Vincent Chou is a rabid video gamer, and it irks him that there's no easy way to find used video games at a reasonable cost. Or to sell a used game for a fair price after the fun has worn off.
So Chou and fellow grad student Pratap Shergill have formed
turboBOTZ -- an Internet marketplace that will bring buyers and sellers together to set their own prices.
The company was formed in Chicago but will move to Cincinnati this spring after a recent $250,000 investment by
CincyTech, a public-private venture development organization serving southwest Ohio.
Both Chou and Shergill participated in a program offered last fall by
The Brandery, a seed-stage consumer marketing startup accelerator in Cincinnati. Chou says the business partners were referred to The Brandery after getting high marks in the business plan competition at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, but failing to meet the criteria for a similar accelerator program in Chicago.
The Brandery, formed last year, helped the pair think about retail strategy and strategic partnerships, according to a CincyTech news release. CincyTech provided $20,000 to support The Brandery's first class of startups and now has made turboBOTZ its 20th portfolio company.
Chou says the $250,000 investment will allow it to operate in its first year. A formal launch of the service is planned within three to four months and the company is currently hiring staff, which Chou expects to total four to five initially.
"We already have one hire from the Cincinnati area," Chou says. "Once we raise a little bit more money, ideally I can see us being a 20- to 30-person shop."
Chou doesn't graduate from Booth until around New Years, he says, meaning some long commutes between now and then. Shergill, however, graduates this summer.
"So he'll be able to spend a little more time in Cincinnati," Chou says.
Source: Vincent Chou, turboBOTZ
Writer: Gene Monteith