College Park-based TalkLocal, a company that helps users find local services by searching online and communicating through the good ol’ telephone, is releasing a mobile app.
We know it works, because it promptly connected cofounder and CEO Gurpreet Singh to an electrician after he woke up to the smell of his kitchen burning.
The GPS-enabled app lets users enter their contact information and the type of service they are looking for. Then within a couple minutes, they get a ring from up to 3 local businesses.
TalkLocal cofounder and president Manpreet Singh, who just so happened to be talking at CES 2015 last week, demoed the new app there:
Last Monday, Singh discussed how small businesses are using the internet to market themselves. He is familiar with the issue not just as the cofounder of a 25 employee-strong startup, but also because TalkLocal helps connect local companies with customers.
“Small businesses could have a big presence online, even though they’re pretty small,” he said.
Now back in the DMV, Singh told Technical.ly DC the CES experience was inspiring, and also a great networking opportunity. “We’re definitely not like the bigger guys there,” he said, yet still “constantly doing the rollercoaster ride of the startup world.”
TalkLocal was formerly Seva Call. It raised $2.6 million and rebranded last fall.
TalkLocal first launched a desktop app in 2012. Last year, said Singh, the company started developing the mobile app, which launches this week in iOS and Android.
The company also plans to expand its geographical reach to the whole country. At this stage, “we are in Beta nationwide,” he said.
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