Wiselike is a knowledge-sharing platform backed by some of Silicon Valley's most prominent investors like GGV Capital, 500 Startups, and more. Wiselike's mission is to allow you to learn anything from anyone. I had the opportunity to chat briefly with Kyu Lee, CEO of Wiselike, about his plans for the company and the progress so far.
What is Wiselike and why'd you start it?
Wiselike is a website where you can create your own Q&A page where people can ask you questions. By answering questions on your page, you are building yourself up as a leader in your space. It's similar to blogging, except people are telling you what to write about.
My cofounders and I started Wiselike because we felt the world would be a much better place if people shared their knowledge more. Everybody has some knowledge, if shared, can really help others. By sharing what you know, you may help a high school student get into college, or bring a family out of poverty, or help someone get a promotion. The possibilities are limitless with knowledge sharing. Wiselike allows that to happen.
How does Wiselike work?
Anyone can create their own Q&A page in a few seconds. When you sign up, you will enter your name and some short descriptions about yourself. You can then share your page with others and see questions roll in. Questions only become public once you answer them. This allows you to ignore a question without anyone really knowing you ignored that question. Once you answer a questions, others can 'appreciate' it which is the equivalent to a Facebook 'like.'
What type of people tend to gravitate towards Wiselike?
Currently, we have a lot of authors, entrepreneurs, marketers, business owners, career coaches, and consultants. They all have something in common. They need to brand themselves well in order to grow in their careers. Wiselike allows them to do that easily.
What's Wiselike's international presence now? What's the goal? How does this relate with revenue?
We actually have a presence in over 30 countries although our most popular market is definitely the United States. This goes to show that knowledge sharing is seen favorably all over the world. Our goal is for Wiselike to be as international as the internet. No matter who you are, you can always be learning from someone and we want that to happen on Wiselike. In the next 12 months, we plan to take a more aggressive approach to internationalization. Big markets with prevalent internet usage like China, India, and Russia make a lot of sense for us.
Right now, we are more focused on growing our user base. But our business model has to do with the fact that we can target users very easily. For example, people who ask questions to Facebook Ad experts are most likely marketers. People who ask questions to the Dean of a medical school are interested in attending that medical school.
Anything exciting happening in the near future?
We're working on a few exciting things at the moment. We're working to launch our mobile app as soon as possible. Also, we plan to play a big role in the upcoming 2016 elections. Wiselike is a great platform for politicians to interact with voters.