SkillSlate
SkillSlate or SkillSlate.com is a New York City-based start-up firm with the purpose of matching up individual service providers with customers via the Internet. The firm raised $1.1 million in capital in October 2010 with investments from Canaan Partners and First Round Capital. It helps small individual service providers, such as dog walkers, DJs, handymen, tutors and movers, market themselves on the web as well as help customers find them. According to a website description, SkillSlate helps the pages of service providers surface more prominently in search engine results. At present SkillSlate serves the New York metropolitan area but there are plans to roll out service nationally. Competitors include Craigslist, Geotoko, FoundTown, Closely, Proposable, Resource Nation, Flowtown, Buzzuka, Spoke, GoBuzz, Traindom, Hooray, Thumbtack, and others, as well as classified advertising in newspapers. According to Fortune Magazine, the idea for the site was conceived by venture capitalist Barkek Ringwelski while working at Canaan Partners when he found he could not find a cleaning person; he raised $50,000 from family and friends in May 2009 and launched the firm.
