6 ms·

Opez (YC S11) Is Yelp Meets Facebook, For Service Professionals

105 points by csmajorfive 15y ago

sgrove 15y ago
I have a couple of hair-stylist friends who've been dying for this kind of service - there's almost a kind of lock-in with the salon that they work out of, where changing causes them a great deal of frustration. Having a direct line to the service provider would save them (and their clients) a ton of hassle, and also even up the power-balance. Everyone wins! I'm personally a little bit jealous about Opez though - building a product by establishing relationships to the best bartenders, servers, etc.? Must be awesome :)
- pbreit 15y ago
  http://www.styleseat.com/ http://www.styleseat.com/ recently launched but more of a boooking tool.
ora600 15y ago
That's an awesome idea and I hope it works out well. I'd love to be able to follow my favorite hair stylist and beautician around. I also hope my customers will want to follow their favorite database consultant :)
markbao 15y ago
I hate this title. Does "Yelp meets Facebook" really tell you more than describing the service?
- watty 15y ago
  It's a lot easier to piggy back on the success of actual innovative startups. "hipmunk for car insurance", "heroku for mobile apps", "etherpad reborn"...
- dglassan 15y ago
  I came here to say the same thing...Is this a social network for business reviews? Because that's all I'm getting from this title and that doesn't sound very enticing to me.
- infinite8s 15y ago
  Yeah, and anyway this service sounds more like Yelp meets LinkedIn
jsavimbi 15y ago
I'm having a hard time believing that this concept made it past the pitch stage. I can't even.
brentvatne 15y ago
This is neat! I can think of many potential use cases for this from the perspective of both the customer and the service professional. The service industry has so many sub-par performers, so it'll be great to have a service that identifies and rewards (through identification) the good ones. Can you disclose any other features you have planned beyond profiles and following?
- plc 15y ago
  stay tuned =) We have a lot of awesome product features in the pipeline that will be released in the next few weeks.
conradev 15y ago
I hope the world runs out of ideas for social networks soon.
- marvinkennis 15y ago
  Why is that?
toddmorey 15y ago
Maybe highlight a better example than a bartender? I can image looking on an Opez page for a tutor, lawyer, or accountant, but I'm just not sure what I'd need my bartender to tell me via Opez...
- int3rnaut 15y ago
  Maybe he learned to mix a mean shirley temple.
chailatte 15y ago
Yelp already has most facebook functionalities, and listings for service professionals. You should just say 'we're competing with yelp. wish us luck'
christonog 15y ago
If you really wanted to follow your favorite service provider, wouldn't you just friend them on facebook or follow them on twitter? The relationship is already there, so wouldn't reviews be unnecessary?
- joseakle 15y ago
  I'm not really friends with my hair cutter but i do hate when they leave and next guy just has to learn all over again how to avoid making me look like a soldier.
- angryasian 15y ago
  I know many hair stylists, and since they only rent seats usually at places, they are pretty familiar with their clients. They already friend on facebook, follow on twitter, or have email addresses and phone numbers. Agree with the reviews. Also its sort of hard to trust the reviews from people that chose to follow you, meaning they already have a good relationship with the provider. This already puts their review into question.
kin 15y ago
I think it's a great idea and concept! It definitely hits a subset of Yelp but on a more personal and individualized sense. Good luck! In terms of Feedback on design I would try and ditch having the bright green everywhere. IMO, it looks like MS Paint coloring so it comes off a tad tacky.
coridactyl 15y ago
It would be really great if one could view the pertinent parts of this site (users' pages) on an iPhone, but "WHOAH THIS IS MOBILE!" is the redirect I'm getting. Sigh.
ca136 15y ago
The neon green on the Opez site is giving me a headache. And the white text on green background is really hard to read. It's an interesting idea, and may be helpful if they can integrate with some of the existing networks - I just really hope they change the color scheme.
matan_a 15y ago
While at first glace i'd think it competes with Yelp and Angie's List, it does have a different angle. It will be interesting to see how it develops. Ultimately, word of mouth has a very powerful influence on which service providers people choose - but more likely from people you trust as well. Having said that, not only is the rating of the service provider important, but also the quality of the relationship of the viewer to the rater.

105 points by csmajorfive 15y ago

I have a couple of hair-stylist friends who've been dying for this kind of service - there's almost a kind of lock-in with the salon that they work out of, where changing causes them a great deal of frustration. Having a direct line to the service provider would save them (and their clients) a ton of hassle, and also even up the power-balance. Everyone wins! I'm personally a little bit jealous about Opez though - building a product by establishing relationships to the best bartenders, servers, etc.? Must be awesome :)

pbreit 15y ago
http://www.styleseat.com/ http://www.styleseat.com/ recently launched but more of a boooking tool.

ora600 15y ago

That's an awesome idea and I hope it works out well. I'd love to be able to follow my favorite hair stylist and beautician around. I also hope my customers will want to follow their favorite database consultant :)

markbao 15y ago

I hate this title. Does "Yelp meets Facebook" really tell you more than describing the service?

watty 15y ago
It's a lot easier to piggy back on the success of actual innovative startups. "hipmunk for car insurance", "heroku for mobile apps", "etherpad reborn"...
dglassan 15y ago
I came here to say the same thing...Is this a social network for business reviews? Because that's all I'm getting from this title and that doesn't sound very enticing to me.
infinite8s 15y ago
Yeah, and anyway this service sounds more like Yelp meets LinkedIn

jsavimbi 15y ago

I'm having a hard time believing that this concept made it past the pitch stage. I can't even.

brentvatne 15y ago

This is neat! I can think of many potential use cases for this from the perspective of both the customer and the service professional. The service industry has so many sub-par performers, so it'll be great to have a service that identifies and rewards (through identification) the good ones. Can you disclose any other features you have planned beyond profiles and following?

plc 15y ago
stay tuned =) We have a lot of awesome product features in the pipeline that will be released in the next few weeks.

conradev 15y ago

I hope the world runs out of ideas for social networks soon.

marvinkennis 15y ago
Why is that?

toddmorey 15y ago

Maybe highlight a better example than a bartender? I can image looking on an Opez page for a tutor, lawyer, or accountant, but I'm just not sure what I'd need my bartender to tell me via Opez...

int3rnaut 15y ago
Maybe he learned to mix a mean shirley temple.

chailatte 15y ago

Yelp already has most facebook functionalities, and listings for service professionals. You should just say 'we're competing with yelp. wish us luck'

christonog 15y ago

If you really wanted to follow your favorite service provider, wouldn't you just friend them on facebook or follow them on twitter? The relationship is already there, so wouldn't reviews be unnecessary?

joseakle 15y ago
I'm not really friends with my hair cutter but i do hate when they leave and next guy just has to learn all over again how to avoid making me look like a soldier.
angryasian 15y ago
I know many hair stylists, and since they only rent seats usually at places, they are pretty familiar with their clients. They already friend on facebook, follow on twitter, or have email addresses and phone numbers. Agree with the reviews. Also its sort of hard to trust the reviews from people that chose to follow you, meaning they already have a good relationship with the provider. This already puts their review into question.

kin 15y ago

I think it's a great idea and concept! It definitely hits a subset of Yelp but on a more personal and individualized sense. Good luck! In terms of Feedback on design I would try and ditch having the bright green everywhere. IMO, it looks like MS Paint coloring so it comes off a tad tacky.

coridactyl 15y ago

It would be really great if one could view the pertinent parts of this site (users' pages) on an iPhone, but "WHOAH THIS IS MOBILE!" is the redirect I'm getting. Sigh.

ca136 15y ago

The neon green on the Opez site is giving me a headache. And the white text on green background is really hard to read. It's an interesting idea, and may be helpful if they can integrate with some of the existing networks - I just really hope they change the color scheme.

matan_a 15y ago

While at first glace i'd think it competes with Yelp and Angie's List, it does have a different angle. It will be interesting to see how it develops. Ultimately, word of mouth has a very powerful influence on which service providers people choose - but more likely from people you trust as well. Having said that, not only is the rating of the service provider important, but also the quality of the relationship of the viewer to the rater.