Fresh Chalk

Fresh Chalk operates as a platform for discovering local professionals and businesses, leveraging recommendations from a user's personal network. Founded in 2018 by a team of veteran entrepreneurs—Liz Pearce, Adam Doppelt, Patrick O'Donnell, and Nathan Kriege—the Seattle-based company aims to circumvent the uncertainty associated with anonymous online reviews. The platform's genesis stemmed from co-founder Adam Doppelt's personal practice of maintaining and sharing a spreadsheet of trusted professionals with his friends, which highlighted a need for a more efficient solution.

The founding team brings a wealth of relevant experience to this venture. Doppelt and O'Donnell were co-founders of the restaurant review site Urbanspoon, while Doppelt and Kriege co-founded the vacation rental startup Dwellable. CEO Liz Pearce honed her leadership skills over a decade at project management software company LiquidPlanner, where she served as CEO for five years, and also had early career stints at Google and Amazon. This collective background in building consumer-facing platforms and understanding local markets underpins Fresh Chalk's strategy.

The business operates as an online listing platform where individuals can create profiles to both offer and search for recommendations across more than 500 categories, including home services, health, and wellness. Instead of traditional ratings or lengthy reviews, the service functions on a binary system: a user either recommends a professional or they do not, streamlining the decision-making process for others in their network. The core value proposition lies in accessing a curated list of service providers who have been vetted by trusted friends, family, and colleagues. The platform is free for users and, while it doesn't currently offer paid advertising programs, business owners can claim their listings to manage their information and engage with the community. In November 2019, the company secured $2 million in a seed funding round from investors including Neo, Trilogy Equity Partners, and Vulcan Capital.

Keywords: local professional recommendations, friend-sourced reviews, service provider discovery, trusted referrals, local business directory, peer-to-peer recommendations, home services, professional services marketplace, community-based reviews, Liz Pearce, Adam Doppelt, Patrick O'Donnell, Nathan Kriege, Urbanspoon founders, Dwellable founders, Seattle startups, social recommendations, word-of-mouth marketing, find a plumber, find a doctor, consumer reviews