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FindTheBest, Inc.
Type of businessPrivate
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersSanta Barbara, California
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Kevin O'Connor
Scott Leonard
Brayton Johnson
URLFindTheBest - About Us
LaunchedAugust 2010
Current statusActive

FindTheBest is a privately held network of operated for-profit websites their founders allege will help consumers make important decisions.[2][3] The flagship site, FindTheBest.com, allows users to research, filter, and compare products and services. The FindTheBest team compiles prices, reviews, and product specifications from authoritative sources, and presents them to users in a visual table with filters and ratings. This information (including personally identifiable information such as residence addresses and phone numbers for sole proprietorships and government employees) is largely derived from a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) marketing database mirror. FindTheBest claims that they allow the company managers, government employees and private individuals that they report about to edit their information, but in order to actually do so you must "edit your file" with D&B, which FindTheBest claims will then propagate to their sites. FindTheBest refuses to remove anybody's personal information, as long as the information exists on the internal D&B database, FindTheBest maintains they have a right to publically post it on their internet sites without the person's permission. Many individuals whose personal information has been posted by FindTheBest without their consent have also complained about how difficult FindTheBest is to deal with, and how even if they successfully edit or delete their non-public D&B file, FindTheBest still continues to publicly list their personal information.

[3]

FindTheBest is based in Santa Barbara, California, whose practices have been written about on ComplaintsBoardthe New York Times, RipOffReport ,TechCrunch, PissedConsumer.com, Scambook.com and the Huffington Post.[2][3][4]

History

FindTheBest was founded in 2009 by Kevin J. O'Connor, former CEO and co-founder of DoubleClick, Scott Leonard and Brayton Johnson.[5] The site was publicly launched in 2010 with nine comparison categories, including health, education, business, and sports.[6][7] The venture was funded with an initial investment of $750 thousand each from the founders, followed by $2 million by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in December 2010.[7] FindTheBest.com has since expanded to over 700 comparisons in the nine categories, and the company is continuing to add more every week.[6]

In 2011, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested an additional $4 million into the company.[1] FindTheBest also added another $11 million in Series B funding from New World Ventures, Montgomery & Co., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and others.[8] As of May 2013, the FindTheBest network had reached 25 million visits per month and employed a team of approximately 90 people.[9]

Product

In 2010, the FindTheBest team launched FindTheBest.com, which lets users compare products and services on a desktop or mobile device.[7][10] Specific products and services include cars, colleges, investment advisors, smartphones, computers, and over 700 others. Users can filter their options and view Smart Ratings to assist in narrowing down their product selection. They are also able to add or edit product and service listings. Each edit is reviewed by FindTheBest’s team before it goes live.[11]

In 2011, the company launched FindTheData.org, which provides a simple way to browse large datasets on subjects like city crime and job salaries. Much of the information from FindTheData is integrated into FindTheBest comparisons. For example, the FindTheBest colleges comparison contains information on campus safety, faculty salaries, and athletic budgets, each of which is drawn from FindTheData.[12]

In 2012, the company launched an additional user option called AssistMe.[13] The feature asks users a few simple questions, prompting them to prioritize the importance of various attributes of a product. The user then receives five recommended products with “Personal Smart Ratings.”[13]

In January 2013, the company made its first international expansion and launched sites in Spain, South Korea, and New Zealand. In April 2013, the company launched sites in Germany and the United Kingdom.[9] In June 2013, the company launched FindTheCompany.com, which provides visitors with access to information on more than 30 million private and public US companies.[8] Users can search by industry, filter by total employees, search for specific office addresses, check annual sales volumes, review company balance sheets, find contact information for key employees, and more. [14]

References

  1. ^ a b "FindTheBest U.S. Market Research - Alexa". Alexa Internet, Inc. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b Steve Lohr (March 10, 2013). "Algorithms Get a Human Hand in Steering Web". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Leena Rao (March 5, 2013). "Data-Driven Comparison Shopping Platform FindTheBest Raises $11M From New World, Kleiner Perkins And Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  4. ^ "FindTheBest Names the Most Coveted Products for Dads and Grads in Popular Gift Categories". NBC News. April 24, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  5. ^ "Company Overview of FINDTHEBEST.COM, Inc". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  6. ^ a b Dylan Tweney (December 7, 2011). "FindTheBest upgrades with even more visual comparisons of almost everything". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Greg Sterling (August 2, 2010). "DoubleClick Founder Launches Structured "Decision Engine" FindTheBest.com". Search Engine Land. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  8. ^ a b "FindTheBest Lands $11M For Comparison Engine". Socialtech.com. March 5, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  9. ^ a b "FindTheCompany releases data on 30M businesses to clue in consumers". VentureBeat. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  10. ^ "FindTheBest - Consumer Services Comparison Community". AppAppeal. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  11. ^ Srick Schonfeld (December 7, 2011). "FindTheBest Adds Smart Ratings And A Better Way To Compare Products". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  12. ^ Melanie Pinola (August 30, 2012). "FindTheData Compares Tons of Data Side-By-Side, Is a Research Gold Mine". LifeHacker. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  13. ^ a b Leena Rao (February 21, 2012). "FindTheBest Wants To Personalize Comparison Shopping With AssistMe". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  14. ^ "FindTheCompany Launches out of Beta With 2.5 Million Monthly Visitors and Enhanced Data on Millions of US Businesses". Yahoo!. Retrieved 25 June 2013.

See also

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