On-Demand Services: Lessons Learned From the Rise and Fall of Homejoy

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The news that on-demand home cleaning service Homejoy is shutting down at the end of the month wasn’t a big surprise. Here are a few key lessons that stick out in thinking about the company’s trajectory.

Street Fight Daily: Square Eyes IPO, Thumbtack’s SEO Struggles

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Square Expected To Go Public This Year (Forbes)… Thumbtack, A Startup Backed by Google, Returns to Google’s Graces After SEO Hiccup (Re/code)… Dunkin’ Donuts CMO Discusses the Risky Move to Mobile Loyalty (AdAge)…

Street Fight Daily: Apple’s New Software, Facebook Hands Out Beacons

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… With New Software, Apple Looks to Bring Together Local Search and Commerce (Street Fight)… Facebook Is Handing Out Free Beacons to Retailers (Recode)… Google Capital-Backed Thumbtack Hit With Manual Action For Unnatural Links (Search Engine Land)…

#SFSW15: Inside the Local Services Land Grab

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The local service industry has exploded in recent years as investors pour billion into companies creating new ways for consumer to transact with plumbers, painters and other service professionals. But even today, service professionals still rely mostly on word of mouth to find leads and get new jobs.

What Google’s Entry Into the Home Services Space Means for Local

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Google revealed earlier this week that it was readying an entry into the hotly contested home services category. Will Google have enough long-term commitment to a serious standalone product in this space to produce a real game-changer for local?

Street Fight Daily: Google Buys Softcard, GrubHub President To Exit

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Google Strikes Mobile Payments Deal With Big Wireless Carriers, Buys Softcard Technology (Recode)… GrubHub’s No. 2 Heading For The Exit (Crain’s Chicago Business)… Thumbtack Adds Big Name Design And Engineering Execs To Oversee Big Growth (TechCrunch)…

How the Rise of Online Dating Helped Thumbtack Raise $100M

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Street Fight recently caught up with Thumbtack’s CEO Marco Zappacosta to talk about the company’s meteoric growth, the challenges facing the on-demand economy, and how online a service industry is changing — whether professionals like it or not…

Street Fight Daily: Google Now Opens Up, Yelp Back in Court

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyGoogle Now Becomes “Platform,” Incorporates Third Party Content, Apps (Screenwerk)… Yelp Goes To Court To Protect Identity Of Anonymous Review-Writer (Consumerist)… Two Takeaways About LivingSocial From Amazon’s Yearly Statement (Washington Business Journal)…

Lowe’s-Backed Porch Raises $65 Million to Target Angie’s List

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With the second largest home improvement retailer in its corner, the Seattle-based startup has raised a $65 million round of funding to beat out a set of cash-rich startups vying to help people manage their next kitchen remodeling…

Street Fight Daily: Angie’s List Shuffles Brass, Amazon’s One-Hour Delivery

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\A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Amazon Brings One-Hour Delivery To NYC With Prime Now (TechCrunch)… Angie’s List Shuffles Brass, Names Third Tech Chief In Two Years (Indianapolis Business Journal)… Like Tinder, But For Creative Professionals: How Thumbtack Is Remaking The Gig Economy (Fusion)…

5 Local Marketplaces for Housecleaners

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Marketplaces aimed at providing consumers with easy ways to quickly find and book local housecleaners and home services providers are heating up, with frontrunners like Handy and Homejoy enjoying major investments from well-known venture firms like Revolution (led by AOL co-founder Steve Case and Groupon chairman Ted Leonisis), Google Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures. Here are […]

Street Fight Daily: Thumbtack Raises $100M, Uber Opens API

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyThumbtack, an Online Market for Services, Raises $100 Million (New York Times)… Uber Opens API in Bid to Be Everywhere (Recode)… GoDaddy Acquires MailChimp Competitor Mad Mimi To Beef Up Its Email Marketing Service (TechCrunch)…

Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Delivery Service, Square Expands Cash Advances

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyWith New Delivery Service, Uber Declares War on Google and Amazon (Wired)… Square Expands Its Cash Advance Service (New York Times)… Google Tests A New Local Knowledge Graph Interface (SearchEngineLand)…

In Rush to Local Services, Thumbtack Nabs $12.5M Series B

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The investment dollars keep flowing for companies in the local services space. Two months after scheduling firm Booker nabbed 27.5 million from Bain, Thumbtack, a startup that has built a reverse Craigslist for local services, has raised 12.5 million from Sequoia Capital in a series B round, bringing its total funding to a little over $18 million…

6 Platforms For Booking Local Services

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Platforms that allow consumers to book appointments with service-based professionals (like plumbers, electricians, and mechanics) are disrupting the way local services have traditionally been scheduled. Here are six platforms working to change the way local, service-based businesses schedule appointments with consumers…

6 Lead-Generation Tools for Small Businesses

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Hyperlocal platforms aimed at fulfilling consumer service requests are becoming increasingly attractive to these small business owners, since these platforms generally involve a minimal investment of time or money on the part of the local merchant. Rather than paying upfront for advertisements that may or may not generate actual leads, business owners can sit back and wait for leads to come to them…

Street Fight Daily: 01.10.12

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Local Services Marketplace Thumbtack Raises $4.5 Million (TechCrunch)…

Patch Dispatches Little Green Truck to Primary States (Capital New York)…

TaskRabbit Acquires Service Provider Directory SkillSlate (TechCrunch)…

Street Fight Daily: 07.27.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Groupon has filed for a $10,288,416 offering of equity in connection with its acquisition of Chilean startup Zappedy. However we don’t know if there was cash involved in addition to equity in the Zappedy acquisition so it’s not clear what the final price of the transaction was. (TechCrunch)…

BuyWithMe has announced the launch of their new Android application, which provides merchants with the ability to reach out to mobile consumers with location-based offers. (Daily Deal Media)…