Redbeacon blog

First the East Bay, then the world…

December 12th, 2009 | Posted by Ethan | Add a Comment

Last week, we opened up Redbeacon to our friends in the South Bay and East Bay.  It may seem like we’ve been expanding our geographic coverage area slowly since our October launch , but we want to make sure we offer a good experience (i.e., multiple price quotes from high quality service providers)  before we open an area.

We’re happy to report that in the past several weeks, we’ve signed up hundreds of new Bay Area service providers from Auto Detailers to Personal Trainers to Videographers (sorry, I wanted to end with  something that started with “Z” but we’ve had a hard time finding any decent Zookeepers!).

What Does it Mean to be the “Best”?

October 14th, 2009 | Posted by Ethan | 2 Comments

We’re excited to announce you can now Request Services on Redbeacon! We wanted to wait a few weeks after our win at TechCrunch50 so we could bring on board the best local businesses and freelancers in the Bay Area to handle your every service need. We’re starting out in the Bay Area, but if you live elsewhere, fear not! We’ll be expanding to other geographies soon enough.

Reaching our milestone of becoming a fully functional, live product gives us an opportunity to step back for a moment and reflect on the product and what we set out to accomplish when Yaron, Aaron and I left Google in late-2008.

We wanted to leverage the power of the Internet to help people find the BEST possible local business or professional to handle the service need. But what does “best” really mean?

Best means someone qualified to do the job.

We designed Redbeacon to be smart, like a trusted friend. Someone who understands you, and the job or project you need done. Is there someone in your life today that you can turn to for recommendations on a particular service (it can be anything – a plumber, a gardener, a babysitter)? Well, imagine Redbeacon being that person, except that we know the best person for your job in over 300 categories!

How can we know this? Allow us to explain. First, our system interprets your service request. If you tell us you need 500 cupcakes, we know you are in need of a baker who can handle a ginormous order for cupcakes. Second, we learn about you and the service providers on our system over time. We learn for which jobs they tend to get selected, have credentials and qualifications to handle, and get high ratings (or don’t).

But we don’t just leave you with a list of search results and bid you farewell. Far from it, because…

Best means getting it at the time and place you want it.

We only notify local businesses and services if they can do your job at the time and place you need it done. Have you ever had the experience of sitting at home for 4 hours waiting for the cable guy? Never again. Let’s say you need your lawn mowed early on Saturday morning. You would just type in lawn mower and select Saturday at 9:00 am. We’ll only notify the lawn mowers of the world about your job if they work in your neighborhood, work on Saturdays and love the smell of gasoline in the morning (with apologies to Francis Ford Coppola).

If you ever need something this very moment, we’ll launch a Red Beacon request for you. Think of it as lighting a bright red help beacon so service providers in your area can see it and come running to help. They’ll respond with the precise number of minutes it will take them to get to your location. Perfect for those occasions when your mother in-law calls to announce a surprise inspection, errr, visit to your home, and you need to have it cleaned ASAP!

But we know that convenience isn’t the only factor in your decision because…

Best means getting a great value.

We ask the businesses and individuals interested in your job to respond with a price quote to provide the service. Assuming your job doesn’t change from the way you described it, they’re bound to the price they quoted.

So you’ll know exactly how much the service will cost you before you make your selection. You’ll know if you’re getting a good deal because you can compare quotes you receive through Redbeacon. And when you’re ready to select someone…

Best means a scheduled job.

Call us anti-social, but we hate calling around to ask about price, availability, and qualifications. Or maybe we’d rather just use our time to socialize with our true friends!

That’s why we let you schedule the appointment for your job directly through Redbeacon. When you select someone to do your job, you’re doing more than letting them know you want to work with them. You’re actually confirming an appointment time for them to come and take care of whatever it is you need done! And remember…

Best also means free.

It’s always free to find and schedule a service through Redbeacon. We want you to have the best experience possible so you come back again and again, and we wouldn’t want to let anything get in the way of that.

Give it a shot.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a try! We have gardeners, carpet cleaners, maids, personal trainers, handymen, and more waiting to receive your requests.

We promise to live up to our motto: Whatever you need. Done.

5 Lessons Learned From TechCrunch50

September 21st, 2009 | Posted by Ethan | 2 Comments

Now in just its third year, the TechCrunch50 Conference has become the preeminent technology startup competition. Over 1,000 startups around the world compete to be accepted to the Conference, where each of 50 finalists launch their companies on-stage in front of a panel of celebrity judges and an audience of 2,000 journalists, venture capitalists, and technology cognoscenti.

The process of applying and getting ready for TechCrunch50 is an incredible forcing function. It forces you to plan your product development process with real milestones that cannot slip, it forces you to improve your public speaking delivery, and it forces you to channel stress and uncertainty into positive action. So what did I learn in the process of entering our startup, Redbeacon, into the competition?

First, you need a stellar product

Conference organizers Michael Arrington, Jason Calacanis and Heather Harde, have to believe you’ve built something that will have a large, breakout success. And they have a very good track record in their judgments so far.

Second, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

Our team spent a tremendous amount of time preparing a professional looking video about Redbeacon to send in with our application. And we rehearsed our demo again and again so when we did our first round interview with TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde, we were polished and assured. As it turns out, the Conference organizer triumvirate begins forming their opinions early on and these opinions carry through all the way to the back room where the ultimate winner is decided.

Third, listen to feedback from those who matter.

The organizers of TechCrunch50 don’t treat the 50 finalists like lambs being led to the slaughter. In the weeks leading up to the event, they put the finalists through a grueling multi-session rehearsal process at the offices of storied venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital. Conference organizers and one or more Sequoia partners scrutinized and suggested improvements on every word of the 7 minute presentation, and then gave us a rating from 1 to 10. This can sometimes feel a little like a “stress position” derived by the CIA to extract information from suspected terrorists, but it’s actually an act of mercy. If they didn’t spend the time to do this, we would be delivering something less than our absolute best on-stage. And you never get a second chance to make a first impression (see lesson 2), especially when every VC in the world is tuning in.

Fourth, you need to take risks.

There are 50 fantastic, amazing, innovative companies presenting over two very long days. If you want anyone to remember your product, your demo has to stand out. We decided to demonstrate the power of Redbeacon, a web product to find and schedule local services, to show the audience how we could order 500 cupcakes with our logo on top. Then we used the product to do a real-time request to find people to hand out the cupcakes to the crowd. Could this have backfired? Yes. Many things can go wrong with a complex live demonstration on-stage, but it worked and everyone remembered the demo and the product as a result.

Fifth, you need to engage in a little self-promotion.

Not in a vain, gloating, or bragging sort of way. But in a way that lets people know you’ve built or accomplished something great and that important people have noticed. If someone posts or tweets favorably about you, go ahead and spread the word. If you’re speaking or making an appearance somewhere, build up the hype a little. When you’re an unproven startup, you need a great product. But you also need the approbation of people who have gained the public trust (not to mention the ears of hundreds of thousands of potential customers). This can feel uncomfortable at first because reputations have historically been generated over thousands of interactions with the same people over time. But in this brave new world of real-time web and social media, it’s a mirror image. A single interaction can be multiplied into thousands of “reputation impressions” that thousands of people you’ve never met see all at once.

So if you accomplish something great, don’t be afraid to tell the world – they want to know! Speaking of which, did I mention Redbeacon won TechCrunch50 this year? You should definitely try it out.

Now it's time to get customers, make money, and all that jazz…

September 17th, 2009 | Posted by Ethan | Add a Comment

Everyone, even my Uncle Gary, has some service they can offer, right? For instance, Uncle Gary can help cure insomnia with his endless stories. But more relevantly perhaps, maybe you know someone who is a crack appliance repairer, can tutor in Mandarin Chinese, or enjoys kicking other people’s butts to get them back in shape. Tell them about Redbeacon!

If you want to do some moonlighting to earn a few extra dollars in your spare time, you could also sign up yourself so you’ll be among the first to get jobs sent to you when we launch.

On that note… allow us to suggest a few reasons why you might just want to offer your services through Redbeacon.

You like making money

Redbeacon sends you real jobs from customers who are actively looking for your service. They’re not just browsing around the Internet – they actually requested the specific service you provide. It wouldn’t be very neighborly of you to turn them away with their money in hand now, would it?

You don’t like paying other people money

It’s completely free to sign up and use Redbeacon. There are no registration fees, no sponsored listing fees, and no job referral fees.

When we get a request for a service you perform, we’ll determine if you’re an appropriate provider for the job. If you are, we’ll ping you by email or text message to check out the job and enter a price quote if you want to do it. If the customer selects you and schedules an appointment, then we’ll charge a small commission of 10% of the job’s value. Unlike traditional advertising, this is a no lose proposition. If you don’t make money, neither do we.

You work when you darn well feel like it.

One of the coolest things about offering your service through Redbeacon is that you can work at the times and places you want to work. Just set your availability and work radius under Manage Profiles and we’ll only tell you about the jobs that match your preferences. You can even set up multiple skill profiles, so you can offer your handyman services on weekdays, and also pick up some extra cash doing personal training on the weekends!

What are you waiting for?

We think this is a great way for you to get out there and find new customers looking for services you offer. It’s won’t cost you anything to sign up and receive requests, so what are you waiting for?

Winning TC50 Was Amazing!!

September 17th, 2009 | Posted by Yaron | Add a Comment

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We are still glowing from our big win at TechCrunch50 on Tuesday night. We’re incredibly grateful for the vote of confidence of the TC50 organizers and judges in the face of so many innovative companies. And the number of well wishers and hearty congratulations is straining our inboxes (if not our abilities to respond!).

But if there is anything we have taken away from this experience, it’s that expectations are now raised and we need to deliver a fantastic product. That’s why we’re already back to work on the product and signing up small businesses and individuals with services to offer in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’ll be ready for any and all service requests when we do our full launch in early-October. More on that in the next post…

Welcome to Redbeacon

September 14th, 2009 | Posted by Ethan | Add a Comment

Today we’re bringing Redbeacon out of the lab and into the (very bright) lights on-stage at the TechCrunch50 Conference today. And with the launch of our product, we’re kicking off the official Redbeacon blog.

This is just the first of many posts we have planned, and we promise to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening with the product, the industry, and our community. Occasionally we’ll share some things we’ve learned from you all – like how you’re using our site, feedback you’ve given us, and interesting services you’re looking for or providing through Redbeacon. Be sure to sign up to receive the latest blog updates!

For the next few weeks, our focus will be entirely on getting the best providers of local services in the San Francisco Bay Area to sign up and create Skill Profiles on Redbeacon. We have a slew of sales and marketing activities planned to get the best businesses and service-providing individuals signed up (yes, we know who you are and you will be hearing from us).

Then on October 1st, we’ll activate Services Requests so people looking for services can find the best service provider for their job or project, receive price quotes, and schedule appointments with the ones they like best. If you have no idea what the heck we’re talking about, you should probably check out how this all works or watch this video to see what all the excitement is about.

On that note…

We feel very fortunate to be one of top 50 startups selected to launch at TechCrunch50 this year. But we know this is just the beginning and it will be quite the adventure. Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

Please drop us a line from time-to-time and let us know how we’re doing, what you’d like to see, or what you’re using Redbeacon for. We’ll continue to find new and clever ways to innovate and improve the experience of finding and providing local services.

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