Townsquared in the PCMag Start-Up Spotlight
Neighborhood businesses need a more immediate way to communicate with each other and organize their community than the occasional Chamber of Commerce meeting. Townsquared, the company featured in this installment of PCMag’s Start-Up Spotlight, is an online community and mobile app designed to help small to midsize businesses (SMBs) connect and share resources within a neighborhood. The app combines elements of a news app, a social network, a knowledge base, a business and professional directory, and a real-time crowdsourced alerting system to mobilize awareness of local crimes.
Founded by Rohit Prakash and Nipul Patel, Townsquared has a few unique factors going for it. The platform is hyper-local and targeted squarely at mom-and-pop-sized shops, stores, or service businesses. Townsquared also stresses privacy. Each neighborhood’s local network is private to its member businesses, and according to the co-founders, each business goes through a verification process, including a detailed profile and either a call or a face-to-face meeting before joining the platform.