KoolIM is launched: Challenges eBuddy, Meebo and others

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Samer Bazzi, president of KoolIM LLC. TechAddress recently posting an article analyzing 3 different instant messaging (IM) platforms entitled: Wablet vs. eBuddy vs. Meebo: Who’s Better? Shortly after posting the article KoolIM’s application and services came to our attention and we wanted to share what we have learned more Mr. Bazzi.

TechAddress: Tell me a bit about your company, what it does and what’s your value proposition?

KoolIM: KoolIM has been launched for close to 10 weeks now, the idea was formed many months ago. BuddyStream, which is our platform company, builds and develops the BuddyStream server which works as a proxy product for IM, Chat, Email, Content, Bots and alerts. We bring together all of those modules and present them from one central location. We like to say that Google organizes the world’s information and we bring together the world’s information. We have a staff of 12 people now; we are located in Dearborn, Michigan USA.

TechAddress: What makes your company stand apart from your competitors?

KoolIM: There are a lot of things that make us unique, we use our own back end product, we have been working on instant messaging technology for close to 4 years, and some on the team have been working on messaging overall for close to six years now. Our technology is fully owned by us and built by us. Our business model, with time, will show that we do have a plan to make money rather than just trying to acquire users. We do believe that acquiring users is a big part of it all but as you can see that even with some of our competitors, they have been able to acquire millions of users but have yet been able to monetize from those users as of yet.

TechAddress: What are some of the main features?

KoolIM: Currently we aggregate instant messaging, chat, email and content; soon we will allow you to connect to other services such as Ebay, Paypal and others. We have a real-time alerts module but that will not be part of the suite as of yet.

TechAddress: Who’s your target customer or audience?

KoolIM: Right now our target customers are users behind school firewalls which block instant messaging and corporate networks which also block instant messaging from their network. Our target audience is this segment of users at the moment but eventually we will not be totally reliant on this user base. The target customer will eventually be everyone who uses more than one IM app, more than one web service, more than one email account and eventually the mobile work force.

TechAddress: Any new things in particular that you’re working on right now?

KoolIM: We are always working on many things in the background. Most of the stuff I really can’t talk much about for obvious reasons. We are working on 6 Major features which should be available in our next major release. I promise they will make a HUGE impact because they have been well thought out. People should know that we are a platform company and KoolIM is built on top of our platform product.

TechAddress: Where do you see your company heading in the future?

KoolIM: We have not made public our business model as of yet as we are way to early in the game but we do have an excellent plan moving forward, we are not an “alternative technology” or one that solves the problem of users at work and school not being able to access IM so they come to us, although it is part of our business model, we do have other ideas on how to be more affective than being reliant on a specific need which could be challenged.

TechAddress: Any negative feedback or criticism regarding technology and services?

KoolIM: If you are referring to our technology then no, we have not received any criticism; we have received a lot of praise, if anything. We receive quite a few emails everyday from people thanking us and telling us their story on how KoolIM really helps them in their daily life. We do receive some negative feedback, we started off with one server and the traffic started to really pickup so we had to really move and setup an additional server.

TechAddress: So what would you say is the guiding principle behind your company?

KoolIM: To solve the problem of not having one central point for all your services and content, right now you have thousands of services and millions of content channels on the web, there is so much information and content for users to comb through. This surplus of content and information is taking its toll on the average user. What we like to think is that if we can organize your “favorite” services and content in to one central point, than your web experience will be much smoother. Instant Messaging, Email and Content are core to our offering but it will not stop there.

TechAddress: What is the mission of your company and what are you bringing to the market that is innovative?

KoolIM: The mission of the company is to provide a central point via the web. We like to think that we are solving core problems for our user community. We basically link up external content sources, services, and web applications to one central application portal, which is presented in the form of IM.

TechAddress: Where are you in terms of funding and your lifecycle?

KoolIM: We have raised an initial round of funding from local angels in the Michigan area. We are working on tweaking the platform and fixing any issues that our users are experiencing.

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