The idea of Shweet is simple: create the buzz and enter the chance to win a very cool prize. The idea might be simple but engaging with Shweet is very interesting. Kibboko, the parent company of Shweet, was founded by Keith Bates, a successful entrepreneur and investor.

Shweet has been launched recently that allows marketeers to promote their products as well as services via small ad campaigns. It lets the users to spread the word around them. In exchange of that, they get a chance to win some cool prizes. They just need to click on the link provided by marketeer and share it in their social networks on Facebook and Twitter.

Every time you shweet, you earn some points in return. The winners are chosen randomly. Well, it is a great platform for marketeers as well as other users. The former one gets a chance to do easy promotion with a better reach and users, of course, can add some cool prizes in their basket.

Keith, please introduce yourself to E-junkies.

I am the founder and CEO of Kibboko, Inc., the parent company ofShweet.com. Kibboko is my second venture-backed startup and we’re fortunate to have a tremendous group of people. I’ve been a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and adviser to venture firms. Kibboko was launched in the summer of 2008, in partnership with GrowthWorks Capital, who have been tremendous. Shweet™is our second major product. Our first product was a recommendation service called Scout™.Kibboko’s services have served over 30 million unique visitors and we have nine patents pending.

Tell us about 'Shweet' and the fascinating concept it uses. How does it work?

Shweet.comis a new service where people can discover new sites, videos, products and so on, and then share them via social media networks. People who share are then entered into draws for prizes. We call it Sharing With Benefits™. Our Shweet Bar helps stimulate the viral re-distribution of ad messages. From the advertiser's perspective Shweet is a new turn-key platform for distributing an ad message into social media streams, giving it the potential to go viral.

You guys are in your initial stage. What kind of response has 'Shweet' received so far?

The response has been great, far surpassing our hopes. The best part is that we've had good reviews from both our users and our advertisers. Advertisers like how quick and easy it is to set up a contest.

What are three words that best describe Shweet?

Transparent, friendly, and fun. Transparent because we display key data for all our contests, right on Shweet.com. This is a first in the advertising industry. Every advertiser can see how its ad and the ads of others are doing, both from our site and via the Shweet Bar. And we are transparent because we are easy to know and reach: our site has names, email addresses and phone numbers. Many web companies make it hard to connect a live person, or even to figure out who to contact. Not us! Second, we are friendly because we take the time to personally answer all support emails and winner claims. And we are fun because we're all about sharing crazy and interesting videos, sites and more with friends -- and we give out free prizes!

Tell us about the pre-launch experience. What were the difficulties you had to face?

I wish I had some great war story here, but it was a fairly smooth process. Shweet is our second major product offering, so at this stage we have developed a team and a creative process that allows us to move quickly and effectively and to avoid common pitfalls during conception and initial development.

What do you think is the most important thing in starting up a new venture or launching a new product? What one should be the most careful about?

People are the most important element in a new venture.This is no surprise.The products and direction will change over time, but one gets only a single chance to create a company culture. At Kibboko we run a strenuous hiring process that goes beyond the level of most small companies and even most startups. We select for accomplishments, talent, creativity, energy and--most importantly-- character and integrity. The result is a team and culture that has built two ground-breaking products, filed nine patents and are growing fast.

Share the best incident that you encountered on this journey from conceiving the idea till present.

Without question the highest emotional points for me come when we introduce new products, major upgrades or release our videos (which we create ourselves).Those are happy events. I remember when we launched Shweet for example, back in January. I finished late that day and went out to dinner, big smile on my face, and as I sat in the restaurant I just wanted to leap up and grab the waiter and shout in his face “Do you know what we did today?We launched SHWEET!Don’t you get it?!”.But I didn’t do that. I just ate my dinner with a happy smile. And left a nice tip.

What methods or tools are you most rely on, for promoting your product?

Nothing mysterious, just a combination of word of mouth, promotion by advertisers and partners, and some ads. As for advertising, we like AOL’s ad network; it’s a superb service. And we’ve enjoyed good results with some other networks too.

What is your vision for 'Shweet' as a whole? Where do you project it to see 2 years from now?

Our vision for Shweet is that it grows to be a platform for which thousands of advertisers big and small reach when they want to get their message out. We make it easy to set up and run contests that bring in traffic to the sites of our advertisers.

Since you've recently started up your business, one can look up to you for the best advice. What message do you have for them?

I generally don’t believe in generalist advice, especially for new ventures. Every situation is unique in time and space. But it is important to concentrate on understanding the reality in front of you. Keep idealism and wishful thinking out of it. I am not an idealist. If you get a grip on the situation and the environment,then good business sense, or at least common sense, will guide you to the right answer most of the time.

Keith, thanks for a wonderful interview. It was a pleasure to have you with us. Your start-up concept is great and we wish you all the very best!

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