A University of Virginia graduate has turned a lifelong hobby into a business - one that connects co-workers at a time when many are only linked remotely.
Collin Waldoch grew up an avid fan of 'Jeopardy!', often keeping score when watching the show with family and friends. Over the years, he was part of high school quiz bowl, and started up pub trivia teams while attending UVA.
In 2017, Waldoch first launched Water Cooler Trivia as a side project. By the time the pandemic hit, he had drawn the interest of enough companies – more than 1,000 – to do it full time.
"Lo and behold, March of this year, is when a lot of teams went really virtual and needed something to boost team morale, create connection, and so it’s kind of been sprinting at full speed the last eight months now,” Waldoch said.
Employers or groups who subscribe get a weekly list of questions via email, or through the messaging platform Slack.
The company consists of three people on the founding team, and between five and ten contractors who wrote code, and answer questions.
Waldoch estimates his team has now researched more than 6,000 thousand questions for the likes of Nike, Google, Lyft, and even small businesses. He says law firms are especially competitive.
“We have many teams of high school teachers where the principal sets up the group, and it’s a way for teachers to keep in touch," Waldoch said.
"The word we use a lot is – our customer mix is just bonkers."
Water Cooler Trivia will customize its quizzes. One company in San Francisco requested a nature category.
“So that could be anything -Animals, plants, climate, etc.,” he said. “But then we have some groups, like a team at Home Depot’s corporate offices in Atlanta. Their personalized question is Home Depot history. So we have to write a question of history of Home Depot – every single week!”
Waldoch, who grew up in the Chicago area, says much of the credit for a hobby that grew into a business goes into his years of watching ‘Jeopardy!’ He calls the late Alex Trebex an idol.
“It’s cliché, because it’s been said by so many people, but I think he just felt like part of the family,” Waldoch said.
“When someone shows up in your living room for hundreds of times a year for years on end, not just with my siblings and friends, but I think about all the times spent with my grandfather, we would bond by watching Jeopardy at his home in Wisconsin.”
When the winner is announced, they’re sent a prize- a little water cooler bobblehead, for bragging rights.
Waldoch says those who have signed on to play with his company have also grown beyond US borders, including an extended family from Costa Rica.
