HN Explorer

50%+ of Small Biz say they will close soon. We built a site to save 90% of them.

40 points by aloukissas ↗ HN
Today, we're launching https://NeighborPledge.com to support your favorite local businesses, 90% of which can't offer takeout/gift cards. And 50%+ of small businesses say they will go out of business in the next 2 months (https://twitter.com/adam_tooze/status/1250453327420293122).

This site was created to help the places that aren’t getting any help right now. The places that had to close their doors completely.

It’s for the dry cleaner that always greets you with a big smile. The little yoga studio that makes you feel calm after a stressful week. The florist that saved you on your anniversary.

It’s for your go-to dive bar for happy hour, that hardware store that always has that thingamajig you need and that old childhood arcade you want to take your kid to one day.

This site is for businesses in your city. Your neighborhood. Your hometown. Your college town. This is for all of them. Because these local businesses don’t have anyone else to turn to.

So pledge a little. Pledge a lot. Pledge something. So they can still be here when we all get through this. Because the only way we are going to get through this is together.

Visit NeighborPledge.com and pledge to the businesses you care about. Share it with your friends. And we’ll all make a difference, together.

It's a work in progress, so please comment here with ideas and suggestions. And we are looking for collaborators to join us in this effort to help.

NeighborPledge.com is a labor of love, it's not a for-profit entity. We don’t take fees, charge subscription, or ask SMBs for $ in any way. We just want to connect them w/ local supporters so they'll still be here when we all get through this.

Who's behind NeighborPledge.com? It's been mostly Dustin Rosen (https://twitter.com/du_ro) and me (https://twitter.com/aloukissas), with help from some great people like Abha Nath (https://twitter.com/abhanath) and other folks from the LA tech and venture scene.

Thanks, Dustin + Alex

16 comments

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sharemywin
You should let people just subscribe to a zip code and or business.

And get notified when there are updates.

aloukissas
Thanks for the input! It's on our radar and we'll add it soon. We only have nights + weekends to work on this..
durotime
Thanks for all the support. Note, that www.NeighborPledge.com works anywhere in the world. Save your favorites today!!
NicoJuicy
I use nextdns and it doesn't work yet ( the domain needs registration > 30 days to prevent scammers)

Something that could be happening to fellow HN People ( it's not a default setting)

aloukissas
This is odd. We've had the domain for >3 weeks now. Thanks for letting us know.
ekovarski
Your registration is 25 days old and the setting is for sites who are less than 30 days old; so in another five days you will be good but for now, anybody who has the Block Newly Registered Domains (NRDs) enabled, will get a site not reached error.
derision
I don't understand this, you just collect a list of people, then ask the business to reach out to them? Sounds like there will be a very low follow through rate
aloukissas
This was the easiest way that we thought of to bring this live. We definitely don't want to be the transaction layer here. It's built mostly on goodwill of the patrons of those business. We're definitely open to suggestions!
kkotak
I think you need to have some measure of what size of pledge makes sense for survival of a business. $1000 donated to a local restaurant won't help them survive, is that's all they got - and donors pledge is really wasted.
calbear81
I was wondering if there was a way to increase the transparency in this process and find a way for donors to support but also get something in return:

1) Can businesses be open about operating expenses and costs? How much do they need to survive the next 1/3/6 months? 2) Can businesses sell futures or pre-sell services? For example, in the examples you provided, could I pre-buy yoga classes for the future or let's say 10 garments for dry cleaning?