I posted earlier about www.exxams.com and their free
downloadable exam papers and marking guides etc.

This is the background to the organisation:

                     Exxams.com

                     02 November 2000

                     The start of the autumn saw a new
portal launched to smooth the way to exam success. The
company,
                     exxams.com, was formed last year
by three MBA graduates from City University. EPO.com
speaks to
                     co-founder Chris Odeh.

                     What does the company do?
                     "Exxams.com has been set up to
serve the examination-taking community. It provides a
gateway to exams
                     success and career progression.
As a portal, exxams.com has pioneered the development
of proprietary
                     content exclusively for a target
market. Exxams.com has the largest database of past
exams questions and
                     answers, tutorials, and revision
guides by subject for GCSE, GCE A-level, CIMA, ACCA,
AAT and many more
                     professional courses."

                     When was the company launched?
Who owns the company?
                     "Exxams.com Ltd was registered as
a private company in December 1999, and the website
was launched in
                     September 2000. Exxams.com is
privately held, 90% of equity is held by founding
member with friends and
                     family, while 10% is held by
employees and reserved for option scheme."

                     What is the company's present
financial position?
                     "Exxams.com raised a total of
£100,000 from friends and family, including funds
invested by founding
                     members. Exxams.com has a
long-term view and believes that early external
funding might stifle creativity
                     and creates a culture of
dependency and poor financial management. Exxams.com
will seek external funding
                     for expansion when it is
appropriate to do so."

                     How does the company earn its
revenues currently and where will these be
                     generated in the future?
                     "Exxams.com currently earns its
revenue from advertising, while it intends to continue
to generate such
                     revenue, its main revenue streams
will come from e-learning applications that includes;
(e-books, software,
                     online tuition). Exxams is
currently in negotiations with various parties to that
effect."

                     What gave you the idea in the
first place?
                     "The exxams.com concept derived
from the importance of exams as a gateway to success
in life pursuits. In
                     the year 2000, more than 8
million students will sit more than 27 million
examinations in the United Kingdom,
                     and everyone of them will be
seeking information to help them prepare for what they
think would be asked,
                     and how to pass. Chris Odeh came
up with the idea due to personal frustration with
exams while studying for
                     MBA."

                     What were the hardest problems
you had to overcome and how did you overcome them?
                     "Finding the right team with
relevant skill set was very hard, the exxams concept
came just before the dot com
                     euphoria and everybody wanted to
be part of an exciting idea that was simple and
workable. We filtered many
                     prospective members of the team
before we came to the present management structure."

                     How many people do you employ?
                     "Exxams.com has eight people on
its books, two are consultants and three are part-time
and three are
                     completely dedicated to exxams"

                     What is the background of the
management team?
                     "Chris Odeh, MBA City, is
President. Chris, aged 31, is a qualified management
accountant, and previously
                     worked Deutsche Bank, Bank of New
York as investment accountant.
                     John Corless, MBA City, is chief
operations officer. Aged 38, he has extensive
experience in retail
                     management, supply chain
management and worked for Dixons Group.
                     Bernard Acquah, MBA City,
vice-president technology (32),has extensive
experience in project management
                     and previously worked for Goldman
Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston delivering cutting
edge technologies to
                     financial trading systems.
                     Ade Odebiyi, MA Middlesex, is
vice-president marketing, (34). Ade has experience in
retail management and
                     direct marketing, he previously
worked for Debenhams group.
                     Chriaq Patel BSc Birmingham is
vice-president operations. Age 26, Chiraq comes from
an investment
                     banking background. He has
experience in business planning and systems
integration, and worked for
                     Deutsche Bank, and previously
with Commerzbank."

                     Who are your competitors?
                     "No direct competition with any
particular organisation, as we are more focused with
proprietary content for a
                     particular market. There are
related educational websites, which act as guides as
well as enthusiasts on
                     specific subjects, such as BBC
bitesize, revise.it and schoolsnet, but exxams.com
anticipate a move by other
                     educational content providers."

                     What is happening in the company
at the moment and moving forward?
                     "Exxams.com is adding more
contents, increasing page views and stickiness. Exxams
is also involved in
                     negotiations with supply network
and developing revenue streams to propel exxams to its
target of being the
                     number one educational portal in
the United Kingdom within the next 18 months. By
February 2001 we hope
                     to have established our
operations using a similar business model, in India.
                     In the year 2000 there will be 27
million exams to be taken by 8 million students, which
we estimate will mean
                     a market of £1bn per year spent
by people trying to pass exams. Exxams.com wants a
share of that money!"


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