Jarek Jacek, Michal Fiedorowicz and myself.

When did you launch oQuizo?
The open beta began on 3 February 2010.

Where are you based?
London, UK and Warsaw, Poland

What inspired you to launch oQuizo?
HyperBees Ltd, the company that operates oQuizo.com, was set up because we wanted to create dynamic, interesting and engaging games for web, mobile and other platforms. oQuizo.com is our first project. We want to deliver the best possible casual and skill games that engage our players and make them want more.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?
We are addressing two markets: players (individuals) and clients (websites, companies, etc.). When it comes to players we charge them small commission for each money game they win. In the nearest future we will add tournaments with an entry fee. Our offer for clients include outsourcing quiz tournaments for their users, i.e. soccer club may organize a competition for its fans. In such a case we deliver the platform, integrate with client’s website (or run it on our servers) and, if requested, prepare questions and run the tournament.

Where do you see your product/service within a year?
oQuizo.com will be one out of two/three main products in our portfolio. Trivia games will be accessible through iPhone and Android. I’d rather not disclosed anything about next project.

Are you self-funded?
Yes.

www.oquizo.com

Envolve is an application that owners of websites (e.g. blogs, shopping sites, online news) can use to allow readers to chat with one another in real time about the content on a webpage they are looking at. For website owners, it’s easy to set up Envolve: you create an account on Envolve, then copy and paste two lines of HTML code into the web page(s) where you want the chat box to appear.

I activated the Envolve chat box for a post I recently wrote on MuniWireless.com about Wi-Fi and 3G (see screenshot below). The Envolve chat box is on the lower right side.

After I added a chat box to the MuniWireless blog post, I saw it listed in my Envolve dashboard with statistics on the number of visitors. Since I just activated it and I am the only person in the chat room, it shows only 1 person (see below). However, if you have an article that is generating a lot of controversy, you will see many more people involved in real-time chat about your post.

Q&A with James Tamplin, co-founder of Envolve

Who are the founders of Envolve?
Andrew Lee and I started it in 2009.

Where are you based?
San Francisco.

Why did you create Envolve?
We wanted a Facebook-style chat for every website and web community. We want to give people a way to have meaningful conversations around the content on web sites, and we want to make it easy for website owners to enable these conversations (i.e. without having to write code). For more information, go to www.envolve.com/demo.

Are you self-funded?
Yes.

Last chance to sign up for Startup Camp Australia taking place on 19-21 February in Sydney. Sign up here. What is it? A get together of people from different disciplines that have an interest in startups and do a complete startup in one weekend. From coming up with the idea and making a business plan to pitching, design and development and marketing. The main goal is to learn from each others experience and to get a chance to work with a new group of people and of course to have a lot of fun.

Brainstorming has started. Follow on Twitter #sucs3 and ustream.

SUCS UStream – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/startup-camp-3

For this Startup Camp, each team will also have their own Twitter hashtag, so you can send comments and feedback to the teams themselves.

Should be streaming at about 8:30pm Sydney time.

For other media, see the blog at http://startupcampsydney.blogspot.com/ and follow Twitter: @startupcampsyd3

For more information go to: http://www.startup-australia.org/startupcamp3

GradConnection is a website that makes it easy for recent graduates (and graduating students) to find jobs with various employers in Australia and New Zealand. When you first visit GradConnection, you select the type of job you want (graduate job, internship, etc.), then choose your field (law, accounting, investment banking, and so on). Then you choose the city you want to work in and narrow your search by the types of perks: relocation package, sign-on bonus, time off, flexible work arrangements, summer hours and more. The GradConnection resume (or CV) builder lets you create an online CV and send it automatically to employers directly from the GradConnection website. What I like about GradConnection is the site has a clean and simple interface, and makes it easy for young graduates to find the employer that best meets their needs and apply online.

The founders of GradConnection are Mike Casey, Dan Purchas and Dave Jenkins. I visited their office in Sydney (which is in the same location as Tjoos, recently profiled on PJ Entrepreneur). They started 18 months ago and have received angel investment. There are four to five people who work at GradConnection. They make money by charging companies who want to be listed on the site. They just expanded to New Zealand and have plans expand to other countries (e.g. the United Kingdom).

www.gradconnection.com.au

Coachfire is an online application created by Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli, a French tech entrepreneur who is based in Sydney, Australia. Coachfire allows a coach (e.g. a career or business coach) to conduct online meetings with clients, monitor clients’ progress, record time spent with a client and prepare invoices. Coachfire’s video chat is powered by Tokbox, so neither the coach nor the client has to download a piece of software in order to conduct online video chats (see below).

Coaches who do not have websites or are unhappy with their existing site can easily set one up on Coachfire. The result is a clean, professional looking website. When a coach signs up on Coachfire, he or she is included in the public directory (see below).

Coachfire is a one-stop shop, a convenient solution for any coach who wants a professional online presence and a simple way to manage his or her coaching business.

I had coffee with Aymeric in Sydney last week to talk about Coachfire and his previous software projects.

Q&A with Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli

What did you do before launching Coachfire?

I created several Facebook games for French users of Facebook at a time when usage of Facebook among French-speaking people was just beginning to rise. Because most Facebook game developers were focused on the English-speaking market, I was able to get the attention of thousands of French Facebook members and the games I wrote became among the most popular on Facebook.

What lessons did you learn from your Facebook game development experience?

I discovered that it’s more lucrative to go after a niche market especially one that is rapidly growing, but still ignored by the vast majority of software developers who are rushing into a larger, but crowded market. You become the big fish in a small pond. I made a good living from the Facebook games that I developed. This lesson holds in other areas such as the iPhone app store. There are so many iPhone apps out there but if you focus on a small niche and write a killer app, you can conquer that market and make a pretty good amount of money.

What inspired you to create Coachfire?

After writing several Facebook games, I wanted to use my talents doing something more useful, something beyond just entertaining people. I noticed that business and career coaches did not have an easy way to profile themselves, manage their business and the progress of their clients, or easily conduct video chats so I created a solution for them. That’s how I came up with Coachfire.

How do you make money with Coachfire?

Coachfire has two paid subscription options: $59/mo and $249/mo. There is a 7-day free trial, too. Coaches can cancel their subscriptions at any time.

Why did you move from France to Australia?

I had been traveling for a while and decided to settle in Australia because of the easy-going lifestyle and the lovely weather. I live in Coogee Beach, which is in the eastern part of the city, a beautiful small community with a wonderful beach.

www.coachfire.com