HARLEM— The two local brothers behind a website that will pay patrons to review businesses have set a summer launch date for the startup.
Laurent Delly and Price-Mars Delly, the brainchildren of Ideacoil — which allows businesses to pay or offer perks to customers for giving them feedback — are looking to officially roll out the product in mid-June to early-July.
The brothers said they tested the site at events around the city over the past year and are eager to get the business up and running.
“We’re pretty comfortable with everything right now,” Laurent Delly said. “Six months ago or a year ago, we would have said we're not ready. Now we are pretty much confident.”
Ideacoil works by letting customers — called “feedbackers”— create profiles with their backgrounds, skills and interests, similar to LinkedIn.
Credit: Ideacoil
The businesses pay to post questionnaires or new products to review, matching with “feedbackers” that fit their ideal customer profile. The customers then provide feedback, earning cash or perks for their work.
Ideacoil differs from services like Yelp or Survey Monkey, they said, in that it will serve entrepreneurs rather than consumers.
So far, the project has been self-funded by the bothers and has a six-person team putting the final touches on the site, including debugging, adding features and reaching out to businesses.
“Now everything is more dynamic and streamlined with communication,” Price-Mars Delly said. “We can pitch this to a business and they can sign up.”
The brothers said they are not currently interested in bringing in outside investors — something common in the startup world — because it could limit their creativity.
Over the next few months, they plan to sign up businesses, hire additional staff and bring more users on board.
“Like any venture," Laurent Delly said, "it’s going to take work."
