This opens the door for them to compete with a lot of these platforms. Since they already have the hardware on site (iPad) they start to become a competitor for StyleSeat, MyTime, Noshlist, NoWait, etc.
Yes the greatest advantage SquareUp has is that they already have a list of clients that they can advertise this to. Clients that might be using their SquareUp credit card processing system.
- Where can you find a good co-founder ? Best if it is someone you have known for a while. If not meet ups and places where people with common interests gather.
- What share would you offer him (already working 2 years on the project already and invested money in it etc.)? It depends on what type of skills they bring to the table. A vesting schedule is best so that over time they are compensated, but if they walk away a few months into it you aren't screwed.
- How would you organize it legally ? Depends on how your projects are organized. LLC or C Corp managing the other entities probably works, but there are a lot of variables and this is where a lawyer would come in.
- Would you meet him in person first ? ABSOLUTELY! This is basically a marriage...you don't want to start that on a blind date.
- Are there other things you should be careful for ? Be careful of over committing equity and not knowing the person well enough.
There is certainly a market for mapping data. I think the big part is being able to layer the data in a constructive way and having access to said data is probably the hard part.
But you have companies like Esri who make $1B/year on maps and yet most people have no idea who they are. (www.esri.com)
It also helps to establish some early rolls. Some with more expectations than others. We sat with one investor and they assumed that the CEO should be the one pitching for example.
Not to mention, if you are going to quit your job to build a company you don't get excited and call yourself a junior engineer. Or full stack guru.
It does seem funny that Yelp would complain about the premium organic listings.
But with Google owning Zagat it makes sense that Yelp wouldn't be the first result. I feel we often mistake Google for a search only company even though they are increasingly becoming the GE of tech and have every right to start giving their subsidiaries the premium "organic" results.
The big thing I think this does is open them up to competition in the long run. It would have to be anything special, maybe a s simple as the Google from 5 years ago (before they bought another company in seemingly every sector)
And from the looks of the design it seems like Bing is starting to look a lot like the Google of old.
