Ask HN: Disappointed that scoutmob never got covered by HN

I've been working towards an idea for a local deal site where users don't pay anything to get the deal instead they directly pay to the merchant. My idea further involved charging the first X merchants only a low flat fee and then at a later point start charging a low % from every transaction. This % would be based on how many deals actually got used at the business.

I wrote about this idea in two earlier HN posts: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2966649 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2978078

Today was our first time going to local Washington DC area to spread the word about our venture. This being our first venture, we now realize that what we did today we should have done a month ago. Anyways, we went from business to business searching for an owner or manager however, at most locations we only founds staff that could only give us a business card. Luckily, we went to one place where the owner was there and told us that what we are doing is already being offered by Scoutmob. It is really bad from our side that we did not know anything about Scoutmob, even though now we know that it was been out for almost 2 years and has secured up to 1.5M in funding. We don't know how much they are charging to the merchant but what we know is that they let users 'get' the deal for free. They pay the merchant directly. Furthermore, this user told gave us the reality of the situation that we don't have services that other deal sites offer. For example, writing great summaries, organizing free events (to create user base), etc. etc. We don't have any of this since we have no funding.

I'll be writing a detailed post about our experiences but I'm really disappointed in myself for being a every day visitor to HN and not knowing about Scoutmob. It was only been covered once on HN with one point post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2813331

When we thought our idea was not taken we were skeptical whether it would work but now seeing it in action we realize that it is doable and marketable.

We've hit a roadblock and are at a point where we are thinking of changing our business model or completely switching the domain.

Would you continue on?