AskMe.com Launches Question & Answer Service

Posted on March 21, 2000

AskMe.com, formerly XpertSite.com, has announced the launch of its new question and answer service on the Web. AskMe.com claims to have 30,000 experts who have answered more than 200,000 questions to date in over 2000 categories. AskMe.com's experts range from people with professional degrees to people who have knowledge based on life experiences.

AskMe.com was founded under the name XpertSite.com in July 1999 by a group of former Microsoft employees. They launched the first version of the Q&A service for market testing in early September 1999. Based on feedback from users, the service was renamed AskMe.com and redesigned with a new interface and features a bonus point system that rewards top rated experts and users.

``Consumer-to-consumer Q&A has become one of the hottest services on the Web today. Most e-commerce transactions that take place on the Web involve people asking advice of other people,'' said Udai Shekawat, co-founder of AskMe.com. ``Our goal is to play a role in all those millions of transactions and provide the power of consumer-to-consumer Q&A to Web sites around the world.''

AskMe.com has expanded from 3 employees to over 60 employees in the first seven months of operation. In late February, AskMe.com announced a strategic alliance with Web portal Go2Net, which included a $10 million investment by Go2Net in the company. AskMe's revenue model includes income from advertising, sponsorships, and distribution of its content through partnerships.