ARE YOUR QUESTIONS BEING IGNORED? WITH CUESTIONA.ME, YOU GET ANSWERS

QUICK PITCH:  Cuestiona.me is a startup that has developed a platform that unites the voices of the society and communities to find answers. 

THE BUSINESS:  Cuestiona.me is a digital platform that allows users to create questions or comments addressed to leaders, organizations or people of influence.

THE “AHA” MOMENT:   In Latin America (as in the rest of the world), social media has become an outlet for people to speak out and express their opinions.  Many of us have the same questions to the same leaders and we all use the same social media but may of our questions or comments are left unanswered.  It is very easy to use social media, but it is very hard to be heard.  As a result, we created Cuestiona.me with the idea of making “voices” relevant so that leaders can hear them, respond to them and take action.  The most important question, is the question of the majority.

HOW IT MAKES MONEY:  As a digital platform, Cuestiona.me is currently exploring various business models.  A B2B model with the media channels (TV, web, newspapers) in which they pay for the use of Cuestiona.me to better address what topics their audience would like to hear.  A B2C model with people of influence and leaders in which they pay for a premium profile with top topics, analytics and resources to better serve their audience. Another model we are investigating is sponsoring questions.

BUSINESS IT COULD DISRUPT:  Cuestiona.me is a bottom-up questions and answers platform that brings users, fans, citizens and/or communities together to raise a question or comment above the noise of the social media clutter and be heard.  Today, everybody can tweet everyone in the world, but it is very hard to get a response.  Cuestiona.me’s unique value proposition is that by helping a question to become relevant, users can be heard and engage more with leaders, celebrities, athletes, companies and/or brands.  The questions that are popular typically reflect the kinds of information that people are thinking about and looking for.

MARKET SIZE:  The growth of social media worldwide has been explosive.  This create a great opportunity for Cuestiona.me.  The ability of everyone to express their point of view has created the pain of too many asking the same questions to the same leaders, and not getting answers.  Some numbers: The total Internet users worldwide size was 2.4billion (Internet World Stats) in 2013. About 1.7 billion of those were using social media (eMarketer Report). That is 22% of the world population is using social media with a growth rate of 14% y-o-y.  Only in the US, Americans 18-24 year olds are averaging 20 hours per month on social media (Business Insider).  That is why 41% of marketers use social media in their marketing campaigns.  Social media is now a prominent space. Cuestiona.me wants to make those topics that are relevant to many so that there are answers.

LIKELY COMPETITORS:  There are no direct competitors for Cuestiona.me at this point.  There are a few companies in the question-and-answer space like Quora, Reddit, Ask.fm.  Their value propositions are adjacent to Cuestiona.me’s.  We’re focused on bottom-up questions, comments and answers from a community or the society to leaders or people of influence.  We’re focused on providing to leaders the questions of the majority so that they know the voice of their followers and they can provide answers with the biggest impact.  Leaders, celebrities, athletes, companies and/or brands now can contribute and engage with their followers, ambassadors and users by providing answers.  It’s a win-win for leaders and users. Cuestiona.me wants to be the “go to” place for relevant questions from a community with answers from their leaders for both English and Spanish-speaking users.

PARTNERSHIPS OR COLLABORATIONS:  Cuestiona.me is working with two TV stations in Colombia.  They have done two TV news shows with them and also provided a white label plug-in for their website.  Cuestiona.me is an excellent tool for journalist because they are constantly facing leaders and users.  They can interview a leader and use Cuestiona.me to ask what is the majority’s question of interest.

MANAGEMENT TEAM:  Alejandro Quintero and Oswaldo Alvarez

RANDOM QUESTIONS FOR CUESTIONA.ME:

Who are your role models?  Answer:  Those who are able to make an impact in the world with ideas, words and thoughts such as Mandela, Malala, Dalai Lama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi and others.

What’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur?  Answer:  The possibility of creating something from scratch on your own

What’s the best advice that anyone has given you?  Answer:  Do not be afraid of change. You are your biggest roadblock

What advice would you give to others?  Answer:  Do not be afraid to change now

Quick Pitch features most innovative early-stage startups founded by Latino entrepreneurs from the Manos Accelerator program.  It profiles company pitches, interviews and guest columns by experts in the startup scene.  For more information, go to www.manosaccelerator.com.