#SFSW15 VIDEO: 3 Companies That Are Rethinking Brick-and-Mortar Business

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The web is not a just a place for offline business to wrangle consumers anymore. Increasingly, technology is changing the way we actually build businesses in the real world. Representatives from a trio of companies that are revolutionizing the way their industries do business in the physical marketplace came together at Street Fight Summit West earlier this month to share their success stories.

#SFSW15 VIDEO: Tying TV and Mobile to Measure Real-World Store Visitation

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Far more than being just another media channel on which to advertise, mobile represents a “new connective element that allows you to build [a] new model for consumer behavior,” said PlaceIQ’s CEO Duncan McCall earlier this month at Street Fight Summit West.

#SFSW15 VIDEO: Deep Linking Will Solve Some — But Not All — of Mobile’s Problems

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With mobile now accounting for the majority of Google searches,  it’s fair to say that the mobile majority has arrived. But the platform still lacks some of the infrastructure that helped the web spawn two decades of unparalleled growth — namely, the ability to easily move from app to app. But a technology known as […]

The Connected Local Economy: A New Way to Understand Innovation in Local

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As a new generation of local technology companies approach the public markets, it’s critical for us to agree on what “local” actually means today — and how that differs from the its definition a decade ago.

Why the Home Services Market Suddenly Exploded in Startup Land

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Few things can be as tedious, time consuming and expensive as home improvement. Seattle’s Pro.com connects people with local home improvement professionals in a way that’s similar to ordering food or making dinner reservations…

5 Hot Startups Connecting the Local Economy

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It’s not just big box stores and ecommerce sites that are impacting our malls and main streets: the web has started to reinvent the very systems that help us find, buy and get on our hands on goods and service for sale in the real world. Here are five startups that want to help better coordinate our local economies…

Pinterest SMB Chief: 2 of 3 Businesses on Site Have a Physical Store

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We recently caught up with Joel Meek to talk about how Pinterest is connecting consumer behavior form online to offline and why he thinks ecommerce is the next big growth area for small businesses on social media…

Why Is the Local Market So Elusive for Tech Companies?

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The constraints of cost, critical mass, and time spawn a vicious cycle that hinders innovative new technology adoption in the local market. The promise of hyperlocal technology is alive and well, but any new startup aiming to crack the hyperlocal code needs to keep these things in mind…

Yelp Reportedly Explores a Sale — Could Priceline Be a Fit?

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Yelp may be on the auction block. In addition to the usual suspects, one less likely company stands out as a potential candidate: Priceline Group, the new owner of OpenTable.

Banjo Raises $100M to Put Your Tweet (and More) on the Map

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Don’t look now, but location data analytics might actually be turning into a big business. Banjo, a Las Vegas-startup that got its start helping brands analyze location data in social media streams, has raised $100 million in a series D round of funding led by Softbank.

Local Corp CEO: More and More of What Local Directories Do Will Be Absorbed Into Apps

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Last week, the fifteen year-old directory site announced that it was hiring a firm to pursue ‘strategic alternatives. Fred Thiel, the relatively new chief executive at Local Corporation, says the company would make an attractive take-over target.

The Secret to Nextdoor’s Billion-Dollar Valuation: Friction

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By making the on-boarding process more difficult, Nextdoor was able to ensure the local social network had a quality that was much more important, says Dan Clancy, VP of product and engineering.

Here’s How Reserve Plans to Make the Dinner Bill Disappear

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We’ve become used to the ability to make restaurant reservations with the click of a mouse or the tap of a screen, but what if the service didn’t stop there? What if it was extended to ensuring that every aspect of your dining experience was just as smooth and simple as making the reservation?

Think Beyond Marketing: Embrace the Connected Local Economy

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As a new generation of local technology companies approach the public markets, it’s critical for us to agree on what “local” actually means today — and how that differs from the its definition a decade ago. What’s emerging is a connected local economy.