OutGrade reviews LGBT-supportive businesses
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
W. Marc Bernsau
The gay and lesbian community has many prominent figures and proponents on the national level — but Travis Lowry and Conor Clary didn’t see a whole lot going on at the community level.
So the two self-described straight allies began the site OutGrade, which launched in January and allows users to review the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered friendliness of various businesses. (An earlier version of the site had launched under the name Rainbow Chronicle in early 2012.)
As Lowry explained, the goal of Cambridge-based OutGrade is to “bring change on a local level to empower a prominent and powerful community.”
OutGrade users can search by place, category or neighborhood, and rate restaurants, bars, grocery stores and numerous other businesses anything from “the most unfriendly,” to “smugly unfriendly,” to “neutral,” to “ludicrously gay friendly,” and also comment on their experiences.
The site then aggregates reviews and calculates scores of 5 to negative 5, which appear on colored pinpoints on a map running the spectrum from red (the worst) to green (the best).
For businesses, meanwhile, the site offers a managed listing service that allows them to communicate with reviewers, place ads, post images and information about deals and sales, and claim endorsement badges. OutGrade is also running a pilot program with 20 LGBT-supportive businesses which, for a small fee, receive highlighted listings, improved search results and featured blog posts.
The startup is currently focusing its attention on Boston, and features several thousand reviews of hundreds of businesses, according to Lowry. Although he didn’t offer specific numbers, he did say that the site has a few thousand users. There’s also an iOS app available, and an Android app forthcoming.
With three employees, OutGrade is supported by $135,000 raised from friends and family in 2011, and is currently working to raise a $500,000 seed round.
Lowry, who came up with the idea for the site in 2010 after nationwide attention was drawn to a rash of gay teen suicides, said he and Clary opted for the platform of a review site because established sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor have “proven that community-driven reviews will change the behavior of businesses.”
And just as it allows the LGBT community and its allies to voice their opinions and experiences — good, bad and neutral — it also enables businesses to take a stance of support. The site lets businesses “publicly stand on the right side of history,” Lowry said.
That’s the case with Long’s Jewelers in Burlington, one of the companies involved in the pilot program.
“We have always been supporters of the LGBT community,” company marketing manager Allison Fraske said in an email, noting that, because jewelry is typically a large purchase, online reviews have become crucial to their business.
“On the subject of trust, we believe OutGrade will be a great source to help ease pre-shopping anxiety of anyone from the LGBT community who is concerned about the acceptance level of a business,” Fraske said.
Going forward, the startup hopes to use its seed funding to launch in three cities and grow to 100,000 users, Lowry said.
Ultimately, though, he sees enormous, wide-reaching potential for the site, noting that a long-term goal is to eventually introduce it to the developing world.
“We want to highlight the fact that this is something that’s applicable outside of Boston,” he said. “It’s applicable nationwide (and) worldwide.”
Original story link.
So the two self-described straight allies began the site OutGrade, which launched in January and allows users to review the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered friendliness of various businesses. (An earlier version of the site had launched under the name Rainbow Chronicle in early 2012.)
As Lowry explained, the goal of Cambridge-based OutGrade is to “bring change on a local level to empower a prominent and powerful community.”
OutGrade users can search by place, category or neighborhood, and rate restaurants, bars, grocery stores and numerous other businesses anything from “the most unfriendly,” to “smugly unfriendly,” to “neutral,” to “ludicrously gay friendly,” and also comment on their experiences.
The site then aggregates reviews and calculates scores of 5 to negative 5, which appear on colored pinpoints on a map running the spectrum from red (the worst) to green (the best).
For businesses, meanwhile, the site offers a managed listing service that allows them to communicate with reviewers, place ads, post images and information about deals and sales, and claim endorsement badges. OutGrade is also running a pilot program with 20 LGBT-supportive businesses which, for a small fee, receive highlighted listings, improved search results and featured blog posts.
The startup is currently focusing its attention on Boston, and features several thousand reviews of hundreds of businesses, according to Lowry. Although he didn’t offer specific numbers, he did say that the site has a few thousand users. There’s also an iOS app available, and an Android app forthcoming.
With three employees, OutGrade is supported by $135,000 raised from friends and family in 2011, and is currently working to raise a $500,000 seed round.
Lowry, who came up with the idea for the site in 2010 after nationwide attention was drawn to a rash of gay teen suicides, said he and Clary opted for the platform of a review site because established sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor have “proven that community-driven reviews will change the behavior of businesses.”
And just as it allows the LGBT community and its allies to voice their opinions and experiences — good, bad and neutral — it also enables businesses to take a stance of support. The site lets businesses “publicly stand on the right side of history,” Lowry said.
That’s the case with Long’s Jewelers in Burlington, one of the companies involved in the pilot program.
“We have always been supporters of the LGBT community,” company marketing manager Allison Fraske said in an email, noting that, because jewelry is typically a large purchase, online reviews have become crucial to their business.
“On the subject of trust, we believe OutGrade will be a great source to help ease pre-shopping anxiety of anyone from the LGBT community who is concerned about the acceptance level of a business,” Fraske said.
Going forward, the startup hopes to use its seed funding to launch in three cities and grow to 100,000 users, Lowry said.
Ultimately, though, he sees enormous, wide-reaching potential for the site, noting that a long-term goal is to eventually introduce it to the developing world.
“We want to highlight the fact that this is something that’s applicable outside of Boston,” he said. “It’s applicable nationwide (and) worldwide.”
Original story link.
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