Kamoon: You have questions, we have answers

Here's a problem you'd be happy to deal with: Let us assume you've won millions in a US lottery and want definitive investment advice. Obviously you would approach a major consultancy firm, but how would you get past the receptionist?

"Hello, I just won $30 million. May I speak with someone?"

These days, when all the consultancies are trying to go online, there isn’t even a receptionist to speak to.

This is where the engine of Israeli start-up Kamoon, formerly known as Ask2Know, enters the picture. The company was founded in 1999. Igor Tsenter, Lior Rokach, and Eitan Klevansky developed an engine that can pose a free-style question to a large organization's database – online. In March 2000, BRM Seed invested $5 million during Kamoon's seed stage at a company value of $12 million. In August 2000, the company began organizing its initial financing round, which it concluded in October, raising $23 million at a company value of $48 million, after money. Investors included BRM Capital, Apax Partners (Israel) Excelsior VI, Canada's XDL Intervest Fund, and Patricof & Co. Ventures.

"We call the process 'Knowledge Commerce', because in effect, we help clients sell their employees' knowledge, which happens to be the product they’re trying to market. People understand the frustration we’re trying to alleviate. A company invests tens of thousands of dollars in routers and communications equipment to streamline access to their sites, and then visitors get lost and don't know where to go," says Kamoon CEO & president Yali Harari.

"If a potential Prudential end user were to call them up by phone, it would take him considerable time and aggravation to locate the relevant expert. Moreover, all the experts receive dozens of calls that distract them from the work they have to do. Kamoon's engine analyses the surfer's question, written in free style, and offers choices.”

The product can be integrated into every part of a client's website, and sometimes, indirectly outside of it. Banners on the Prudential site form hotspots that answer questions directly, rather than referring users to the company's homepage. The page is located on Kamoon's servers, designed so that it appears to be an integral part of the client’s site. Institutions using external consultants, for example a financial company that provides consulting services for a law firm, can therefore give the surfer the impression that the matter is being handled in-house, even though the question is being automatically transferred to the law firm.

The company can get a forecast of the degree of aggravation it can expect to face at any moment: How many satisfied end users have already received an answer? How many haven't, and where are the problems?

The end user immediately receives an e-mail with an attached link, through which he reaches "his own page" on the company's website, stating the current status of his question: Was it transferred to the relevant expert? Has the question been dealt with? If not, when can an answer be expected? If a surfer inserts a number of questions, the page includes the answers to all of them.

Harari claims installation of the engine takes less time than might be expected for a project on this scale. "We managed to install the system in a large company like Prudential in less than 30 days. When you tell this to a company that has just spent two years installing an ERP system, they start smiling."

The service is offered to companies on an ASP model, but the server itself can be located either in the customer's office or at Kamoon. The customer pays an annual rate, based on the number of experts it wants to enable end users to access through the system search. "Deals range between $250,000 and $500,000," says Harari, "depending on the number of employees (who can be accessed)." Kamoon is also relying on the US Federal government, which has ordered its agencies to have their services online by 2003. Meanwhile, Kamoon is approaching financial institutions, consultancy companies (both ordinary and financial), and banks.

Kamoon’s main competitors are general consultancy sites, such as ExpertExchange.com, which offer a menu of consultants and rates from which the surfer can select based on the description located on the site. Harari says, "Like any troubled dot.com, these sites tried to sell apparently proprietary technology, under the B2B concept. We monitor the progress of these sites, because we believe that competition will come from this direction as well." In Kamoon's core market of consultancy companies and financial institutions, Harari perceives BuilderBuy.com (which can take pride in being a pure US company) as a competitor. Harari claims that Kamoon's financing, customer base, and increasing loyalty from customers neutralize the fact that it is merely a semi-American company.

Harari moved to the US 18 months ago to set up Kamoon's US branch. In November 2000, Kamoon officially launched its product after working intensively with its five beta customers, including Prudential. Kamoon began making actual sales early this year, and Harari said the company was in advanced negotiations to sign major contracts. Kamoon currently has a staff of 70, most of whom are based at its Ramat Gan development center, and is conducting a low-key search for employees for its US branch.

Harari says, "We expect to reach break-even in Q3 2003, and we won’t need any external financing until that time. We aren’t growing wildly; we don’t have to finance 150 people. From this perspective, I can state we had more luck than brains, because the industry took a turn for the worse while we were holding our financing round."

Published by Israel's Business Arena on 21 May,‎‎ ‎2001