By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA—Early this year, Allie Shields searched for quotes on replacing the shocks on her car, and finding a lack of online information, called providers who gave her quotes that “were all over the place,” says husband Rob Shields. “I was surprised to see that you just can’t do comparison shopping for local services online,” he says. That was the genesis of LocalPrice.
“There is just so little service-pricing information out there,” Shields adds, “so people don’t know if they’re getting ripped off. You have to make a lot of phone calls to get information and it seems very inefficient.”
LocalPrice, which is among 15 startups taking place in the Atlanta CapVenture program this year, is currently self-funded and seeks $300,000 to $500,000 in seed backing. That, says Shields, would pay for hiring an initial management team and creating a dynamic version of the LocalPrice site, which already has a few services online.
Shields has 10 years of broad experience working for internet companies including CheckFree Services Inc, where he was responsible for new product development, and VerticalOne, Inc. (acquired by S1 Corporation).
He says the site, which lists eight Atlanta-based services now, has 12 more in process. Those already online include Lasik surgery, home security, limo rentals, and dentists, locksmiths, carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and junk removal. Upcoming categories include pest control and granite counter tops.
The site lists providers and their prices in easy to read graphic form.
While the site is limited to Atlanta now to prove the concept, plans are to expand it nationally. “The plan is to build an audience and search engine optimization. We’ve already had some initial good ranking success,” says Shields.
It ranked number one under some search terms, such as “compare Atlanta services,” and in the top three for some categories such as Atlanta limos (in the organic, not the ad listings), which is a competitive term.
While the company will pursue an ad revenue model, Shields say it will also eventually offer premium listings to service providers, although it will continue to offer free listings on comparative prices “to draw an audience.”
He expects the site to offer more than just pricing information. “Say you’re getting Lasik surgery,” he suggests. “If you see a price difference in the hundreds of dollars, you will want to know why. How many procedures has the provider done? What are the post care options? Is there a policy for re-treatment if everything does not go as planned? We want to provide apples to apples comparisons of service providers.”
The site will also eventually include monitored social networking features.
Shields says taking part in the CapVenture program “Has definitely raised our visibility in Atlanta. The main reason we were interested is the quality of the coaches. Folks I would otherwise be happy getting a single meeting with have been helping me several hours every week.”
David Gould, who just sold Witness Systems, where he was chair and CEO, for more than $1 billion, has been spending 3 hours every Monday night with Shields, for instance, and he’s not even his coach.
Gould is currently leveraging his experience in the technology industry, by working with a new model growth fund called TOP.
Kelly Gay, Shield’s coach, is former chair, CEO, and president of KnowledgeStorm.
“She spent two hours talking to VCs about the equity stake I should offer as a founder to bring on people,” says Shields. “She called the VCs and asked how founders split their equity, which I would never have been able to do, because I don’t have contacts at that level. And that’s only one thing!”
Shield says he also got a meeting with the Atlanta Technology Angels group because of the credibility of the CapVenture program.
CapVenture is a training program that educate and equips early stage (typically those seeking their first institutional round of financing) CEO’s and executives for smarter and more productive capitalization of their business.
This is the first of a TechJournal South series on companies participating in the CapVenture program offered by the Technology Association of Georgia.
On the Web: www.localprice.com ; www.tagonline.org/capventure.php
© 2008, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
