ShopLocal manages the advertising content in the 'glossy sales circulars' - and then distributes that content online and offline. Even the retailers had trouble keeping track of their own sale offers, so ShopLocal (previously as CrossMedia Services and SalesHound) scanned in the ads and did it for them. Eventually that database asset grew and they were in a great position to simultaneously centralize it online as well as distribute it to hundreds of other sites.
Brian founded ShopLocal after 16 years as a VC at Chicago-based First Analysis. Vikram joined more recently as COO. He was previously a President at IRI, CIO at Grant Thornton as well as a early stage stint at Epigraph. ShopLocal was acquired in 2004 by Tribune, Gannett and Knight-Ridder.
Dimensions: 150 people x 7 years x $ NDA
Funding: Owner-funded
Customers: Major national and local retailers, newspapers
Location: Chicago [Downtown] + www.shoplocal.com
