Street Fight Daily: 06.28.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
“How can LivingSocial beat a better-funded competitor with more name recognition who has a 22-country head start on them?” asks Sarah Lacy. “Ironically by moving more slowly, throwing around less cash and being smarter with local hires, not pricey consultants and MBAs.” (TechCrunch)
“You can’t just jump into a crowded local news market with a product that’s about as good as the existing ones,” writes Erik Wemple. “Even marginally better won’t get the job done. It’s got to be so much better that you can eat the lunch of legacy outlets.” (Washington Post)
With all eyes focused on Groupon Inc.’s pending IPO, the company is quietly but quickly rolling out its new time-limited, hyperlocal GrouponNow service. CEO Andrew Mason has said GrouponNow has features that Groupon would have chosen if it were designing the business today. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
“Whenever you think that you’re being aggressive, double or triple that,” LivingSocial founder Tim O’Shaugnessy says. Amping up the aggression is what’s needed “in order to take the market,” (Wall Street Journal)
Foursquare reportedly isn’t seeing any financial benefits from the Amex partnership, but with deal it gets to show it’s growing up and evolving, gains additional credibility by holding hands with a highly trusted brand and — in offering tangible benefits — is sure to grow its user base. (Connected Planet)
The rub against small markets is they don’t have the volume to do many deals. Moreover, most residents don’t need to discover merchants in their tight-knit communities. But Deal Garden co-founder Pat Lazure, who previously founded WikiCity, says the pros of a small town site may outweigh such negatives. (Local Onliner)
Poggled, the daily deals service for nightlife, is expanding to New York and Denver. Poggled is an interesting take on the daily deals model, with 50-70% off “evergreen” services at nightclubs, bars and music venues available every day without daily expiration. (TechCrunch)
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