Crowdbeacon Says Hello, World!

Big day at Squeaky HQ today: Just launched Crowdbeacon, a potential game changer/ relocation application and it got some tech blogs going.

What is Crowdbeacon? Crowdbeacon answers questions with the help of your local community, and aggregated answers from other location-based services.1 As a service that’s focused around answering different sorts of questions like finding a good Mexican cantina, or getting a massage while on vacation, it links you to a specific local community and crowdsources other Crowdbeacon users and businesses in the area to get good, real answers.

Yes, businesses can sign up too. Business owners can answer questions when someone asks a question within six blocks of their business in their categories; They’ll get the question via push notification on their iPhones. Some businesses will definitely try to get “beaconers” into their store-front and turn them into customer but according to Erick Schonfeld, Co-Editor of TechCrunch, “others will realize that simply offering up their knowledge can generate goodwill and good buzz.” In addition to businesses providing answers, “Crowdbeacon will also surface related tips from FourSquare, reviews from Yelp, and shopping info from local shopping search engine Wishpond.”2

I spoke to founder Robert Boyle about this social Q&A service, how Crowdbeacon can help people, and the brand’s future goals. Oh, and for those who are itching to try their hands on start-ups, he drops a few nuggets on how to do that, too.

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What ignited the spark in you to start Crowdbeacon? How did the idea come about?

Robert Boyle (RB): The idea came about because we recognized that there was a practical vacuum in the market for a location-based service that was  a utility. This isn’t in any way knocking existing LBS leaders, but my background is in solving practical problems—and we felt like combining location and communication was a way we could solve the practical problem that comes with being in a foreign place when you need to find something that is time-sensitive or location-specific.

How do you define success for Crowdbeacon?

RB: Well, it depends. For Squeaky, launching a product like Crowdbeacon is a huge success because it lets the world know the kind of talent that the Squeaky management team has been cultivating for years—so that’s a win. For me personally, I will define success by a successful exit (i.e, $) or changing the course of human history—and with Crowdbeacon $ is more likely than the latter. 🙂

What is the best way to achieve long-term success for this venture?

RB: The best way to achieve long-term success with Crowdbeacon is to grow slowly. Our job at first is to introduce the concept that communication can power location, and see how users deal with this proposition. Once we’ve done that, we’re going to raise our first round of capital and deploy “launch teams” of 10-15 people in major US markets to provide real expert/influencer feedback for users in those markets on the ground. From there, we will grow based on how effective our product and marketing is… but if we stick to the plan of listening to users and iterating, long-term success will come.

How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?

RB: You can never fully prevent mistakes—we’re all humans—but the important thing is when you are doing damage control is to remain laser-focused on your goal; which for us at Crowdbeacon means changing the way people feel about the potential of location and how important communication can be in this paradigm. Also, I have a saying that my wife hates which is that Proper Preparation Prevents Problems… the 4P’s… so I try to be as prepared as possible to avoid damage control and mistakes, or else I look like a self-righteous dick.

Where did the funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?

RB: We are very proud to say that Crowdbeacon is a fully-bootstrapped startup that was funded entirely by Squeaky Wheel Media.

What has been your most satisfying moment in realizing Crowdbeacon?

RB: I would say the moment we realized that we could incorporate the Twilio API to get “notifications” to local businesses was the most satisfying moment for me personally. Specifically, our product is focused very heavily on driving consumers to local businesses based on what they need – in exchange for these businesses helping users find what they are looking for – but we knew that most local/small businesses are not as tech savvy as our internal team of nerds… which was a giant problem. The moment I realized we could connect with Twilio to call the businesses, and that we could automate the entire process, was the most satisfying moment because it ended with a huge problem being solved. Also, launching. Ha.

What makes you happy?

RB: Family, friends, food and money. Also, I like working.

Well, amen to that! Stay tuned for updates because Android is coming—hopefully very—soon.

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1Lifehacker:Crowdbeacon Answers Your Local, Community-Based Questions

2TechCrunch: Social Q&A Goes Local With Crowdbeacon’s iPhone App