Interview with: Russ Rossi, President, Director and CEO - featuring: their computer-based self-assessment tool for K-12 students and beyond. |
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This is a printer friendly page! Quizam® Media is rolling out their computerized flashcard
product worldwide into countries such as South Africa, Saudi Arabia, China and the United
Kingdom with a new version of the software that is multilingual BIO: Rossi’s vision, computer programming background and
leadership will provide organizational and strategic direction for Quizam Media
Corporation. Mr. Rossi is multi-lingual, a world traveler, inventor of Quizam software,
holds a Bachelor of Education degree with Honors in Economics and Computer Science. Quizam Media Corporation’s mission is to empower over a billion school-aged children and university students globally with relevant, effective and fun study aids. We currently have more than 200 pilot schools using Quizam® worldwide. Quizam
Media Corporation trades on the TSX –V exchange under the symbol QQ. CEOCFO: What is the Quizam flagship
product? What differentiates Quizam from other assessment software is that it helps develop memory skills yet discourages rote memorization of content. No two quizzes are ever the same so the user learns how to think with given data to arrive to the right answer.” CEOCFO: How does the software work? Exams often have different question formats and so does Quizam. For example there’s a flashcard mode and fill-in the blanks mode. A quiz can be generated in more than one mode so the user can train the brain to think in ‘exam mode’. Essentially Quizam creates a ‘performance environment’ for students to answer questions similar to how it’s on an exam. It also as I mentioned earlier teaches the user how to think with given data to arrive to the right answer. The ‘distractor’ feature (similar answers but incorrect) is a feature that teachers like because it gives them a quick snapshot of areas of challenges a student or class may have in understanding an underlying concept of a subject. The speed in which questions are answered, percentage of correct answers and instantaneous feedback are all recorded and can be used as a goal orientated self- directed study strategy or printed out as a report.” CEOCFO: Is this applicable for any topic? CEOCFO: You have pilot schools; how are
you rolling out your services? Essentially our business model is a hybrid. Right now, the emphasis is on selling the product to individuals, educational institutions and enterprises. We are predominately a software products company. The majority of our revenue comes from software licenses and incremental upgrades. To a lesser degree we offer software services customizing content for our pilot schools and provide technical and integration support. We’re currently developing an online Quizam library and offering this service as an ‘added value’ with our product. Eventually this will become another source of continual revenue as an annual subscription fee.” CEOCFO: What in the geographical reach for
Quizam? The interface of Quizam is now multilingual. We have written a code in double-bite syntax. It can handle any language, whether it is Arabic, Chinese or Japanese; any of the character sets. We have a template in the program, so we literally go in and translate about 250 phrases. The user can specify preference of language in the Options Menu.” CEOCFO: In terms of the revenue
model, when you license to a school are they paying a flat fee? Quizam is affordable and our revenue model is on a sliding scale. The more computers and students that use Quizam the more cost effective it is for the school. For example, 500 students at $7.5 a head; 500 to 1,000 students is $5.00 and over 1,000 students it is $3.50.” The revenue model with our global partners of course is different. We sell licenses to regions. The licensees have the rights to sell the product. We are the backhand machine for deploying the product, but we share the revenue 75% for the licensee and 25% for Quizam.” CEOCFO: What are the results in the test
schools? CEOCFO: Can you tell us about some of the research that is being done that will show the need for your product? Mr. Rossi: “Clearly Quizam is needed or else we wouldn’t have such an overwhelming response to our product from schools around the world. Individualized teaching strategies, self-directed learning, distance learning, additional resource support are all hot issues in the educational field. Educators are looking for a solution that is simple, cost effective, complements their existing technology initiatives and that everyone is accountable. Students want to cut study time and score higher on tests so that they’ll pass to the next grade. Quizam addresses all these issues and offers a remarkable, simple but effective solution. According to Norman Doidge, a Canadian psychiatrist in his fascinating book The Brain That Changes Itself, the brain is malleable. The more you exercise and stimulate it with activities like puzzles, sudokus, crossword, and quizzes, the brain sharpens and continues to grow. Students and even baby boomers that use Quizam will have an advantage because their minds will stay agile.” CEOCFO: What is the financial picture like
for Quizam? We are prudent when it comes to keeping our expenses within certain boundaries. For sales and marketing we spend about 25 to 30 percent of the total revenues generated and for general administration, we spend about 5 percent. We have been increasing our revenue steadily month by month over the last few years. We have gone from a negative liquidity position to a very positive - almost twenty to one positive cash position.” CEOCFO: Are you looking to add to your
management team? CEOCFO: Are there education organizations
that are paying attention? We are steadily gaining recognition for providing software that is adaptable and complementary to third party software. I’m pleased that Beijing Morodo Technology and Quizam Media Corporation will be collaborating to develop mobile software applications – soon students will be able to use Quizam from their mobile phones.” CEOCFO: In closing, why should potential
investors look at Quizam Media at this time? Most
important, the timing for such a product is good. We live in a global community so now
Quizam is multilingual. The educational market is an eight billion market - there is
plenty of opportunity. Unfortunately- but fortunately for Quizam, the market is saturated
with complicated software that requires a steep learning curve. Most people do not have
the time to learn complicated software. Quizam requires no learning curve. Teachers,
parents and students can start creating quizzes within minutes and test their knowledge.
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“We’ve been very aggressive with signing new pilot schools because this is where we learn about specific system requirements, features that make teaching easier and studying more effective. In a sense, our target market is co-creating Quizam with us. We make the changes that need to be made and are creating a product that the market is demanding.” - Russ Rossi “My vision for Quizam Media Corporation was to become the leader in developing an innovative computer based flashcard system that would empower students worldwide. The company would be creative, dynamic and innovative. Today we currently have more than 200 schools worldwide using Quizam.” - Russ Rossi “What differentiates Quizam from other assessment software is that it helps develop memory skills yet discourages rote memorization of content. No two quizzes are ever the same so the user learns how to think with given data to arrive to the right answer.” - Russ Rossi |
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