Getting the right advice has just become easier with the launch of a new ‘decision engine’ application, Chuzer.com.
The decision-making tool, the first European entry into the rapidly growing social Q&A space, channels the expertise of the user’s social network to help make decisions on anything from movies to electronics.
The application is the brainchild of Nabil Meralli and Daliso Zuze, both entrepreneurs and recent MBA graduates of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
The idea arose when Zuze received a text from a friend asking for help deciding on a new mobile phone. “I started to think that there must be an easier way to categorise the expertise within one's social network,” Zuze recalled, “so that any question about a decision could be sent to the right people who could quickly respond with trustworthy advice.”
Zuze and Meralli set to work creating an application that brought the power of social network technology to bear on the latent wisdom, expertise and experience of friends. Users simply type a question into their mobile phone or PC and the Chuzer engine directs it to those friends it ranks as having the highest relevant expertise. The user then receives several recommendations, and the ‘expert’ whose answer he or she chooses moves up the community ranking for that subject. In this way, expertise is progressively analysed and ranked to ensure that questions are always sent to the right people.
“We hope Chuzer will change the way people go about the decision-making process,” commented Meralli. “What gives the venture such promise is that as more people use Chuzer, the wealth of information will provide an answer, supported by the expertise of trusted friends, to just about anything. Therein lies the true value of Chuzer.”
Meralli’s vision for Chuzer is supported by recent developments in the social network market and Google’s purchase of US-focused Q&A application Vark.com for $50 million.
Meralli and Zuze are not the first entrepreneurial partnership to meet at Saïd Business School’s MBA programme.
“Start-ups are something of a Saïd tradition with a number of very successful companies now established around the world,” commented Zuze, also a member of the Oxford Entrepreneurs group at the University.
“The School is known for its strength in entrepreneurship teaching and research, and for the practical support and experience it gives to students with entrepreneurial ambitions. In our case, the Oxford MBA, and particularly its inspiring Technology and Innovation Strategy elective, has been invaluable, and provided the very best framework for building a tech company like Chuzer.com.”
Zuze also praises the annual ‘Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford’ event at the School which brings together students, senior tech entrepreneurs and funders to discuss innovation in the sector.
Last year Meralli and Zuze followed in the footsteps of companies like Google and Twitter by presenting their concept for Chuzer at the event and received invaluable feedback on their plans. Zuze describes this experience as “truly inspiring and encouraging for all would-be technology entrepreneurs.”
www.chuzer.com