Remember when ChatRoulette stormed the web this spring? After you got over the initial giggle and creep factors, a few business applications might have crossed your mind. VisitorsCafe’s video chat technology, launching in beta today out of Harvard, plans to capitalize on one such opportunity (read below for free private invites through BostInno).
VisitorsCafe is taking their embeddable video chat technology to publishers, bloggers and other site owners. The technology enables site visitors, who are already connecting with one another in games and around other content through comments and text-based chat, to connect in real-time over video. What sets VisitorsCafe apart from competitors is their matching technology, which pairs site visitors over video based on their demographics such as age, gender, location, and educational background. VisitorsCafe currently does this through Facebook Connect or via user submission, and eventually will integrate with other social graphs.
The Business of VisitorsCafe
BostInnovation had the opportunity to speak with VisitorsCafe’s founder, Morgan Hermand-Waďche, who’s team has been developing the technology over the summer. The idea came simply from observation that the web has become inherently more social. He wanted to enable visitors of a given site to not only read the same content or play the same games, but also to see and talk to one another to create more meaningful connections.
What types of sites are interested in VisitorsCafe’s technology? Hermand-Waďche said that while he has not done any advertising, interest has come by word of mouth mainly from community websites centered around interests (think scrapbookers, guitar enthusiasts) or where people share life challenges (think diabetes, quitting smoking, just had a baby). These passion-centric sites can be enhanced socially by a live video connection.
VistorsCafe’s business model caters to two distinct groups: people who want the feature on their site without customization and people who want a more integrated, customizable solution. The offering will be free for the former, where Hermand-Waďche said revenues would come through eventual interchat ads which can be highly targeted given the information VistorsCafe has about users. For those who want an integrated experience within their website with more security and a customized matching process, VisitorsCafe will then charge. Hermand-Waďche also spoke to an eventual white label solution.
Founder Hermand-Waďche’s Story
Hermand-Waďche attended MINES ParisTech for college in 2005, which he describes as the MIT equivalent in Europe. While there he started a few businesses, but remarked that the environment for entrepreneurship is not nearly as rich in Europe as it is in the States. After graduating he worked as a junior associate at McKinsey and briefly as an Analyst at Credit Suisse. Not feeling connected to his work nor as though he was creating value, Hermand-Waďche applied to Harvard Business School to pursue his entrepreneurial interests.
It was at Harvard where Hermand-Waďche truly realized the breadth of resources here in the greater Boston area, which contrasted starkly against the landscape for entrepreneurship in Europe. At HBS he ran into investors and entrepreneurs alike, and began taking his idea to enable visitors on a given site to connect and engage directly with one another. He moved forward with the idea and has since amassed a team of six split between the US and Europe – half of whom are IT guys, and half marketing and sales people.
BostInnovation Beta Invites
Interested in beta testing VisitorsCafe? Get your free beta invite through BostInnovation here.
Follow VisitorsCafe on Twitter and Facebook for updates and to track their growth –
