For the second year in a row, Zizo Technologies has nabbed the No. 1 spot in Buffalo Inno Madness.
Zizo, headquartered on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, integrates gamification with companies’ data and business intelligence systems of record to help customer service, contact center and collections businesses.
The startup comfortably beat Ognomy in the final round of voting with 65.2% of the votes compared to Ognomy’s 34.8%.
Votes came from Buffalo Inno's readers based on one question: Which of these startups would you back with your investment dollars? Today, the final answer is revealed.
'More than a gamification platform'
If a salesperson’s goal is to make a certain number of calls per day, that target can be gamified and the user can be given automated analytics.
That’s what Zizo does through emulating popular video games, mobile apps and three-dimensional avatars.
“Our product is more than a gamification platform,” said Jimmy Chebat, CEO and founder. “We can provide a ton of data intelligence and have all the data reporting in one place.”
As of February 2023, the business had nearly 10 organizations on its platform with close to 200 users. Two of the groups were in the late stages of proof of concept, and Chebat expected them to scale to potentially thousands of users.
The startup, which employed about 27 as of early this year, has over $1 million in total annual recurring revenue based on its current contracts.
After educating people on the gamification concept and how it can help recruitment and retainment of sales staff, Zizo’s goal is to move away from deals with 100 users and toward more clients with 500 or more users.
The business is shifting that focus by continuing to create a great user experience and having Zizo merchandise with its branding on it, among other moves. The goal is for word to spread about the startup through sales agents who use it, talk about it and suggest it to employers when they change companies, according to Chebat.
“We want to build brand ambassadors,” he said.
