Ruth Ann S. Basnillo

SYSANAL

O0A

James Currier

Founder, Tickle

            James Currier founded Tickle (formerly Emode) in 1999.

            After it was acquired by Monster in 2004 for about $100 million, Currier founded Ooga Labs which is a digital media studio that develops consumer Internet Applications.

            He started it after having taken a personality test in one of his Harvard Business School classes because he got interested with the people who talked about the result of the test for two weeks. He then thought that testing could be incredibly powerful because people love talking about themselves, love talking about people they know, and he knew it could really be viral.

            The particular problem his startup addressed mostly just had to do with his employees. An example is his VP of engineering whom they needed to let go because he wasn’t working out but they had a problem with him because he seemed unstable. Another thing was his head of HR whom he trusted to create a maternity leave policy without knowing that she was already pregnant at the time but just didn’t tell them until after a few weeks. The problem was that the policy she created suggests 5 months maternity leave with full payment should be given to pregnant employees. And the outcome was that several of them have off salary since they were running out of money. I think this startup was an improvement of something that existed before and that something is the paper and pencil system for personal testing.

            People used the service offered by tickle because aside from their interest with anxiety, parenting, relationship, and communication tests; they also love to have fun tests which will let them talk about themselves to other people.

            It had an impact in the history of Internet in a way that it had paved way for the Internet to be known to be a good way of taking online personality tests. Moreover, fun tests could also be done through the Internet.

            What’s unique about this startup was that it was something that let people know themselves better and talk about it to others. It, I believe, increased self-esteem because people tend to realize what their strengths are.

            The existing system for these different kinds of personality tests were tests made on papers and pencils wherein circles are filled out that answers the questions of the test.

            If I were in the founder’s shoes, I would have also pursued this idea that I had even though people I’ve been talking about it with doesn’t seem to understand what I was talking about. But then, I would not just trust my employees so easily the way he did.

            I think, the startup would have been possible in a Third world country because places in this area are already into the Web thing and so, they could have also thought of this idea. The peculiar characteristic that this startup had was that it was something that’s based on people’s personality. It flourished in the place where it was conceived because people here loved talking about themselves and Tickle has become one good media for it.

10 THINGS I DIND’T KNOW:

1. After reading the case study, I learned that Tickle is a site wherein people could take different kinds of test that has something to do with knowing themselves better. Before, I didn’t know about Tickle.
2. After reading the case study, I learned that the founder, which is James Currier, was also a former venture capitalist. Before, I didn’t know that he was the one who founded Tickle.
3. After reading the case study, I learned that people tend to not have an interest with an idea that nothing about it exists yet. Before, I thought that this is not true because there are some who could easily understand your ideas even though nothing about it exists yet.
4. After reading the case study, I learned that Emode was the initial name of Tickle. Before, I didn’t know that Tickle had a former name.
5. After reading the case study, I learned that people tend to be really self-centered that talking about them for a long time is not that very hard and tiring. Before, I thought that talking about you to other people for a very long period of time is so very boring.
6. After reading the case study, I learned that iVillage tried to copy Tickle but failed. Before, I didn’t know anything about iVillage.
7. After reading the case study, I learned that Currier’s main problem on the startup was about his employees because he had a mistake on hiring them. Before, I didn’t know that this became the main problem of Tickle.
8. After reading the case study, I learned that the founder of Tickle almost didn’t marry his wife because of Tickle. Before, I didn’t know that this could also happen when you really had the passion to make your startup work.
9. After reading the case study, I learned that after hiring a VP of engineering, Currier had the time to marry his wife. Before, I didn’t know anything about this.
10. After reading the case study, I learned that Monster acquired tickle for about $100 million. Before, I didn’t know that Tickle was acquired.