[Ted Leonsis] says Revolution MoneyExchange will do it the same way AOL slowly picked up customers for AIM, the instant-messaging juggernaut that launched in 1995. "I send you a message, and if you don't have AIM and want to hear from me, you have to click to get AIM," he says. "As you fill out these forms to virally accept money from your buddies on Revolution, it's not us marketing the service. It's me sending you money."

"Suppose I forgot to pay my pizza bill in my fraternity, but I'm on spring break," he says. "If I can use AIM and log in, know who my buddy is, and send him the $9.99 I owe him for the pizza -- fine, I've solved a problem that we never really intended AIM to be used for. That's great."

"It's chicken and egg," he says. "But that's why it's called Revolution. Because it is hard. I wouldn't want to do this if it was easy."