Imagine
an app that would allow you to plan your evening in just a few clicks. Dinner
reservations? Check. Find out where your favorite band is playing? Check. And
hey--a coupon that’ll allow you to stretch your dollar a little more? Check!
A group of friends not only imagined such an app; they made it happen.
LocalView founders Jon Matar (pictured second from right) and Eric Littleton
(pictured first from left), product development guru Jay Brown (first on right)
and social media/marketing/graphic designer Kaitie Vonderschmitt--hatched the
idea this past January.
“We wanted a cool app where we could see what was going on in the city, and we
saw a need to have everything in one place,” says Matar. “That was kind of the
original goal--to bring in all this content so you don’t have to go to multiple
apps or websites to find it.” Moving quickly, the LocalView team hired
Interapt, a Louisville development firm, to build it. Naturally, they called
their creation LocalView as well as simple, descriptive name that gets to the
heart of what the service is all about.
What sets LocalView both the app and the company apart is not only how it
aggregates the information that’s already out there, but also how it attracts
businesses and services and presents a win-win scenario for vendors and
customers.
“[The major online discount services] Groupon and Living Social are killing
businesses,” says Matar. “As a user, you buy the deal from Groupon, you pay
Groupon, and Groupon pays the business. LocalView eliminates the middleman.
Users go to the business and redeem the coupons right from the app.”
Instead of taking the customary 40 or 50 percent cut, LocalView takes only 10
percent--a much more digestible bite than the monster sites. “It’s a better way
for businesses,” he continues. “We don’t want them to break the bank… They
don’t have to wait for payments, we don’t gouge them and it’s better for the
user.” Adds Brown: “You’re still getting the similar discount from the other
sites, but it’s a better business model for consumer and merchant.”
LocalView established itself in Louisville back in January, and even though
they love their local roots, the team is already looking to expand to the
Lexington, Cincinnati and Indianapolis markets sooner rather than later. Backed
by local investors and friends, they’ve managed to keep the cost of the app
free to iPhone and Android users while working on an online version. Even with
all this big-picture thinking, LocalView is determined to remain fiercely
independent and true to its roots. “With a young company,” says Matar, “you
want to see it last, and that’s all we can think about to succeed and provide
value for users and businesses to draw in more customers.”
For Brown, the beauty of LocalView is in its versatility. “There’s not one part
that’s more important than the other,” he says. “Some people like the food,
some people like looking for something to do. The goal is to discover your
city.”
t January.