ChaCha, the lonely search engine, waits for a text message

Hoosier-powered search engine ChaCha has unveiled a feature developed with the help of $2 million in Indiana state funds: mobile-phone-based searches. Scott Jones, the serial entrepreneur behind ChaCha, would like everyone to believe that this is a whole new category of search. Actually, it's something Google has been doing for years. (Try texting a search query to 46645 on your phone.) ChaCha's innovation? Instead of getting an answer back in seconds from a Google server, you have to wait minutes for a human "guide" to respond. More »

Boldly searching where no man has searched before

ChaCha, the Hoosier-powered search engine which uses conscripted human guides who work for former ChaCha board members at a public university, has struggled to distinguish itself as anything more than an object of prank callers. So how does the little search engine from Indiana plan to boost user numbers? By boldly going where no man has gone before! ChaCha is courting the Trekkie set by using some of the $10 million it got in a recent financing round to fund the production of the fan-produced Star Trek: New Voyages. More »

Entrepreneur backs politician, politician backs his startups

Scott Jones, serial entrepreneur, has received an additional $8 million in funding from Mort Meyerson, formerly of Perot Systems and EDS, for his startup ChaCha. You'd think with such wealthy backers, Jones wouldn't have to tap the public till. But no: ChaCha was recently granted $2 million from Indiana's 21st Century Technology Fund administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to build new, innovative features. What are these innovations that will debut next year, and how did the already well-funded startup receive this state-funded aid? More »

Hoosier daddy? Indiana reporter trades university beat for university job

When we first began to cover the many close relationships between flauntrepreneur Scott Jones's ChaCha search engine and Indiana University, the Indiana Herald-Times was one of the few local newspapers to closely question the relationship. Steve Hinnefeld of the Herald-Times was even following Valleywag's coverage, and came to similar conclusions: Although nothing legally wrong occurred, IU officials' failure to disclose their ChaCha ties was suspicious. However, since then the newspaper has provided the issue little attention. Why? More »

Indiana University and ChaCha's Scott Jones have same idea

Remember ChaCha, the "human-powered" search engine based in Indiana with curiously deep — and poorly disclosed — ties to local power brokers? Now, Indiana University contends its decision to select human-assisted search engine ChaCha had nothing to do with those ties. University president and former ChaCha board member, Michael McRobbie, had nothing to do with it. Neither did newly appointed university trustee and Chacha investor and advisor, Jack Gill. The decision was made solely by the university's CTO Brad Wheeler. Oh, but never mind that Wheeler was appointed by McRobbie, his predecessor in the CTO post. A new Fortune profile of Chacha CEO and founder Scott Jones makes this telling of events even more suspiciously convenient. More »

ChaCha searches for political clout

We'd heard of state birds, but official state websites? Yes. Mitch Daniels, Indiana's governor, helped select human-powered search engine ChaCha as the state's official website. He also played a role in conscripting Indiana University staff as unpaid "guides" for ChaCha. Now it's time for Scott Jones, CEO and founder of ChaCha, his investors, and friends to return the favor. Tomorrow, Jones will be hosting a fundraiser at his megamansion, inviting business leaders both Midwestern and bicoastal with the hope of raising a million dollars in a single day. More »

ChaCha supporters circle the wagons

Boosterism is a proud middle-American tradition, deftly parodied by Garrison Keillor. But even a fabulist like Keillor would be hard-pressed to come up with townspeople as self-satisfied and uncritical as the boosters of Bloomington, Indiana, who have stood relentlessly behind local search startup ChaCha. Despite the questions Valleywag and others have raised about a deal between ChaCha and Indiana University, whose president, Michael McRobbie, is a former ChaCha board member, the townfolk have stood steadfastly behind their local tech hero. Take, for example, the reaction to a story in the Indiana Herald-Times calling for "aggressive disclosure" (subscription required) regarding the deal. The conclusion was similar to ours and seemed obvious — but not obvious to at least one local booster. More »

A high-tech CEO's Midwestern megamanse

Scott Jones, CEO of search engine ChaCha, has built a high-tech wonderland of a mansion in central Indiana to rival any abode in Silicon Valley. The 27,000 sq. ft. English country manor, selected by HGTV as the No. 1 home in America, melds old-world charm with a hardcore nerd's wet dreams. Amenities include the obligatory, and thoroughly geeky, automated lighting, air conditioning, and media systems controlled by touchscreen and a workstation sporting eight large LCDs (one of twenty-six computers in the home). Jones's playthings, however, don't stop with the typical high technology. More »

Controversy keeps growing in IU-ChaCha deal

The Herald-Times of Bloomington, Indiana has followed up (subscription required) on our previous story questioning the Indiana University-ChaCha deal. The local paper's charitable conclusion: Neither side lied, but both independently made contradictory "inadvertent errors." As did the newspaper, in reporting on a new development — without pointing out the glaringly obvious ChaCha link. Newly appointed Indiana University trustee Jack Gill is not a full-time resident of Indiana, a requirement for trustees appointed by the Governor to the University — but he's also a venture capitalist and major investor in ChaCha (PDF). More »