QLess reduces salon chain’s no-shows by 63% with mobile paging
January 12th, 2010QLess launched successfully in Ohmycut!, a salon chain in Spain. So far QLess has reduced the no-show rate by 63%!
–Alex
SocialDiligence experiencing many repeat buyers, grown 19,400% in two months
January 12th, 2010SocialDiligence.com has seen a significant number of repeat buyers, showing that customers find our social search reports worth paying for not just once, but repeatedly.
SocialDiligence.com traffic has grown by a median of 68% per *week* for the last 8 weeks, even through the holidays, for a total of 19,400% growth in two months.
–Alex
DMV customers using QLess to queue up from home show up in droves at DMV
December 26th, 2009The % of those using their cell phones to queue up via the QLess home kiosk who show up for service is equal (if anything, a little higher) than that of those doing it on-site at the DMV, validating the model of remote or off-site queueing pioneered by QLess.
–Alex
Nespresso, a division of Nestle, launches QLess store, reduces no-shows by more than 50%
December 26th, 2009Nespresso, the fastest growing division of Nestle, the world´s largest food and wellness company, launched QLess, increasing the % of customers who show up for service among those waiting more than 10 minutes by 64%:
Photos below:
Whozat: A New Way to Work
November 30th, 2009When Elance asked us to tell a story about a new way to work, Whozat came to mind. Our team is spread out from Kyrgyzstan to California. It consists of an Argentinian, an Italian, three Americans, a Spaniard, a Kyrgyz and two Russians –our next hire will likely be Peruvian. Contrary to common wisdom that high-tech start-ups are started by single males, Whozat counts four women (soon to be five) in its team, two thirds of the initial team-members brought a child to life in our company’s first two years, and the three initial team-members now count seven children in their families. What we share is a passion for making information about people easily and globally accessible.
Whozat started in an invention factory in a garage, pictured below:
Our first Board room was in the founder’s dining room.
When Whozat raised financing, it did not go to Sand Hill Road. It raised money from successful entrepreneurs who already knew firsthand how to grow a successful business.
When AT&T approached us about testing our people search engine, they tested more thoroughly than we had had time to test it –they even called us on a Sunday night to find out when our site would be back up –luckily, the answer was in a few minutes. So imagine our delight when they told us they found that “Whozat worked the best, and hammers it every time, while other people made a mess”. Talk about outsourcing: we had outsourced our Q/A to our prospective partners.
Need further proof we’re, well, a little different? Hear our co-founder Marzia Polito sing an Ode to Whozat on her guitar.
As people-persons, we believe in family. So every year, Whozat’s founders spend a couple of weeks in their native Argentina and Italy. When we needed travel arrangements, we were too busy to find the best deal ourselves. So we followed Tim Ferriss’ advice in The 4-Hour Workweek and hired a virtual assistant on ELance, and went from job post to booked travel arrangements in hours.
If we win ELance’s competition for a year’s worth of healthcare, that will be the company’s first healthcare plan. Meaning ELance and your vote could be, well, good for our health. Vote for us at http://vator.tv/competition/show/elances-new-way-to-work-competition .
Then find out what Whozat knows about you at www.whozat.com . To paraphrase Harvard Professor of Computer Science Harry Lewis, you may learn things about you you didn’t even know yourself. Or, if you’re *really* serious about learning everything there is to know about someone, upload their resume, bio or simply a few keywords about the person you are looking for at www.SocialDiligence.com .
–Alex Bäcker
Founder.
http://www.whozat.com/search/?task_id=42740&eventname=evalresult&object=2017&value=no
QLess Healthcare
November 15th, 2009“I think this is a wonderful way to improve patient satisfaction and reduce expenses…I think this would be a killer thing to have in a healthcare organization. I’d like to have it…It’s extremely neat…I wouldn’t want to build and operate this in-house –I want to sleep all night long”.
–Kurt Vanriper, Manager, Pharmacy & Analytical Systems, Kaiser Permanente
QLess very easy to use, say receptionists at Mesa Community College
November 10th, 2009We visited Mesa Community College and asked QLess users what they thought of the system. Here’s what they said:
“QLess? It’s quick, it’s convenient. Quick and easy tool. Quick to navigate through. It’s very easy for me. I don’t have any complaints.”
-Chloe Crims-Merritts, Receptionist, Admissions and Advisement, Mesa Community College
“I love the fact that we can cell phone numbers in and students can go anywhere they want pretty much on campus. They don’t have to necessarily wait here…Basically, I really like it.”
–Christiana Ravecchioli, Receptionist, Admissions and Advisement, Mesa Community College
Can your alma mater use more time in the library and less time waiting for service? Refer them to http://qless.com/colleges/ and then claim your prize at
http://qless.com/affiliate/ .
–Alex
Breaking: Nobody wants to stand in line to get shot - Times/USC poll finds lack of interest in H1N1 vaccine, partly due to long lines
November 6th, 2009From today’s L.A. Times:
As concern spreads about H1N1 flu, a new survey of California voters found that while most consider the vaccine safe, a majority had no plans to get vaccinated …
The findings come from a new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Poll. The survey, which interviewed 1,500 registered voters from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3, was conducted for the Times and USC by two nationally prominent polling firms, the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies. The results have a margin of error of +/-2.6 percentage points.
Of the 40% who said they wanted the vaccine, 12% said they already had attempted to find it but failed.
…”This current administration, they are having to rebuild our faith in the government,” Harris said. The Times/USC poll also found that 59% of people ages 18 to 29, among the most at-risk of any age group, said they had no plans to get the vaccine. People in their late teens through mid-20s are considered one of the five priority risk groups.
Cody Bannerman, 24, of San Francisco, was among those who said he does not intend to get the vaccine. Bannerman, an unemployed financial analyst, said he considers the vaccine safe but getting vaccinated would be inconvenient.
“There’s a lot of time you have to put into getting the vaccine, finding out where to get it and standing in line,” Bannerman said. “If they had like a vaccination station in my neighborhood and you could just drop by, I might be more inclined to get it.”
…Overall, many polled may not feel compelled to get vaccinated because they do not know anyone recently stricken with the flu. Nearly 90% said neither they nor a member of their immediate family had contracted H1N1 flu during the past four weeks, while 10% said they did. Others may be wary of long lines at public vaccination clinics and waiting lists for private healthcare providers due to national vaccine shortages.
–Alex
President Obama declares swine flu pandemic as national emergency
October 24th, 2009With three people in the household who already had the flu, I can attest that this is a flu season extraordinaire. Flu shots have run out in many places. Find out where to get yours at gettheswineflushot.com today and let your loved ones know, too.
–Alex
We Love Our Customers
October 21st, 2009Today we got our favorite kind of call: a customer referring a prospective customer. One of our DMV customers referred the manager of an employment services office to us. Nothing better than pleasing a customer enough to get a referral. Thanks, Amy!
Interested in getting paid to refer us places that could eliminate waiting rooms or standing in line by joining the QLess family? Check out our affiliate program at www.QLess.com .
–Alex