Mike Koss isn't trying to change the world with his latest Internet project. But the owner of Seattle business incubator StartPad.org certainly is having some fun with Quip-Art, a new online site where anyone can add funny photos (and sounds) to existing Web pages.
You can now slap about 20 images -- a large red "Fail" button, a yellow Post-it note and a head shot of Guy Kawasaki for example -- on the Web site of your choosing.
"The original concept was to create a link shortener to mock or make fun of other web sites," explains Koss. "Just as I Can Has Cheezburger has shown that people like to mash up funny cat pictures or disastrous videos with their own commentary, I thought it would be fun to have a link shortener that would help people put their own stamp or brand of humor on the links that they share."
Quip-Art's tag line -- "Helping people mock the Web since 2009' -- was the brain-child of Seattle entrepreneur Tony Wright.
Koss said he was inspired in part by the Web site Bacolicio.us -- which humorously allows users to add an image of a strip of bacon to any Web sites. (Here's an example from the Wikipedia page on vegetarianism).
At this point, Quip Art is a silly little side project. The images have been used on less than 100 Web pages since Koss rolled the tool out to friends last month.
"Like all my projects, I treat this as an experiment," he said. "The idea is to spend the least amount of time and money developing a concept so that the core of the idea is functional. Then launch it and see if it takes off, or if I get strong feedback that some element is missing, I can address that as users demand them."
One thing he's added recently is the ability of users to add their own voice or other sound clips to the images, adding a deeper layer of humor. (You can get a sense of how that works here).
Koss, an early Microsoft employee who now dabbles in angel investing, also recently added the ability for users to send the images directly to one's Twitter page.
Is there really a business here?
Koss isn't sure.
"There is advertising on each link page, just to set expectations," he said. "If it does take off it will need a revenue plan. Aand it's part of the experiment to understand how well (or poorly) a site like this can be monitized with advertising."
There were certainly some investors who wondered the same thing about I Can Has Cheezburger, which has grown into a profitable network of comedy Web sites with millions of page views a day.
In other words, you never know what will stick on the Internet.
A few other creations.
Here's another that Mike Koss created.
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