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 Company: ChaCha, Indianapolis, IN
Entry Submitted By: Melrose Consulting
Company Description: ChaCha, a mobile answers service, allows users to call or text questions on mobile phones and receive answers within minutes. Skilled human guides use ChaCha's powerful search tools to respond to any query,which expands the types of questions users can ask well beyond simple phone numbers/addresses. These guides quickly return a succinct answer in a text message with a Web URL.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best New Product or Service - Other
Nomination Title: ChaCha
- Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date. You may include hyperlinks to product photos and data sheets. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
ChaCha, a mobile answers service, allows users to call 1-800-2-CHA-CHA (800-224-
2242) or text questions to CHACHA (242-242) on mobile phones and receive
answers within minutes. ChaCha guides — trained and skilled individuals — use
ChaCha's powerful internal search tools to respond to any query. This human
interface dramatically expands the types of questions users can ask well beyond
simple phone numbers or addresses. The guides utilize powerful tools to search
the Web and quickly return a succinct, relevant answer in a text message with a
Web reference link.
Combining innovative human intelligence and sophisticated technology, this
groundbreaking mobile answers service goes way beyond typical web-based search
engines or directory assistance. It also represents the next step in the
evolution of the 411 industry from directory assistance to voice search.
Besides getting answers to just about any type of questions text messaged right
to your mobile device, you can easily reply with follow-up questions, as you
might do in a conversation, further demonstrating how superior this new service
is compared to 411 or algorithmic search engines. Moreover, ChaCha works on any
mobile phone device — from simple flip phones to sophisticated smart phones —
with virtually all carriers and no voice recognition prompts or menus to muddle
through.
And the numbers prove that consumers are embracing the service! ChaCha launched
its text service in January and added voice capability in March. Since the
first month of launch, consumer queries have grown exponentially. (And still
rapidly growing!) What’s more, 53% of users have become repeat users and 99%
say they would recommend ChaCha to a friend.
Earlier this month, ChaCha won the prestigious AT&T Fast-Pitch Platinum Award
for best consumer mobile application at the CTIA Wireless Association
Convention in Las Vegas. The competition included hundreds of applicants from
around the world, of which 66 of the most innovative wireless companies were
invited to present their mobile applications to an esteemed panel of judges. In
a five-minute “fast-pitch” format – a competition considered by many to be the
wireless industry’s equivalent of American Idol – emerging mobile technology
companies presented their wireless applications directly to AT&T’s decision
makers.
In March of this year, ChaCha demonstrated at the “My Search is Better than
Your Search” competition at the Search Engine Strategies conference in
Manhattan that it dominates the mobile search arena by taking top prize for its
service’s technical efficiency, relevance and practical functionality.
Additionally, ChaCha was ranked as the “No. 1 Alternative Search Engine” in
February — beating out hundreds of companies — by Charles Knight of the
blogging network, ReadWriteWeb. Last month, out of 70 promising start-ups
presenting at Dow Jones’ “Web Ventures”, ChaCha was selected as a “Top Ten”
company by VentureWire’s judges.
Created by serial entrepreneur Scott A. Jones and Brad Bostic, ChaCha is funded
by Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment firm of Jeff Bezos, founder of
Amazon.com; Morton Meyerson, former President and Vice Chairman of EDS and
former Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems; Rod Canion, founding CEO of Compaq
Computer; and Jack Gill, well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalist. For more
information about ChaCha’s newest features, go to www.chacha.com.
- List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, product reviews, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
In late April, ChaCha’s award winning mobile service was reviewed by Walt
Mossberg, Technology guru for the Wall Street Journal. The article is available
at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120899844381440065.html?
mod=technology_featured_stories_hs
In addition, Walt was interviewed by CNBC News on Thursday, April 24, 2008:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=721603319&play=1
Founder Scott Jones was just featured in Midwest Business Online:
http://www.midwestbusiness.com/news/viewnews.asp?newsletterID=19122
In addition, the LA Times Travel and Deal Blog recently featured ChaCha’s
service: http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1771
All of ChaCha’s press releases are available at:
http://info.chacha.com/MediaCoverage/PressReleases/tabid/55/Default.aspx
All recent press coverage is available at:
http://info.chacha.com/MediaCoverage/tabid/87/Default.aspx
- Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:
Scott A. Jones – Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer
Scott is veteran entrepreneur, inventor, strategist, and venture capitalist.
At age 25, Scott invented the massively scalable, easy-to-use voicemail system
that has been used by over a billion people around the world. Subsequently, he
built Gracenote, the company that supplies Internet-based music services for
companies including Apple (iTunes), Yahoo, and Sony. Gracenote services are
being accessed globally at the rate of 24 billion times per year.
Two decades ago -- well before desktop search engines and the Web were born –
Scott described a vision of people having access to all of mankind’s knowledge,
from anywhere, at anytime. In late 2005, Scott saw that technologies in the
market finally provided the necessary pieces of the puzzle to manifest the
dream. ChaCha was born. Scott is now singularly focused on making ChaCha the
world’s easiest-to-use and most comprehensive way to access information and
answers while people are on the go.
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