Word of mouth

Michael, Rob and I came together because of our shared vision that consumers are long overdue for a local online service that simplifies Life.

We all know local living can be difficult sometimes.  Life is coming at us on a daily basis and sometimes these local needs can overwhelm us.  In any given day your car may need repair, your roof needs replacing, your father slips and injures his foot, your son or daughter develops an unusual allergy that requires immediate attention, or you want to find a great restaurant for a meeting or date.  The task of finding a local business can be daunting at times. And with today’s economic climate, finding businesses we can trust is even more important to reducing the complexity of daily life.

All three of us agreed that today’s local offerings were falling short of making life simpler. We were always searching, rarely finding.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed with too much information, too many local choices and too many reviews to read from people we don’t know or trust.  We heard that our friends spend a lot of time reviewing the reviewers just to see if they relate to the person making the local recommendation.  And sometimes we were forced to wade through question after question from local online services in order to request service from a local business and then were told we’d have to wait 24 hours to be contacted.  That’s not much help when you sink is clogged or your kitchen is flooded.

So how could we make it simpler to find a trusted local business?

We rallied around a simple idea; Local-Social.  What if I could find the local businesses my friends actually use, in 30 seconds or less? What if in 3 clicks, I could find a highly recommended orthopedic surgeon for my father, or a trusted pediatrician for my children or a romantic restaurant that will be liked for a very special someone?  Anytime, anywhere for almost anything?  That seemed like an idea worth pursuing in today’s busy times when life is so complicated.   It was clear to us that word-of-mouth was critical.  In countless conversations with local consumers, we heard the same thing:  Word-of-mouth was the preferred method to finding local businesses.  And in speaking with local business owners, they all said the same thing, a significant majority of their customers came from word-of-mouth referrals.

So we set out to build AlikeList, a place where like-minded individuals and groups of people can share and find trusted local recommendations through word-of-mouth.  Just like they do offline, only better because we make these local recommendations searchable, available 24 x 7, and accessible from anywhere.  And we wanted to make it possible to vary the level of social trust when finding local recommendations. From tighter connections for important choices like a family doctor, to looser connections for fun choices like a restaurant or bar.  We wanted to create a local online service that helps us solve life’s daily opportunities.

Now Michael traveling to Sedona, Arizona or to Lake Tahoe, can find a restaurant, a resort or even a rental property service by accessing all of his friends’ local recommendations easily and quickly.   And my wife can find my sister-in-law’s trusted pediatrician. With AlikeList, anyone can now find targeted local recommendations from their trusted friends and colleagues in 30 seconds or less.  Less searching, more finding.

After all like-minded people do flock together.  At AlikeList they can help each other too, anytime, anywhere, for anything.

Jim Delli Santi

Co-Founder