Human powered search startup ChaCha has been good for so many chuckles over the last few years. One of their investors called them as disruptive as Google, for example. Another time we posted their answer to a question about what time a show in Seattle opened its doors (trust me, you’ll love the answer, which I have also embedded in this post). We’ve just generally picked on this company incessantly – see our posts here, start from the bottom and work up.
So when I saw an email from the company’s PR person this evening, I had high hopes to be entertained. They didn’t let me down.
“ChaCha Funding” read the subject line. One thing this company hasn’t failed at is raising large amounts of cash – maybe as much as $58 million. In the email they ask me if we’d like exclusive funding news, so long as we only talk to them. I said sure but went ahead and looked up the funding filing on the SEC website anyway (they raised $4 million). But the best part was their almost immediate response letting me know that they no longer wanted to talk. This entire exchange, from offer to acceptance to revocation of the offer, took 27 minutes.
So there you have it. ChaCha has raised another $4 million from some investor or investors. Whoever it is, we may never know.
From: “” < @chacha.com>
Date: July 23, 2009 8:36:28 PM PDT
To: “Michael Arrington”
Subject: RE: ChaCha FundingChaCha was informed they cannot make this funding news public in accordance with rules regarding public disclosure. I’m sorry, the company will not be speaking with any media about its filing.
From: Michael Arrington
Sent: Thu 7/23/2009 11:31 PM
To:
Subject: Re: ChaCha FundingOk
On Jul 23, 2009, at 8:01 PM, “” < @chacha.com> wrote:
Today ChaCha filed form D with the SEC, closing additional funding.
I will be able to provide you with more information about this round
EXCLUSIVELY in exchange that TechCrunch only publish news from
sources at ChaCha, as opposed to other third parties.Would you be interested in receiving the funding news?
Best,
Maybe they could have texted themselves and asked if they can share this info with anyone.
Or maybe thats what they did and then….
Funny anyway.
Damn funny. Their site sucks. But they raise funding. Still, they don’t want to disclose the funding. But they texted you and then revoked the offer… they would not have predicted this post, right? Or maybe, they have and secretly wanted a buzz?
Maybe that’s just their canned answer to any misunderstood question. The word-of-mouth is obviously fantastic. Eiffel Tower, indeed.
Good thing, because I live 2 minutes from ChaCha, and seeing that it is the only Tech company within a few hundred miles, I would like it to keep going.
You’re kidding right? No other tech company within a hundred miles of ChaCha?
Angie’s List
Aprimo, Inc.
BidPal
BitWise Solutions
Bluelock, LLC
Bluebean, LLC
Cantaloupe.tv
DyKnow
ExactTarget
Formspring
Livemercial, Inc.
Patronpath
Sigma Micro, LLC
Vontoo, Inc.
Angel Learning
Autobase, Inc.
Baker Hill Corporation
eTapestry.com, Inc.
And I could name a hundred more within 20 miles. I’m reminded of a quote…”Better to not speak and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
I think 200 miles is a little exaggerated. You have one of the top email marketing companies in downtown Indianapolis in Exact Target. Angie’s List just raised over $18 million last year in a subsequent round. Both less speculative and more disruptive than schizophrenic Cha Cha.
That memo must have gotten lost on one of his eight monitors…
Funny. It’s hard to believe that people still believe in their PR departrments..
That’s one way to get published
We have Google.. now Bing… the whole concept of human powered search engine is bizarre.
People hardly know of ChaCha existence. Who the hell is funding them?
ChaCha sure sounds like a money laundering system…
Yahoo Answers. Great human powered search engine. Get some awesome answers sometimes…
Good point!
So if you ask about how to perform an Eiffel Tower, do you get what time the doors open at the Randy Newman show?
Her: “You’ve got a friend in me” – Me: Well yeah, we are in Paris.
Win…
No, Goatse.
This was the most useful article on TC ever! I had no idea about Eiffel Tower in this context!
Rumor has it they are gonna disrupt by buying Facebook and Twitter together for the $4million
Somehow I feel like this is part of a comprohensive PR plan to get free advertising.
in before someone hacks there intra-company communications and exposes the truth a la twitter!
either way, i sincerely got a good chuckle out of this article.
As of now, I have fired every single staff member and trashed all of our servers. We are trucking in 300 monkeys right now to answer search requests and deliver data in REAL TIME. Updating business plan now so I can get 4 million.
Respect – I did not know that they still exist.
I always thought Cha-Cha was moronic. Until I realized what they’re doing.
It’s not a particularly practical search engine. But it generates massive numbers of archived answers that have started to appear in other search engines.
Basically Yahoo Answers, but done differently.
An example of a question and answer…
http://chacha.c...resley-daughter
Their traffic numbers have shot up to over 1.5 million uniques per month according to Compete. From about 300k-400k this time last year.
They’re crazy like a fox, I think.
Unfortunately the answers are often terrible. I just tried it and it gave me a totally incorrect response. :-/
whoever’s raising the $ could be putting his skills to much nobler use at another startup.
What the heck is cha cha? lol
This company HATES its employees talking about it outside of their private forums. They went through serious trouble to attempt to get a blog I ran deleted, as far as threatening legal action against me. I stood up for myself and they terminated my guide status. I’m not surprised they wanted you to only broadcast the news they seem appropriate, and even less surprised that they decided to just not announce it at all. If anybody is wondering who uses ChaCha– 13 year olds. Unlimited text message plans and a lack of communication skills (and creepy sexual curiosities) make ChaCha a better choice than Google Mobile for them.
http://KGB.com is absolutely destroying chacha in revenue, brand awareness and business model.
Sucks to be chacha :/
Oh please…clearly you guys must have some relationship or interest to be shilling for kgb.
I think kgb is fine, but if they or anyone else thinks there’s a large mkt for answering questions for $0.99 they’re delusional.
Yeah right.. who are these idiots paying KGB $.99 per answer… that service is even more worthless then Cha Cha..
And yet, unlike chacha- they are making shit loads of money.
Personally I think both of the services are a step in the wrong direction, but you are playing ostrich if you think chacha is somehow doing better financially then kgb
Some how I find it hard to take any reply containing the word shit seriously.
They must not really understand the brown-nosing concept. Bailing on the offer leaves them with JUST the brown.
What tower would it be if it’s a threesome with two girls and a guy? Can someone help me to ask this to ChaCha?
Failed.
the Great Pyramid.
o o
/ \
-t–o
exactly what I was thinking!!!
Wow, brilliant PR
ChaCha has no future
teehhee heee!!! v funny
Aardvark’s network is yielding some pretty fast n good answers these days.
Urban Dictionary needs a service like this
lol no way.
although if they did it would be more effective for the users of ub.
Hasn’t that image with the supposed “Eiffel tower” answer to the concert question been thoroughly debunked as fake?
A question to which the “Eiffel tower” answer was a legitimate response was asked just BEFORE the concert question.
It is sad to me that Techcrunch keeps recycling debunked images.
Luke
It is true, I learned that on TechCrunch though. And it’s a funny image nonetheless.
no, that was a real answer, not faked. see original post.
why would you want to attend a Randy Newman show when you can have a preferential view of the Eiffel Tower?
Good post.
Hehe…that pic made me blow coffee on my keyboard
Jeez some office ladies dam near read it over my shoulder!
Ha, the question was hilarious. But, thanks to the your question I was able to figure out what an Eiffel Tower is. Now my life has meaning.
i’m definately amused with the answer to the questions, but i can’t laugh out loud because everyone around me is sleeping as i read this. sheesh.
conceptually, chacha is BRILLIANT but the execution has been mediocre…they should refocus entirely on an enterprise paid model for (for example) field sales force subscriptions (sales call preps, exec notes, factoids etc)
my son was actually just making fun of this service when he saw an ad for some other ‘text kgb kgb’ type of crap for 99 cents – he simply replied, “why? i have google on my mobile phone – why would i pay a buck? i could have an app for a buck”
It is amazing that CC has lasted this long when their own Guides bash the company in offsite forums. The Guides who run this forum claim to be such devote IC….blah!
http://beenbann...84c3d17f07ad5fa
Not bold enough to leave your name? Interesting. And then you expect people to take your word as gospel.
Excuse me? I’m the tech for that site, you twit. It isn’t about bashing ChaCha. It is about people who work as ICs for ChaCha being able to interact outside of work without the same rules in place.
You are an idiot and a coward. A lying one. In fact, let us just put them all together for the trifecta: You are lying, cowardly, idiot.
I read this blog because it is useful, imagine my surprise when I see the forum I set up for some friends mentioned here.
You are so lucky I just woke up and haven’t had my coffee yet. Weenie. Can’t even post your name.
It’s all about bashing ChaCha, their guides and anybody that disagrees with the people that run the forum. This board isn’t just healthy stress relief It’s borderline stalkerish. I have seen members call other members spouses at work to tell them something their spouse had posted. Personally I have had a memeber of this state “I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark ends up murdered one day”. I’m happy that there are so few of them.
Mark
Too bad the only proof you can offer is a bad paste job of bits and pieces put together to your own convenience. You sound like a bratty little boy, maybe you are bitter because YOU were thrown out for bashing people to such an extent you took it public? Or are you so bored of living in your mom’s basement that you can’t just leave people alone?
OK which one are you? The one that wishes I would be found dead? The one that made an idiot of herself threatening to sue me when you couldn’t even find me in the phone book? Or maybe your the cute innocent looking one whose fucking around on her husband with a ChaCha coworker. So many enemies so little time.
Mark
Oy. VatEver.
You don’t post there. You don’t even read there. Obviously. Even if I didn’t have access to the admin tools I’d know that based on what you just posted alone. That was the other place, goofball. And even then, it was never what you spammed Twitter it was.
Just so you know? The hot topics of conversation there currently? Are about broken washing machines, spouses who annoy us and I think there was some mention of Tequila made.
Such a hotbed of nastiness and intrigue we are. I think we may need to up the Tequila imbibing if we are to have any hope of achieving your fondly held imaginations…
This passive aggressive full on fabrication of yours is getting old.
Go to troll school and at least learn how to be entertaining with it.
Don’t forget the water filters! And the mini horses! I think more tequila is in order, cheers! ::clink::
Can I be the “cute, innocent looking” one? Cause I think he meant me and I would totally be honored.
Only problem is I don’t have a husband and I’m not fucking around on my boyfriend.
Oh – LOSER.
Hi Arlene!
Hey Arlene I much more interested in twat than twits. Does the carpet match the drapes?
Oh really? LOL! Maybe next time you should post your name and not hide behind anonymity.
Funny how things get so twisted by idiots. As it is a private forum you are referring to, you must be a member as well in order to have a clue what is discussed there, either that or you are just talking out of your backside, much like the gamers and ‘children’ the alternate forum was created to avoid.
We are friends there, we are adults, and we DO care about the company, to the point that many there got banned from the official forum for telling it like it is regarding the gamers and troublemakers who apparently don’t have enough excitement in their own lives that they have to twist the words of others, then try to publish them as gospel behind a cowardly curtain of anonymity.
We do not bash the company itself, but at times sure, we will sometimes disagree as adults with certain policies, which occurs in the break room of any company. That is not bashing, but rather simple adult discussion as to what we think could help make the company better, because we DO care!
And yes, we bash those gamers or just plain clueless so called guides whose tactics tend to damage it from within, yet the company itself is reputable enough to not allow us to do on their official forum…because those clowns can hurt ChaCha, and yes we DO care!
So mole, either get a life, or crawl back into your hole if you are too much of a coward or liar to speak your mind openly instead of anonymously, for the only ones with anything to be ashamed of or hide are people like you!
Who are the real cowards hiding in a secret forum ?
Interesting, I posted here and the ChaCha bashing threads were deleted from your forum. The reason I don’t reveal my name is because of the crazy gun carrying Administrator who likes to threaten people over the Internet. Interesting…she claims to be graduating soon from law school, but is making threats in writing…not too smart.
My guess is you would be talking about me. I would like to invite you to talk to me privately about that little problem you have. I have threatened no one. But, if you need a good psychiatrist, I am positive we can find you an affordable one in your area that will help you cope with your compulsive lying. Would that be ok with you honey?
Medication, even.
Mark- your attention grasping is getting pathetic.
Isn’t it weird that it took a year for this to post? The date on the msg was over a year ago. PLUS, you can’t tell if they asked 2-3 questions in a row, and this must be an answer to a question they asked previously.
It’s so weird how everyone is so quick to bash ChaCha.
OH BTW, the funding information is public, so why is it that TechCrunch has that information incorrect?
Way to go TechCrunch, way to go.