GigaOM » angies-list

Porch to launch home improvement review site with $6.25 million in funding

Eliza Kern — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:00:58 +0000

If you’re looking to re-do your bathroom or upgrade your kitchen, you’re probably looking for contractors and home repairs professionals who work with your budget, your neighborhood, and your personal style. While companies like Angie’s List have popularlized the idea of finding the perfect person online, many people still ask friends and neighbors for suggestions before venturing online for advice.

A new startup from Seattle is launching in beta on Wednesday in attempt to change this. The company is called Porch, and it has $6.25 million in seed funding from some noted investors like SV Angel/Ron Conway, Chamath Palihapitiya, Javier Olivan, Jeff Skoll, Bill Lee, and others.

The home improvement and re-modeling market is a huge business, and it’s ripe for disruption because so much of the recommendations and transactions still exist off-line.

Porch is pulling in a variety of data from public records (although it wouldn’t say which ones), and will be using that data along with user reviews and photos in attempt to create a free version of Angie’s List that provides more location-based information with a social layer on top.

“It will automatically let you see kitchen remodels happening in their neighborhood, what the cost of the materials were pegged at, who worked on it, and endorsements from people in their social networks,” Asha Sharma, the VP of marketing explained. “It’s free for users and it’s based on the recommendations from people who live in your neighborhood who have homes like yours.”

Porch is currently only available to a select few users, although they can request access at the company’s site. It will be free for homeowners to use, and will be opening more widely to all users later this year.

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Angie’s List merchants can now accept payments with Square

Laura Hazard Owen — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:41:23 +0000

Consumer review service Angie’s List is partnering with Square to let merchants — service providers like plumbers, housecleaners and painters — accept credit card payments from their iPhones. Square’s technology will be integrated into Angie’s List’s iOS app, Angie’s List Business Center, rather than requiring merchants to use the separate Square app.

“We’re proud to work with Angie’s List to make life easier for businesses of all sizes,” Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement.

Angie’s List has about 1.7 million subscribers, most of whom pay a membership fee that varies depending on their location (in New York City, it’s $3.60 a month). The company had previously announced in its October earnings call that it would be working with Square, but hadn’t explained the specifics. “The Square relationship fits into a much bigger and more important activity set that’s around deconstructing the local service transactions – measuring it, monitoring it, improving it and enforcing it,” Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle said at the time.

Square, based in San Francisco, has raised over $340 million in funding and has a reported valuation of $3.25 billion.

In a previous version of this post, I wondered whether this was the first time that Square technology has been integrated into an outside business’s app. It’s not: The company told me that the Obama and Romney campaigns also used Square technology.

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Startup growth and the new recruiting ecosystem

Mike Dover — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:28:05 +0000

The recruiting ecosystem is changing, led by professional social networks like LinkedIn and Viadeo and companies like Jobvite and BranchOut, which are building Facebook apps for hiring and career development. This report examines that new ecosystem and how the above and more companies are changing the way businesses find and retain their employees. Small- and medium-sized businesses can benefit from innovative technology that will help their recruiting efforts, and the cost for doing so is reasonable (and decreasing). The bottom line is that technology enables the recruiting process to be more streamlined, scientific and democratic. This report provides examples and recommendations for employers.

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NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:39:31 +0000

The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

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