Judy's Book
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
|
Type of site
|
Local Social Search, Local Ratings and Reviews |
| Headquarters | Seattle, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) |
Andy Sacks (Co-founder) Chris DeVore (Co-founder) |
| Key people | David Niu (board member) Geoff Entress (board member) Andy Liu (board member) Mike Ma (board member) Ali Alami (General Manager) |
| Industry | Internet |
| Employees | 7 |
| Subsidiaries | Snappd.it |
| Website | www |
| Advertising | Banner ads, referral marketing |
| Launched | 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
Judy's Book is a social search tool and online yellow pages used by millions of registered users across the United States to find the best deals, discounts and coupons and to locate local businesses and professionals such as physicians, restaurants, dentists, dry cleaners, pizza restaurants and plumbers, and rate and review them.
In 2004, friends and entrepreneurs Andy Sack (Founders Co-op, Kefta, Abuzz, Firefly Network) and Chris DeVore (Founders Co-op, Sapient Corporation, Adjacency) founded Judy's Book with a $2.5 million seed funding that they were able to raise. The social networking-based local search tool allows small businesses to promote themselves and users to browse through listings to locate businesses and professionals in their area and rate and review their experiences. According to the official website, the idea of Judy's Book was inspired by co-founder Andy Sack's mother-in-law, Judy Albert, who kept a "little green book" full of lists and shopping tips and other favorites that she'd share with family and friends to help them find "the best of everything".
Seth Godin described the start up as "Craig's List meets Zagats meets Orkut." The website allows small, mid and even large sized businesses to submit all promotions and deals they have so that users can then easily navigate through them and keep up with the latest offerings. Registered users can browse through local and online stores and even post deals, coupons or any other sales they learn of and further enhance existing postings by providing more detailed information and adding personal reviews, ratings and tags.
In 2005, in an effort to get the website off the ground, the company offered iPods to anyone who submitted 50 reviews of local businesses. While the then-owners and founders of Judy's Book, Andy and Chris, refused to reveal how many people won iPods or how many reviews were submitted, Sack announced that their marketing efforts were successful as the website saw a 50-60% increase in reviews and member registrations every month.
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Wikipedia