This is something that small businesses struggle to get a handle on, and I’ve seen more than once a business bemoaning the presence of these on Google Maps without knowing how best to try to fix the issue. On the other hand, the rise of user reviews has led to a pernicious counter theme: the proliferation of fake reviews and spam. Signpost notes stats that say at least 82% of smartphone shoppers conduct ‘near me’ searches and 90% are likely to click on the first set of results, but that those without reviews conversely getting nary a glance or attentive nudge from the ever-powerful search algorithm. These have become an important - some would say essential - cornerstone for how people discover and decide to buy one product or service over another online, in conjunction with other services like Google Maps and Yelp. But in the age of shopping malls, the internet and the economy of scale that comes with it in e-commerce, many of those small businesses have found themselves caught out in figuring out how best to connect with existing customers and reach new ones.Īdded to this is the issue of user reviews. Traditionally, they have relied on word-of-mouth and (among physical businesses) incidental foot traffic to maintain and grow trade.
The problem that the company is tackling is one that local, independent and brick-and-mortar stores may know all too well: they have it hard when it comes to marketing. Its also hiring in its three locations, New York (its HQ), Austin, and Denver. While Signpost is not disclosing valuation, I’m guessing it’s definitely higher than this now, judging by the size of this latest round, and some of the other metrics the company is disclosing: the company cash flow break-even as of early 2019, with 43% year-over-year growth in its core product and less than one percent customer churn.
The Google connection is interesting: Signpost has gone through a few different iterations as a business and years ago was described as the “ AdSense for local businesses.” It’s raised about $110 million to date, with its most recent funding (in 2016) at around $100 million, according to PitchBook data. Signpost has been around for about a decade, and its other backers have included OpenView Venture Parnters, Scout Ventures and GV (when it was still Google Ventures and Signpost was focusing on the viral marketing of local deals). The funding is described as “late-stage financing” (similar to the round it raised in 2016) and comes from HighBar Partners and BMO Bank of Montreal with previous investors Georgian Partners and Spark Capital also participating. Signpost, which has built a platform that today is used by thousands of local businesses to compete better against bigger companies - by letting them collect their own and subsequently use product reviews, construct and provide offers and manage contact lists of customers - has closed a round of $52 million, money that it will use to expand its technology and customer base. Today, a company that has found a way to tap the opportunity and capitalise on some of the challenges has raised a significant round of growth funding to tap into the opportunity.
If someone thought it was worth the time and money, I would like to know.Creating products aimed at smaller business users is a promising but challenging category in the area of enterprise software - they make up the vast majority of businesses today, but collectively are a fragmented customer base that is price sensitive and individually represents small ARPU. This fay and age, it is unacceptable to me. Personally, I HATE software that is not intuitive. If the idea is to save you time and make things super simple, it was a disaster. will all get promo emails if you're not on top of it. All of your vendors, your grandmother, father, wife, etc. And if you don't manually go in all the time and make sure it doesn't send emails to people you don't want it to, it will. You have to give their system your main business email credentials, and it will AUTOMATICALLY add EVERYONE you email and get emails from to the "contact" list (using "contact" loosely). They want you to sign a year contract, because "you have to give it time to see results".
In the end, it was a bust and a waste of money. It would have been so much better if it would have had even the most basic CRM built-into it. The interface left a lot to be desired though. The concept was good for sure - automate promotions, reach out to past customers, get more reviews and qualify them, etc.