We enjoy Yelp quite a bit. During our rare moments of free time, we often have fun slogging through the site's multitudes of oft-useful, oft-comedic opinions on local services, establishments, and especially restaurants (feel free to check out our vast [6] amount of reviews ). We were interested to hear more about the genesis of this community-based Web site, and wondered how Yelp's growth and evolution looked to those behind the scenes. The site's founders, Jeremy Stoppelman (who's the CEO, and talked to SFist once before) and Russel Simmons (the CTO), took a few minutes to answer three questions for us. Hey -- six answers for the price of three!
1) What kind of insights into human nature have you gleaned from creating a community in which people (or "real people," as your slogan says) communicate so passionately/vociferously? What has surprised you? Made you laugh?
JS: It's always interesting to see how each person's opinion sheds a nuanced perspective on the businesses they care about. Part of the human condition is to share advice, both good and bad, and we've found that each review adds real depth to Yelp. What's more, it's been a real thrill to witness so many of these folks taking ownership and pride in their city's Yelp page. As far as the biggest surprise? I never would have predicted that prolific yelpers would become mini-local celebrities both on and offline. The first couple of times that I heard about yelpers saying "business owners recognize me when I walk in door, because of my Yelp reviews," I thought they were joking.
RS: For me one surprise has been that contrary to many people's expectations, yelpers generally strive to be fair and useful in their reviews, rather than just ranting in a non-constructive way. Certainly everyone's opinions and tastes vary greatly, but it's cool to see the underlying vibe of contributing to the community, whether it be with praise or criticism. I've also been impressed by the ever-increasing
length, quality, and creativity of many reviews. Yelpers keep raising the bar as they one-up each other to win the coveted Review of the Day spot, and the result is great reading for everyone.
After the jump -- as founders and officers, do they temper their reviews? Was "Yelp" the plan from the get-go? What's next?
2) How does being more or less are the public face of Yelp inform the kind of reviews you give to establishments on the site? Do you need to watch what you say a little more than you otherwise might in your reviews? Does it temper what you write, or encourage you to be more honest, than, say, vindictive? Or do you have a secret Yelp identity under which you can be super-mean? (joke!).
JS: I write a handful of reviews each week and I don't hold back my opinions just because I'm one of the co-founders. That would compromise what the site is all about. "Real People. Real Reviews." The important thing to remember, is that if you want people to take your reviews seriously they need to be factual and informative, even entertaining, but not abusive or hateful. In this day and age, we all sit in glass houses.
RS: These days I read a lot more than I write, but I don't think my position at Yelp has affected much what I've written. I don't worry too much because I think my honest opinion is what's going to be most useful to readers and businesses. And in the end my voice is still but one of many.
3) Was this your only start-up idea, or simply the most feasible/best one? Is there anything on the horizon (we'd imagine that Yelp keeps your hands very, very full)
JS: The Yelp you see today is different from the original version of the site. When we first launched in October 2004, the site was designed around messaging your friends for recommendations on doctors, restaurants, spas and the like. Buried deep in the site was a feature that allowed people to write a review. We noticed that that one small feature started to gain a lot of traction with people, so we re-tuned everything around writing reviews. And then things really got interesting.
RS: Start-up ideas are a dime a dozen, but it was clear from early on that the Yelp idea was really special because it addressed this huge need and had a grand vision that really made sense. Yelp is keeping me completely busy; the main thing on my horizon is finding more great engineers to join our team.
Thank you, gentlemen, for your time . . . we're trying out Regalito tonight with some colleagues . . . we'll let you know how it was.
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Two words...hubba hubba.
Yelp really needs to put the kibosh on one particular phenomenon that's harming the site: "Yelp as a Blog". There are way too many reviews that double as the reviewer's personal forum to tell irrelevant personal stories, go off on stupid tangents, or otherwise try to show off how cool they are. For example, it seems like half the reviews about the new Westfield center are these weird rants about how the raters personally feel about mall culture in general.
I really do like Yelp and admire what these guys have done. I'd admire 'em even more if Yelp enforced a simple rule: it's Not About You, it's About What You're Reviewing.
(groan)
When are guys gonna start dressing up again and lose those emo haircuts and so-hip-it hurts tees?
I have a wild idea for going against the grain--
shave, get a short 'do, and put on a sweater..
dress up, feel good.
Radical!
testing
interesting interview. i speak with restaurant owners on a regular basis in my work. when discussing how their business is doing, san francisco-based restaurant owners invariable either boast or complain about their yelp reviews and ratings. the impact of yelp in san francisco on merchants is powerful. makes sense since yelp is sf-based.
restaurant owners on the peninsula and south bay are either less knowledgeable or vocal about their yelp status.
the yelp impact on customer service is important. previously, good customer service translated into repeat business and word-of-mouth business. now, good customer service and quality becomes a powerful and FREE testimonial advertisement targeted to a revelant and huge audience. the rewards and penalties for customer service performance is greatly magnified. as a result, all consumers win as the bar is raised as competition for having the best customer service ratings is coveted by merchants.
as the one ad says, when banks (or in this case merchants) compete you win. yelp has created a very visable competition.
hey Chris, stop pissing off the police force, eh Buddy?
We actually NEED them in this city to protect us from the drugaboos and scumbags and alcoholics you champion.