Gaurav Oberoi and Chuck Groom

Bill Monk co-founder Gaurav Oberoi has returned to Seattle and is working on a secretive Web startup with his long-time business partner and Amazon.com buddy Chuck Groom.

Oberoi and Groom quit their jobs at Xmarks -- the San Francisco bookmark synchronization startup founded by tech legend Mitch Kapor -- last week. They aren't saying much about what they're building and still haven't decided on a name, but they have a business plan and have already lined up test customers who are interested in the product.

"We are keeping it under wraps," said Oberoi with a laugh.

Nonetheless, the 29-year-old entrepreneur said he's happy to be back in Seattle -- noting the recent weather, the tech talent and the strong sense of community. But the big draw for Oberoi -- who sold Seattle mobile payment startup Bill Monk to Obopay in 2007 -- was a woman. His fiancée works at Microsoft.

I gave Oberoi -- who along with Groom founded the Seattle Tech Startups group -- a little grief when he left for the Bay Area last year. After all, I found it somewhat ironic that the leader of a Seattle entrepreneurial group would feel compelled to move to San Francisco.

Oberoi said he's glad to be back.

"One of the things about being in the Bay, is that it is very much an echo chamber," he said. "You go to networking events, and everyone is kind of working on exactly the same thing. So, that is kind of boring because there are so many interesting problems out there."

Still, Oberoi admits that San Francisco does have advantages in terms of capital and exposure. And he does leave a good network there.

"If money is a big part of what you are doing and ... you are not bootstrapping, it would probably be worth your time to rent a short term apartment and live in the Bay Area," he said. "But I almost feel like if you want to get your head down and get a lot of work done, you are not really going to benefit that much from a lot of the activity in (San Francisco.)"

Unlike Bill Monk, the new startup will not be in the consumer arena and it won't have anything to do with online payments.

"We are going after a broad, but specific business market that is very much a revenue-oriented business," said Oberoi, measuring his words so not to give away too much.  "There is a large market for a product like this, and we are coming up with a disruptive angle."

Groom added that they discovered a niche where a lot of the competitors are "very 1990s style" with slow service and poor design.

They are hoping to formally incorporate the new company as early as today, though deciding on the name has been tough. "Naming is hard, so drinking helps," said Oberoi.

Bill Monk got its name from a Capitol Hill bar -- The Stumbling Monk -- so I suggested a play off The Dray in Ballard where we met for our interview. The entrepreneurs didn't seem interested in that, saying the name they are most serious about would give away the market segment.

I also asked Oberoi and Groom why they like working together and what each brings to the table as an entrepreneur. Groom gave a diplomatic answer: "To put it in Amazon speak, we both have a bias to action."

But I liked Oberoi's response a little better.

"We both like building cool shit," he said.