Umberto Oinbarx: Good morning, Nick. Are you ready for our questions, both tough and easy?
Nick Matina: Go on, shoot.
Umberto Oinbarx: How did you come up with the idea to create ChatStat?
Nick Matina: I was running a website. A storefront. To properly run the store, I had to manage FOUR programs: WEBTRENDS LIVE, LIVEPERSON by Timpani, TRILLIAN, SKYPE. They were all different.
Umberto Oinbarx: And it was tough, yeah?
Nick Matina: Hard to learn, each with its intrinsic shortcomings. In now way connected, or even aware of each other. Also very expensive... $150 for live person, $60 for webtrends, per month.
Umberto Oinbarx: So you decided to make a universal tool?
Nick Matina: Yes. But not just one that combined them... But one that INTERTWINED them.
So they could work together in new ways never before conceived.
Umberto Oinbarx: and MovingGraph? Why did you decide to include it?
Nick Matina: For example... :) By combining a statistics engine with a LIVE CHAT ENGINE... and a VOIP CLIENT. I can now provide STATISTICS ON CHAT and STATISTICS ON VOIP.
That is what I mean by "intertwined". MovingGraph was specifically designed to solve a different problem.
Umberto Oinbarx: And the statistics is used for business planning?
Nick Matina: Let me tell you a little about MovingGraph.
Business Planning, Marketing Research, Hardware Need Prediction, and many other things.
Advertising Return on Investment.
Keyword Tracking
Search Engine / Keyword / Bid Price Tracking
Specific Auction Tracking
Operator Performance, Popularity, and Work Habits.
Auction Traffic Tracking (5 auctions = 5 graphs)
Now, I could have used ANY GRAPH to do all of these things.
In fact, when we started, that is what we used, a standard, still, old school graphing system.
It uses a calendar, and you pick the start and end dates, and it takes a min, and gives you a nice graph to look at.
Umberto Oinbarx: Can I clear some? What is Auction Traffic Tracking? Is it about Ebay and the like?
Nick Matina:
Yes... Ebay. As of two days ago, ChatStat added a feature for full Ebay chat support, text or VoIP. Would you like to see it?
Umberto Oinbarx: Yes.
Nick Matina: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220035917370
That is the first IN AUCTION LIVE CHAT we have ever seen by anybody.
It is also OPERATOR AWARE. It can turn on the right icon, based on if you are there or not, using only the most basic of allowed script.
Now... Back to MovingGraph, ok?
Umberto Oinbarx: Yeah.
Nick Matina: MovingGraph moves. It is cool. It can show you data in a completely new way.
Four buttons. Left mouse zoom out, right mouse zoom in, F5 for spreadsheet view, F6 for FREEZE. That is all. You don’t need to know anything else.
The first time you open it you will be able to use it.
It can graph up to FOUR GIGABYTES of data with smooth animation on a notebook with half GB of ram. In motion. Now you will not have to ask, show me this week, or this day.
Now you can ask, show me everything, and let me look around.
It is like flying through time.
Umberto Oinbarx: Back to business history? So ChatStat is not your first commercial project?
Nick Matina: No. Two other came before it.
www.price.com,
www.monstercommerce.com
Umberto Oinbarx: Can you expand about it? Were they success?
Nick Matina: Price.com is pricing comparison engine, still in business today.
It grew from 2 to 45 employees in first year. Still privately owned and successful today.
MonsterCommerce - Shopping Cart Provider. First ever to use innovative SIDE BAR SHOPPING CART. 3 years after inception, it was purchased by Network Solutions for an UNCONFIRMED amount of 34M.
Umberto Oinbarx: Now about your team staffing policy. Do you have to fire your programmers or do they leave your team?
Nick Matina: That is a very strange question
I do not have to fire programmers. My programmers are good.
Umberto Oinbarx: ok, how do you hire them then? how do you find them?
Nick Matina:
Josh worked with me on MonsterCommerce.
He programmed MonsterCommerce Version 4.0
He has been with me for a LONG TIME.
He is my right hand.
MC 4.0 was a final contender for CODIE AWARD 2006
Adam, my server guy, from MC
Some people have followed me through projects all the way back to Price.com
one project after the other... :)
Umberto Oinbarx: How big is your team now?
Nick Matina:
CEO - Nick Matina
Advisor - Morris Miller Founder RackSpace.com
Advisor - Charlie Paglee Founder Vozin Communications
CTO - Josh Ott Full Time Lead Programmer
CFO - Gina Taghaboni Full Time Accounting
CMO - Phil Morettini Marketing Consultant, standing by for funding
Mike Bailey Part Time Programmer, standing by for funding
Mitchell Procner Full Time Senior Programmer
Matt Winkler Full Time Lead Artist
Umberto Oinbarx: And you do one project at a time?
Nick Matina: Only because i have to. I have two more waiting... But that is ANOTHER story... :)
Umberto Oinbarx: Not now?
Nick Matina: Impossible. ChatStat requires all of my attention...
Umberto Oinbarx: How much do you think formal IT education is necessary to run a software project?
Nick Matina: Not very much, actually. I know quite a few IT managers who do not have fancy degrees, but a lot of practical experience and entrepreneurial spirit instead. In fact, I’m familiar with a couple of very successful businesspeople in software development, who are high school drop-outs :-).
Umberto Oinbarx: Who do you think will be ChatStat typical customer?
Nick Matina:
E-Commerce Storefront Websites
Web Site Administrators
Marketing Departments
Technical Support Departments
Any website that needs live chat or web statistics.
Businesses who need multi-platform instant messenger and/or multi platform VOIP soft phone support.
CALL CENTERS
Joshua Ott: What’s unique about ChatStat is that you could just use it as an internal IM platform as well.
Umberto Oinbarx: is it primarily for big or medium-size businesses?
Nick Matina: Yes. Our target is broad. Realistically, our customer base crosses over into THREE separate categories:
- LIVE CHAT users.
- WEB STATS users
- IM / VOIP users
And so the answer to your question is this:
Our primary user base will come from a portion of each of the three OVERLAPPING customer pools as described above.
Umberto Oinbarx: Now ChatStat is free and at the same time completely working program. Where is the hook?
Nick Matina: FOD (Features on Demand) defined as:
The ability to turn on and off features as you wish, where each feature is individually controlled and priced, and where many of these features are completely free.
Umberto Oinbarx: But it works without FODs too...
Joshua Ott: Yes. For an example Website Manager
Nick Matina: Josh, explain to them FOD, my fingers hurt. LOL
Joshua Ott: With the website manager we provide 5 FREE Website slots that includes Stat Tracking, Chatting, Operators, Departments etc
Umberto Oinbarx: Unlimited Depts, yeah?
Joshua Ott: Yes.
Nick Matina: FOD> HEAVY TRAFFIC
FOD> MORE USERS THAN FIVE
Only limitation, but only 10 per month per level anyway.
Joshua Ott: Imagine a user with 20 websites. That’s 20 sites of stat tracking, 20 sites of constant bandwidth and etc. In all fairness FOD is needed just so we can support them properly
Umberto Oinbarx: Yes, I remember. But for your free features other software charge quite a bit...
Joshua Ott: And they charge too much. No? :)
Nick Matina: ChatStat's pricing policy can be summed up best as free to some, inexpensive to others. Basic use of the ChatStat software will be completely free. Essential features such as live chat and site statistics will be included at no charge, and each user may have as many websites as they wish. The FREE version comes with FIVE free operator seats per website. Totally free accounts will also have a small "Powered by ChatStat" clickable link with in the instant messenger window during live chat. Only when an account has reached a certain level of bandwidth, or if the user wishes to add more features to the software, will they incur a charge.
Customers can purchase On Demand features for only $9.95/month per feature. They can be activated and deactivated "on the fly" by going to the Purchase Upgrades menu and selecting the items you want activated instantly. Using this model, customers only pay for what they need.
Examples of FOD
http://chatstat.com/foDemand.php
Umberto Oinbarx: Will ChatStat become a paid program, like LivePerson and others?
Nick Matina: That is what FEATURES ON DEMAND is, paid.
Each FOD cost $10 per month per feature.
Umberto Oinbarx: But the basic version? No?
Joshua Ott: ChatStat itself along with the currently listed free options as of today on our website, will always be free.
Nick Matina: These FOD enhance the softare above the FREE LEVEL. We do not have BASIC, PRO, ETC... That is another company. :) We have a list of things we give for free. We have a list of things you can buy.
Joshua Ott: Exactly. So to answer your question is “No”.
Nick Matina: INDIVIDUALLY, and you may turn them on and off as you wish. FOD.
Umberto Oinbarx: Can you criticize your competitors, like Livehelper or Velaro?
Nick Matina: Sure… (
http://chatstat.com/compare.php)
Also, add to that list.
EBAY SUPPORT
MULTI SITE SUPPORT
Nobody else has either of these two. That we know of. That is a feature we call DIRECTLINK
You can now put chat icons anywhere. Email signature, Ebay auction, FORUMS, and news articles.
Umberto Oinbarx: Your clients will be completely dependent on your server, true?
Nick Matina: Yes. But not one. Three. Multi redundant. Fault tolerant. Mirrored. Three to start.
Umberto Oinbarx: So it is secure enough?
Nick Matina: MonsterCommerce, when I left there, had 241 servers.
My experience in building a shopping cart, the most attacked site type in the world, helps me here.
Umberto Oinbarx: You mean ChatStat will also develop this way?
Nick Matina: No.
We don’t really have anything to secure. All your passwords and data are kept on your local machine. All of your stats are streamed to your local machine. And your credit card is never held by us, it is processed by authorize.net for us, our CC provider. However, even the transfer of these items is done in 256 bit SSL.
Umberto Oinbarx: Now, can we switch to Josh?
Nick Matina: Sure. If it is ok with you. I will only monitor this. I have an investor meeting at 4pm. I must prepare.
Umberto Oinbarx: Shall we mention it in the interview? :)
Nick Matina: investment? Sure. We are seeking (investors). I have detailed information available to suitable investors.
Umberto Oinbarx: Who is your role model in programming? If you have any?
Joshua Ott: Really don’t have one. I love all programmers :)
Umberto Oinbarx: Do you have any ideas how to reduce the traffic between users and Chatstat servers?
Joshua Ott: Well that was actually an issue the was resolved with the release of v2.2.xx :) We completely redesigned our server software, which now cuts back on bandwidth by over 50%.
Our new updated system is now faster, cleaner, and more secure. And we only stream stats about once per hour to client machines. But they also have the option to turn OFF data streaming via the operator to save on even more bandwidth. We could but either way it would be a steady constant connection and server sending data to client over and over.
Umberto Oinbarx: ChatStat client requests new information from the server everytime, but can we make it the server responsibility? And client will only be waiting for the server's packets (listening port)?
Joshua Ott: Its very key to keep the client constantly up to date with new web users, chatting users and etc.
Umberto Oinbarx: Do you like developing Chatstat?
Joshua Ott: I enjoy it a lot. There are a lot of new integrations upcoming that always keeps things fresh in a coder’s standpoint.
Umberto Oinbarx: ChatStat is developed with .NET framework. Aren't you afraid that your sources will be accessible for other programmers? I mean that .NET framework is easy to decompile.
Joshua Ott: While they might be able to see class name and method names, accessing the code / reverse engineering is a breech of contract / license agreement. Even if they do try and decompile it, the entire .exe is encrypted.
Umberto Oinbarx: Ok. So your clients are secure, their chatters are secure, and so you are.
Joshua Ott: That’s right. All web chatters use SSL on the web side as well
Umberto Oinbarx: Thanks a lot. We wish you all the best in your software projects. Good luck in your life, both online and offline.
Related Links:
Interview with Nick Matina - ChatStat CEO, and Josh Ott - Lead Programmer.
Author: Umberto Oinbarx
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