“When in doubt, Google it,” is often a mantra that Internet savvy folks follow fervently. But what do you do when you want to find about a free WiFi café or a quaint coffee shop in your area The long list of recommendations from Google often leaves you perplexed. This is where Living Local, the all-new social platform, comes in. Founders Anubhav Anand and Neeraj Vasudeva set up the website last month after they realised the dearth of a hyperlocal platform in the city. “Living Local is a clutter free experience,” says Anubhav. “The solution you find on social media aren’t hyper local. You could be searching for recommendation in Carter Road, Bandra on social media but chances are that the recommendations aren’t reliable since they aren’t at Carter Road at that specific time,” he points out.
The website is divided into categories like Help Me, Recommendations and Let’s Talk where one can recommend and seek answers on food and nightlife, pets, kids and parenting and fitness. Currently live in Andheri, Bandra, Juhu and Santacruz, the founders are hoping to go local across Mumbai in the next few months. Neeraj says, “Categories like these helps users streamline their options. So if you are looking for restaurants, you won’t ever find a query on parenting show up. It is like a whiteboard with your best options in the area.”
Thirty-year-old Siddharth Sodhi gives the website a thumbs up. Formerly a resident of Delhi, Siddharth tells us that he found the website immensely helpful when it came to getting in touch with a dermatologist. He says, “Since I was new to the city, there were very few people who I could ask for recommendations. I was looking for a dermatologist, and within a few hours I got suggestions. The website proved to be helpful. Users make a website — I hope a lot more users take to this website since this would mean quicker answers and feedback.”
The duo first entered the hyper local space with a publication vertical (Living Local Mumbai) in 2014 for Andheri. When the response with the print magazine was overwhelming, they decided to take it online. Neeraj says, “When we published the hyperlocal magazine, a lot of merchants came back to us to advertise because of the response they received. Print flyers don’t help people who are looking to advertise their business since these flyers have a shelf life of just a minute. Since this startup is real time, there is no expiry to the business pe se.”
Living Local is finally getting the recognition for their efforts. The startup was recently awarded the Best Out-of-the-Box Tech Startup at the Exhibit 100 Hottest Tech Startups in Bengaluru earlier this week, and the two couldn’t have asked for a better timing. Anubhav says, “This was a huge boost for us. It tells us that we are doing something right.”
