Conference Notebook: Taking Uber Beyond Taxis, Kittens and Ice Cream
Don’t worry OpenTable. Uber isn’t going to start booking tables — at least, not yet. During an interview at the Business Insider Ignition Conference in New York on Thursday, the company’s chief executive, Travis Kalanick, ruled out markets like hotels and restaurant reservations that do not involve delivery as potential areas of expansion for the on-demand service while hinting at a future beyond the taxi industry…
Groupon’s Mason: It Would Be ‘Weird’ If Board Wasn’t Discussing My Job
“There’s no question that we’ve had bumps in the road, but Groupon has created not just a business, but an entirely new category,” said the CEO. “If I ever thought I wasn’t the right guy for the job, I would be the first guy to fire myself. I care much more about the success of Groupon than being CEO.”
Conference Notebook: Yelp ‘Focused,’ Foursquare Denies Slower Growth
It doesn’t look like Yelp has plans to push across the local marketing stack anytime soon. Responding to a question of whether Yelp planned to position itself as a local operating system for local business like Groupon, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said it was “hard to say what tangential businesses [Yelp would] get into” but “its safe to say we’re focused.”
Local Quotables: Moyal, Mims, Tolles, Lessin and more…
As the first week of 2012 commences, everyone is speculating about what will happen this year in the hyperlocal industry. Jonathan Moyal sees Lucky Ant helping communities play a bigger role in local business. Jeremy Mims predicts growth for Groupon and Michelle Jones hopes to create an alternative to Yelp. Also, Sam Lessin describes how Facebook’s check-in with timelines is an entirely new kind of LBS and more.