News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Prime Day, Amazon’s Power, and Local; Google’s Mobile Speed Update and SMBs
BIG MOVES AND TOP TAKES IN LOCAL… Prime Day Showcases the Power of an E-Commerce Empire—And What It Means for Local… Why Google’s Mobile Speed Update Smells Like Trouble for Small Businesses… Simpli.fi Reaches Next Level in Precise Location Targeting…
Foursquare Announces New Chief Revenue Officer, Liz Ritzcovan
Ritzcovan’s mission will center on “client centricity.” She’ll be tasked with optimizing Foursquare’s relationships with its clients as the company seeks to make the case that its suite of resources for brands looking to connect the digital and physical worlds is both comprehensive and indispensable.
Restaurant Management Platform Toast Raises a Whopping $115 Million
Restaurant management platform Toast is announcing a $115 million Series D this morning. Courtesy of T. Rowe Price Associates, the round values Toast at $1.4 billion.
Commentary
Why Your Consumer-Oriented Hyperlocal Startup Is Going to Fail
I’m sorry to say it, but if your hyperlocal, consumer-focused start-up’s business model is driven by local business sales and marketing dollars, it’s most likely going to fail. I know this because I have spent the past several years dissecting and analyzing every consumer-focused, hyperlocal app imaginable. In an effort to build my own “awesome” hyperlocal app, UPlanMe, I was not only figuring out our own business model, but I was analyzing all of the potential competitors and their business models’ around us…
What Comes After Local TV?
Let’s assume that local TV, like local radio did before it, will have to morph into something different. What would that look like? How would it make money? What content would it or could it produce that would accumulate an audience that it could sell? Is one-to-many still an advantage of any sort? Will the new model in any way resemble the old?
Stuck in the Middle: Why Should ‘Local’ Mean ‘San Francisco?’
I’m pretty well immersed in Dallas’ start-up community, and I’ve noticed a sea change in the last couple years. We may not have the flashy, high-profile buzz-making scene that you’ll find in Silicon Valley (or Alley), but investments are happening. I think that’s partly because we’ve had to make it without the mutli-million dollar seed rounds and gut through on wits and angel investment…
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Google’s Drone Delivery, Samsung’s New Maps
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside Google’s Secret Drone-Delivery Program (Atlantic)… Samsung Navigates Away from Google With Here maps for Galaxy phones (Verge)… Uber and Lyft Have Become Indistinguishable Commodities (New York Times)…
inMarket Aims to Justify the Buzz Around Beacons
Beacons tend to work better in location that shoppers visit frequently, such as grocery stores, said inMarket CEO and cofounder Todd Dipaola. “The key is the timing. The digital ad is being helpful at that perfect moment when I’m deciding what I want to buy.”
Buffalo Rising Holds Own Against Warren Buffett’s Daily
Buffalo, N.Y., is part of the New Urbanism that’s helping to revive many old cities, and Newell Nussbaumer’s Buffalo Rising is chronicling the Queen City’s comeback. Here, Nussbaumer tells Street Fight how he did it…
Street Fight Daily: NFC in New iPhone, 7-Eleven Rolls Out Belly
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Our Sources Say the Next iPhone Will Include NFC Mobile Payments (Wired)… Loyalty Leader Belly Expands its Footprint by Rolling Out to 2,600 7-Eleven Locations (Pando)… Groupon Sales Reps Can’t Pursue Overtime Pay Class Action (Reuters)…
Why the Mobile Industry Needs to Address Its Data Problem
Earlier this week, the Washington Post published a report detailing the widespread use of surveillance software by governments to track the movements of cellphone users both within and outside their borders. The news highlights yet another example of a dangerous schism developing in a data-driven advertising-technology industry between the reason consumers share data and the way it is eventually used…
6 Ways to Use Location Analytics Data in Retail Design
Hyperlocal vendors are changing the way the in-store shopping experience looks and feels, providing retailers of all sizes with the answers to questions like where customers are going in their stores, which promotions or displays are attracting the most attention, and which departments are being bypassed altogether…
Why Factual’s Gil Elbaz Sees Renewed Promise in Contextual Computing
An early pioneer in data analytics who was instrumental in developing one of Google’s most profitable advertising products, Factual CEO Gil Elbaz believes that one of the technological challenges at the heart of that company’s ascent will come back into the spotlight…
Hyperlocal Chat App Yik Yak Bets Big On Anonymity
Atlanta-based Yik Yak finds itself at the center of one of the quickest growing and most divisive trends in social media: anonymity. The company, which raised $10 million in June, has developed an app that serves as a local chat room where users can post whatever they want anonymously…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Moves Against Click Bait, Location Tracking Widespread
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Takes Steps Against ‘Click Bait’ Articles (New York Times)… For Sale: Systems That Can Secretly Track Where Cellphone Users Go Around The Globe (WashingtonPost)… Uber CEO Pounces on DUI Arrest of California Lawmaker (Wall Street Journal)…
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