How to Cha Cha

ChaCha, the burgeoning mobile information service, is taking on Google one question at a time. Just text a question—any question— to one of the company’s 35,000 real-life “guides” and you’ll quickly get an answer back. Since launching last January—with partial backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—the company has answered 30 million queries, tying Yahoo for second place in the mobile search market. We shot some questions to co-founder Brad Bostic about what keeps ChaCha bopping.

howd u think this up? _
People have been conditioned to think putting in a query and getting 20 million results is a good thing. We felt the process on a mobile phone should be geared toward the simple model of asking a question and getting an answer. With Google, you get something useful back only if you phrase it just right, whereas with ChaCha you’re having a conversation. When you’re on the go, that’s how you want to access information.

y name it chacha? _
The word “cha” means search in Chinese in the right context. Obviously, “cha-cha” is also the Latin dance that has the connotation of two people working together. We have that kind of element.

wheres the $$$? _
We make money when we facilitate the handoff. When you go online and use a search engine to buy something, they earn referral fees. But Google CEO Eric Schmidt says Google will make more on mobile than they’ll ever make on desktop. What you have is a massive opportunity that dwarfs almost anything that anybody’s ever seen.

btw, howd u get bezos? _
He came to us. If you have a great shot at changing the game, you get people that are great validation for what you’re doing.

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MBA Jungle, Winter 2008-2009