top of page
Thomas Molinari

I'm always looking to connect with like-minded individuals in the tech world!

  • LinkedIn

Hello

I’m Thomas, founder & creator of Quiz Word!

 

I’m a self-taught software developer with a passion for building immersive mobile experiences. My developer journey started in 2015, when I completed an online course and built my first app which became a 7-year running start up.

 

Initially from Latrobe Valley (country Victoria), I have a mechanical background, having worked on both cars & motorcycles. I love motorsports, and have raced sport ATVs in my teens, even tried my hand in Formula Ford in my early 20’s. Outside of motor sport, I also enjoy gaming, and when I get the time, will play games with a car or bike related title. 

 

Since 2019 I’ve been based in Melbourne, Australia focusing on Quiz Words development. Now that Quiz Word has launched on iOS, we have goals to launch on Android and big ambitions to become the number one Word Game across the globe. 

My Start-up Story

In 2015, I completed an online coding course ‘Code with Chris’, after which I built my first mobile game to test the waters – Quiz Master, a trivia game that would, through time become the prototype for Quiz Word.

 

Quiz Master was launched in 2017, and without having completed any market analysis, consumer profiling or advertising – the story ended with a very predictable flop.

 

But learning from this, I started researching the mobile games industry, business models, stakeholders and importantly, who in the industry could help me to understand the gaps that exist in the industry. And so, I enlisted the help of then renowned development agency Appster. With their support, Quiz Master was put through what they called ‘traction labs’: a marketing assessment and branding exercise.

 

Through this process, I pivoted to a multiplayer crossword game Quiz Word, which received a great response.

 

It was now up to me to seek funding to develop Quiz Word. 

 

And so I did, cold messaging investors through LinkedIn, fortunately one of these investors saw the vision, and gave me both the capital I needed and an introduction to an ex-GM of the Herald Weekly Times (News Corp). Through this connection, we identified an opportunity to launch Quiz Word in their student & teacher site ‘Kids News’ – and we took it!

 

Quiz Word was built as a website, and it was being used in schools all around Australia. The Kids News team provided the content, and we were averaging 5000 monthly users. We decided to capitalise on this partnership and build an all-ages version of the site, intended for the main mastheads, The Herald Sun, News.com.au etc. We were on track, and finished this build late 2019, and then as you will recall, the world changed.

 

Covid hit. News Corp had no interest in taking on a new product, nor did any other masthead in the country. Things were looking grim, and though the Kids version was still being used, it wasn't generating enough revenue. We had a great product and nowhere for it to go.

 

So, I decided to refresh my development skills and build the iOS mobile app myself. Starting the build February 2022, in-between a full-time job.

Fortunately, I was able to use the existing API with some modification, and source a small amount of funding needed for artwork, API changes, content etc.  

 

We soft launched March 2024.

bottom of page