My pitch is ill-defined and I realize now how similar it must seem to Yelp. However, I would like to elaborate on this point that you made about "slow growth" w

My pitch is ill-defined and I realize now how similar it must seem to Yelp. However, I would like to elaborate on this point that you made about "slow growth" with a question: Would Facebook be as popular if anyone could create anyone else's page? They would upload basic information - maybe a picture or two, a few interests, add a few friends, hardly ever write in the blog. When the person writing content for these pages has a personal investment in the business or venue, the page becomes much more vibrant. Users on Yelp are given points for adding and reviewing places, but the number of pictures they upload, for example, is a non-factor in their user ranking. Thus, I respectfully disagree with your assessment that this will slow growth. I'm planning on starting with a small and well-defined geographic reach - say, one small area like a city or a state. Once that user base is satisfied, then I'll work to expand the application's reach. One more thing, though - I would not be quick to call the profile creation on this web application "burdensome." Most venues, including several branches of a national chain, have difficulty reaching their customer base. The chain "Chili's" for example, has a Web site for their national chain, but few if any (I couldn't find any on a recent search) of their individual venues have Web sites. That means there's very little interchange between the consumer and the venue. This web application was initially created so that people could not only organize their places, but shape them to some extent. If enough people complain in reviews of an individual Chili's venue that the cash registers are understaffed, that venue will take notice.