

Thumbtack raises $4.5M, already half the size of Yelp - martian
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/09/local-services-marketplace-thumbtack-raises-4-5-million/

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MagicClam
What defines the "size" of a company in this context is the number of
users/buyers, not the number of listed companies. Thumbtack may have half as
many pieces of company info, but I bet the number of users that go to
Thumbtack for info is tiny compared to Yelp.

I once read that the Yahoo search ad platform has more advertisers than
Google, due to more lax standards. Does that mean that Yahoo ads are bigger
than AdWords?

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AznHisoka
Good point... I also thought the title was very misleading, and just lame, to
be honest. Also Yelp isn't even in the same space.. Yelp is more for local
businesses, not for contractors. Thumbtack is more like Angies List.

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hkarthik
Any chance that Thumbtack will produce an API?

It would be nice to have a way of getting at the data to embed
recommendations, connections, etc inside other apps.

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martian
Great point. This is something we're thinking really hard about.

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funthree
Thumbtack seems like a nice upgraded version of craigslist and all, but it
just isn't conducive to the same high _successful_ transaction rates. My
experience after a year has been completely underwhelming.

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martian
(I'm an engineer at Thumbtack.) Thanks for the feedback. I'm sorry to hear you
say that you had a difficult time, since usually we hear the exact opposite.
Of course, any transaction between two real people always is burdened by the
complexities of a real interaction.

If you have specific feedback on what we can do better, we'd love to hear it
-- either here or you can email me directly: chris at thumbtack.

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funthree
I think that mostly things on thumbtack just seem rather static, whereas
craigslist is fluid. Craigslist is pretty close to pure UGC. On thumbtack the
leads come in kind of slow (0-3 a month) and everyone competes with static
profiles and a chance to write a short note (which is nice, but also can feel
stale, and untimely)

I want to go to the website and connect with people ready to work together
right now, or at least communicate with people in real-time. If you are active
on craigslist and have the time you can email people until this happens, and
it usually doesnt take that long.

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martian
Great, thanks for clarifying. The problem you're describing is essentially one
of volume, if I'm understanding correctly. As you might imagine, increasing
volume is one of our top priorities. If you have further specific thoughts or
feedback, please let me know.

