Google's Worse Nightmare - from Fast Company

"Despite its wealth and mystique, though, Google is surprisingly vulnerable, creating an opportunity for guys like [us]. "

"What's more, studies show that users are disappointed with the current state of search and consider Google hardly any better than its rivals. In a blind study by the French linguistics scholar Jean Véronis and his students, Google and Yahoo tied for user satisfaction with their results, both scoring an embarrassing 2.3 out of a possible 5. About 28% of the time, users thought that all the search results they received from both engines were "totally useless." They gave fairly low marks of 2.8 and 2.9 even to the very first links listed by Yahoo and Google, respectively. About a quarter of the time, they didn't find what they considered to be even one good result from either search engine."

Fast Company

Cool new toy

For those of you who like cool new apps - here's one that looked fun.

Jott rocks.
Jott, a company based in Seattle, offers a convenient new service that lets you speak messages and send them to yourself or others — as a transcribed text message.
Or as a voice message, if you prefer.
Sign up at Jott.com takes a minute, with no hassle. Then all you do is call Jott's number, 1-877-568-8486. Jott asks who you are sending the message to. You tell Jott (the name of your friend will be contained in the contacts you’ve imported), and then record a message, and hang up. It ends up in their inbox, translated into text. Or you can choose to send voice message instead, by immediately pressing a “1″. The message then shows up as an audio file in their email.
This is a really easy and useful service, and we may be hooked. Here's the intriguing part: Jott sends your messages to India for transcription. There, cheaply paid workers are listening to your voice message, and typing down the text in an email, which they then shoot off to the recipient. It took us about five minutes to receive our transcribed message tests — and they were perfectly done. A new meaning of the phrase “Passage to India.”
This is perfect for those professional messages you want to send to people, say while driving in your car. You don’t want to bug someone with a phone call, but texting or emailing someone is hard to do – steering with your knees isn’t very safe.

Awsome List of 100 Next Generation Search Engines

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines

These are great examples of the next Google. By '08, FastCall411 will be on this list.

"Ask anyone which search engine they use to find information on the Internet and they will almost certainly reply: "Google." Look a little further, and market research shows that people actually use four main search engines for 99.99% of their searches: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com (in that order). But in my travels as a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), I have discovered that in that .01% lies a vast multitude of the most innovative and creative search engines you have never seen. So many, in fact, that I have had to limit my list of the very best ones to a mere 100."

Msoft buys TellMe - to add mobile / local search assets

Here's a post of the Msoft TellMe deal:

"Microsoft fired a new salvo in its so far unsuccessful war to catch up with Google in the search arena. The software giant bought Tellme Networks, a voice services and automated directory assistance provider. Tellme may not seem too much like an Internet search company at first glance, but it is -- especially when you consider where the next battle over search will be fought.

...When you think about it, then, Tellme is providing its users with search; it's just not Internet search in the form that most of us are used to. It's mobile search and local search, enabled by the telephone's voice interface. As the software giant explained in the press release announcing the acquisition, "Microsoft and Tellme share a vision around the potential of speech as a way to enable access to information, locate other people and enhance business processes, any time and from any device." In short, Microsoft believes that the next arena for the battle to win the hearts and minds of searchers is going to be mobile and local search, and that Tellme has what it needs to win."
SEOChat.com

FastCall411, Inc. - Its Official

March 19, 2007 10:49 AM we incorporated in Delaware.

FastCall411 to Provide Next Generation Local Search

Aimed at Consumers and Merchants Alike, New Search-by-Phone Offering Seeks to Solve Problems Associated with Pay-Per-Call

HOLLYWOOD & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Declaring that it's time to fix the problems inherent in the local-search based pay-per-call model, FastCall411, Inc. today announced the launch of the company and Q2 availability of its first product. The company made the announcement at the Kelsey Group Conference Drilling Down on Local '07, at the Santa Clara Marriott through March 21.

More on Yahoo News

How to Write a Great Business Plan

David Haber - bio below - sent me a great article from the Harvard Business Review on how to write a business plan. My goal is to have the plan finished by April 1. Here's a link to the article.

http://fastcall411.com/How-To-Write-A-Great-Business-Plan.pdf

Welcome to the team David Haber of Lowenstein Sandler

David B. Haber has been retained as corporate council. He is a member of the Tech Group and the M&A and Corporate Finance Practice Group at Lowenstein Sandler. David has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, venture capital transactions and angel investments, with an emphasis on buying and selling venture-backed companies and representing VCs and entrepreneurs in venture deals. Mr. Haber is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University Business School were he teaches an MBA-level course in venture capital finance.

Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler in 2005, Mr. Haber practiced in the Silicon Valley office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and the Silicon Valley office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

http://www.lowenstein.com/dhaber/

FastCall411 widget

We have a mock-up of the FastCall411 widget within a local search site. I like that the FC value proposition is very simple and clear in this implementation. The consumer can:

1) FastCall the listed merchant and our recommendations in the category.
2) Click-to-call the listed merchant
3) Dial the 10 digit DID of the merchant (phone number.)

Of course, if the consumer dials directly, FastCall411 still has a chance to "Try Another" if the consumer chooses to try another merchant after a failed connection (no answer, busy, disconnect, etc)

Where Search Stumbles - Looking local can still baffle big search engines

Check out a great review on local search in BusinessWeek. "Clever as search tools are at ferreting out the obscure and global, they tend to fall down badly at the mundane and the local, despite major investments by search providers. "

"There are a lot of reasons local search does so badly. The main one is that the tools that scour the vast Web, guided by keywords and sites' popularity, are boggled by local searches. "

Elevator Pitch - Revenue Model

FastCall411 knows which merchants are answering phones, looking for new business, and knows how many calls have been sent to that merchant. It's the fastest, easiest way to solve the gigantic problem encountered throughout the local search industry: how to find businesses that are both relevant and ready to pay for leads.

FastCall411 Elevator Pitch

The consumer wants a service provider fast. He puts in his phone number and clicks. FastCall411 calls a short list of recommended merchants, plays a brief recorded message to those who answer. Then, within seconds of putting in his number, the consumer is connected to a merchant who is available now and wants to take that call. No busy signals, no wrong numbers, no answering machines. Just results.

What is the FastCall411 Business Model?

FastCall411 solves the call volume problem of competitors by offering the consumer a better way to find a local service provider. We eliminate the need for consumers to call merchant after merchant in hopes of finding one in business and ready to take a call. The company will tap a vast source of consumer leads (estimated at 100,000,000 calls monthly) by redirecting calls that would be made to unqualified, out-of-business, or otherwise unresponsive merchants and deliver these telephone leads, on a subscription or pay-per-call basis, to merchants who are in business and want new leads. The unprecedented FastCall relevancy algorithm will qualify and create brand awareness with local advertisers in categories where there is high need or urgent situations. The company will utilize paid and organic search (SEM and SEO) as well as partnerships to generate sales more effectively than all competitors. Prospects sales will be driven by a focused, targeted telesales effort.

What Makes FastCall411 Unique?

Unlike all other local search sites that list the vast telecom database of merchants by proximity to the searched address or worse, alphabetically, FastCall411 will list merchants by a relevancy algorithm weighted by historical telephone call answer rates. This data is collected by utilizing proprietary click-to-talk (VoIP) call routing applications to connect phone calls for searching consumers in need of local services to merchants who are available to provide urgent service and actively want new business leads. Each consumer call will dial one merchant directly, multiple merchants in tandem or consecutively dial merchants until a connection to a merchant is made. Achieving a near-100% connection rate. FastCall411 is currently developing the tightly integrated system to combine local search, merchant relevance, outbound dialing, billing and reporting.

Why is the FastCall411 Sales Model an Improvement Over Current Methods?

FastCall411 estimates that 4 in 10 merchants listed in organic search results are relevant to the consumer. Of the 4 relevant merchants, we estimate that 1 is seeking new leads. FastCall411 finds this local business with each consumer call.

Why Do Calls Provide a Better Metric of Relevance Than Clicks?

Search engines are designed to spider links between websites and links cannot measure quality or availability. Google pioneered the concept of using popularity to measure relevance. FastCall411 believes that calls are a much better metric of quality and availability.

FastCall411 Provides a Better Consumer Experience with a “Multiplier”

"FastCall" and “Try Another” dial multiple merchants with each call. For example, 10,000 calls potentially dial 100,000 merchants. FastCall411 identified the 10,000 relevant merchants from the pool of 100,000.

How Does FastCall411 Match Merchant Supply with Consumer Demand Utilizing Availability?

FastCall411 will enable merchants to accept calls when they are available (i.e. tow truck). This is an improvement over most Internet search which has little to offer in terms of availability.

How Will FastCall411 Collect User Reviews / User Generated Content and How is This Different?

FastCall411 collects implicit and explicit reviews. The implicit reviews are not user opinions; FastCall implies that a busy signal, for example, is a “negative” experience. Explicit reviews are captured before and after a call. The user optionally states their need or purpose of the call (i.e. exterior painting) and can rate if that need is met after the call (i.e. merchant was helpful).

What is the Value Proposition for the Publisher / Distribution Partner?

Based on the industry’s first telephone-derived relevancy algorithm, the most qualified merchants will rotate into the top positions. After each round of calls, results are evaluated and a ranking is assigned. Merchants with disconnected numbers are dropped, busy / no answer calls are scored below merchants who answer but do not respond (IVR, voicemail). Last, merchant accepting calls – winners and runner-ups, are scored. With scale, the vast database of connected, and not connected calls will identify the percentile of merchants who actively are in business and equipped to service consumers. This data will differentiate distribution partners (publishers.) Consumer feedback with further refine the algorithms.

What is the Value Proposition for the Merchant?

As the first mover to track and analyze consumer calls to local merchants at scale, FastCall411 will build and refine a proprietary database of “relevant” local merchants – merchants in business with an active lead processing infrastructure and, most importantly, merchants willing to pay for phone leads. The recommendation algorithm will be used to deliver the consumer a much higher connection rate to merchants. This equates to more qualified leads for the merchant.

What is the Value Proposition for the Consumer?

FastCall411 will fulfill consumers’ urgent searches for local service providers by enabling the consumer to dial multiple merchants in parallel. In urgent situations, consumers will no longer have to scroll a long list of local merchants and begin dialing each merchant in hope of a connection. With FastCall411, the consumer searches category and geography from a mobile device, the web or directory assistance and is presented a refined list of relevant local merchants.