Sharing content on Web, phones

What: Treemo.

What it does: The Seattle company, headquartered in Ballard, is creating an online and mobile phone site where photos, videos and audio are shared.

Who: Chief Executive Brent Brookler left Seattle-based Mobliss a year ago to start the company. Mobliss, which assisted Cingular Wireless with "American Idol" voting, was acquired by Japan-based Index in 2004 for $15 million.

The idea: Brookler said Treemo is a way for people to share content on the Web and on phones. Other companies are creating similar services, in which content on the phone is uploaded to the Internet. But Brookler said Treemo allows you to share content to another person's phone, as well. "That's a niche that's lost," he said.

The details: To use Treemo, users must set up an account online, where they will receive an e-mail address. From the phone, the user snaps photos and uploads them to that e-mail address. From there, they can be pushed to a network of friends, who can either view them on their phone or on a PC.

Play to win: Treemo is launching a contest today called Tagged! Users who take pictures and associate it with a designated keyword will be entered to win cash prices.

Business model: The seven-person company is running on $1 million invested by angels and friends and family. The service is free and storage is limited to 1 gigabyte. The company plans to generate revenue through advertising and selling larger amounts of storage. Brookler declined to say how many users it has attracted since launching three weeks ago.

The softer side: Brookler said the company is environmentally and socially responsible, which is why the first contest has to do with recycling.

— Tricia Duryee