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B2BRev is working on number 2. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be-the-yelp-for-b2b-services/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-back

by pg 15y ago

B2BRev is working on number 2. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be-the-yelp-for-b2b-services/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be...

akkartik 15y ago
And #4 seems to correspond to http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html.
dforeman 15y ago
I think it's interesting how the Yelp model might work for business services, but breaks down for service providers. We're not doing lawyers, but I think lawyers are a good example of why the Yelp UX model is wrong for the "relationship" business services market. - First, reviews are the wrong content. You won't get them, first of all, because customers of businesses who see 10-20 engagements per year will never leave lukewarm or negative reviews. Secondly, even if you only allow recommendations (like LinkedIn) and not open reviews, it's still the wrong content to describe a complex business service. The managing partner of WSGR has tons of recommendations on LI. Does one of them come close to capturing how he thinks about business or his potential value? No. - Second, stars or any other standard comparison ranking system is the wrong discovery method. Stars help people discover who is good, but not who is good at what. - Third, participation. LawPivot, who was able to raise several million dollars, lets lawyers generate business through a private Q&A site. Well, the most successful lawyers have no reason to use this service- they are already oversubscribed. Any service discovery/review tool dependent on active participation by the service providers leaves out the best players. This is less of a concern for the B2Brevs of the world, but describes why Guru.com and Elance became talent slums. I probably shouldn't say anything, but we're launching (and applied YCW12) with something designed to fill a number 2 role for an often overlooked class of business services.
zbruhnke 15y ago
Nice shoutout from PG there, and because of that I will probably even check it out, but seriously I hope a name change is in line for them ... it may seem simple but it is NOT memorable and certainly not something that is going to be easy to build a brand around IMHO

by pg 15y ago

B2BRev is working on number 2. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be-the-yelp-for-b2b-services/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be...

akkartik 15y ago

And #4 seems to correspond to http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html.

dforeman 15y ago

I think it's interesting how the Yelp model might work for business services, but breaks down for service providers. We're not doing lawyers, but I think lawyers are a good example of why the Yelp UX model is wrong for the "relationship" business services market. - First, reviews are the wrong content. You won't get them, first of all, because customers of businesses who see 10-20 engagements per year will never leave lukewarm or negative reviews. Secondly, even if you only allow recommendations (like LinkedIn) and not open reviews, it's still the wrong content to describe a complex business service. The managing partner of WSGR has tons of recommendations on LI. Does one of them come close to capturing how he thinks about business or his potential value? No. - Second, stars or any other standard comparison ranking system is the wrong discovery method. Stars help people discover who is good, but not who is good at what. - Third, participation. LawPivot, who was able to raise several million dollars, lets lawyers generate business through a private Q&A site. Well, the most successful lawyers have no reason to use this service- they are already oversubscribed. Any service discovery/review tool dependent on active participation by the service providers leaves out the best players. This is less of a concern for the B2Brevs of the world, but describes why Guru.com and Elance became talent slums. I probably shouldn't say anything, but we're launching (and applied YCW12) with something designed to fill a number 2 role for an often overlooked class of business services.

zbruhnke 15y ago

Nice shoutout from PG there, and because of that I will probably even check it out, but seriously I hope a name change is in line for them ... it may seem simple but it is NOT memorable and certainly not something that is going to be easy to build a brand around IMHO