A case on

Yealp!: How Willingness to Let its Business Plan Quickly

Evolve Helped a Start- Up Get its Offering Right

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A case

On

Yealp!: How Willingness to Let its Business Plan

Quickly

Evolve Helped a Start- Up Get its Offering Right

MGT 401: Entrepreneurship

Prepared for

Habib A. Islam

Faculty

College of Business Administration

Prepared by

Md. Rezwanuzzaman Pathan

ID#09102030

Sec: A

IUBAT - International University of Business Agriculture and Technology

28, May, 2012

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Letter of Transmittal

28May2012

Habib A. Islam

Faculty

College of Business Administration (CBA)

IUBAT - International University of Business Agriculture and Technology

4 Embankment Drive Road, Sector 10, Uttara Model Town

Dhaka-1230

Subject: Submission of Case.

Dear Sir:

With due to respect I am student of MGT: 401 courses. It is the great pleasure for us

to have an opportunity to prepare a case on Yealp!: How Willingness to Let its

Business Plan Quickly Evolve Helped a Start- Up Get its Offering Right .I have

prepared this case as an assignment not for any other purpose. We believe that the

experience we acquired from this job is not only important for completing our

course but also it is an invaluable asset for our future life. I am trying our best to

fulfill the requirements of this case. For your kind consideration I would like to

mention that there might be some mistakes due to limitation of our knowledge, we

hope you will consider me mistake.

Workings with such an interesting job I am very happy. We are available for any

quarry.

Sincerely yours

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……………………………

Istiaq Ahmed

Executive Summary

Yelp is a web site where anyone can post reviews of restaurants coffee shops doctors, dentists or

any business with which they are familiar or any business with which they are familiar. Yelp was

founded in 2004 to help people find great local businesses like dentists, hair stylists and

mechanics yelp had an average of approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in Q1 2012

Yelpers have written over 27 million local reviews in addition to reviews, you can use Yelp to

find events, lists and to talk with other yelpers every business owner can setup a free account to

post photos and message her customers. Yelp makes money by selling ads to local businesses -

you'll see these clearly labeled "Yelp Ads" around the site. Paying advertisers can never change

or re-order their reviews yelp has an automated filter that suppresses a small portion of reviews -

it targets those suspicious ones you see on other sites. You can access Yelp

via iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and more - see the full list of mobile apps here.

The Weekly Yelp brings locals updates on the latest and greatest business openings & other

happenings.

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Acknowledgement

At first we would like to express our gratefulness to the almighty Allah for being so kind to

allow us to work on this Report successfully.

Then we would like to express our gratitude to IUBAT – International University of Business

Agriculture and Technology where we have finished my required course curriculum to be

eligible to prepare a report paper. The education learnt from the teachers and the whole

infrastructure of my university, truly has amplified our level of competency and thoughts during

my learning period.

We would like to thanks our honorable faculty Sir Mr. Habib A. Islam for his support and

guideline which has enabled us to form such a report. We give special thanks to Tanvir H

DeWan, to give us guideline to accomplish this report.

Finally we would like to thanks our Vice-Chancellor professor M. AlimullahMiyan, as because

he gave us opportunity of making such kind of report that will be very much helpful for our

prospective career.

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Name of the Case:

Yealp!: How Willingness to Let its Business Plan Quickly Evolve Helped a Start- Up Get its Offering Right.

Company Profile:

Yelp connects people with great local businesses. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp communities have taken root in major metros across the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Sweden and Denmark. Yelp had a monthly average of 71 million unique visitors in Q1 2012. By the end of Q1 2012, yelpers had written more than 27 million rich, local reviews, making yelp the leading local guide for real word-of-mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists. Yelp's mobile application was used on 6.3 million unique

mobile devices on a monthly average basis during Q1 2012.

Yelp is a web site where anyone can post reviews of restaurants coffee shops doctors, dentists or

any business with which they are familiar or any business with which they are familiar. Yelp was

founded in 2004 to help people find great local businesses like dentists, hair stylists and

mechanics yelp had an average of approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in Q1 2012

Yelpers have written over 27 million local reviews in addition to reviews, you can use Yelp to

find events, lists and to talk with other yelpers every business owner can setup a free account to

post photos and message her customers. Yelp makes money by selling ads to local businesses -

you'll see these clearly labeled "Yelp Ads" around the site. Paying advertisers can never change

or re-order their reviews yelp has an automated filter that suppresses a small portion of reviews -

it targets those suspicious ones you see on other sites. You can access yelp

via iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and more - see the full list of mobile apps here.

The Weekly Yelp brings locals updates on the latest and greatest business openings & other

happenings.

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Management Name:

Jeremy Stoppelman Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

Geoff Donaker Chief Operating Officer

Rob Krolik Chief Financial Officer

Erica Galos Alioto Vice President, Local Sales, Phoenix

Andrea Rubin Vice President, North American Marketing

Jed Nachman Senior Vice President of Revenue

Michael Stoppelman Vice President, Engineering

Miriam Warren Vice President, New Markets

Laurence Wilson General Counsel

Sonia Survanshi McFarland Vice President, User Operations

Vince Sollitto Vice President, Corporate Communications

Dylan Swift Head of Human Resources

Pest Analysis:

PEST analysis stands for "Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis" and describes

a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component

of strategic management. Political factors are how and to what degree a government intervenes

in the economy. Specifically, political factors include areas such as tax policy, labor

law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability.

Political Analysis: Political factors in the mission district of San Francisco and none of the

people you e-mailed via yelp could recommend good eye doctor; you could look at yelp’s

directory of eye doctor who had been recommended by other yelp users in your aria.

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Economic Analysis: Yelp salespeople call local businesses to introduce our targeted advertising

programs; we're trying to establish warm new relationships, never to irritate

someone. Persistence is part of sales, and if a business manager asks one of our salespeople to

"keep in touch" or "call next week," we will! On the other hand, our salespeople don't like

wasting time so if you tell your Yelp sales rep to call.

Social Analysis: Every Yelp salesperson signs an agreement that s/he will not write reviews of

any business while employed by Yelp. We trust our teammates in sales to live up to this

commitment. We also have several monitoring systems in place to ensure nobody crosses this

line. Through our care, we once did find a salesperson that encouraged a friend to write a

positive review for a prospective client. The salesperson's role at Yelp ended that day.

When a new advertiser signs up with Yelp, that business owner then participates in a new

orientation webinar that in addition to providing further information about Yelp, confirms that

reviews have nothing to do with social advertising.

Technological Analysis: Yelp is new technological dimension of entrepreneur Silicon Valley

tech. it is created a web site to help people do this. Yelp was launched to give people the ability

to e-mail a list of their friends ask for recommendation for a restaurant, doctor, barbers or any

service provider in a specific geographic area.

SWOT Analysis:

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying

the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors

that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. 

Strength:

Yelp had an average of approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in.

Yelpers have written over 27 million local reviews.

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Yelp was founded in 2004 to help people find great local businesses like dentists, hair

stylists and mechanics.

Weakness:

Paying advertisers can never change or re-order their reviews

Yelp has an automated filter that suppresses a small portion of reviews - it targets those

suspicious ones you see on other sites.

Yelp is work in specific geographic area.

Opportunity:

Yelp connects people with great local businesses.

Every type of local business, from restaurants, boutiques and salons to dentists,

mechanics, plumbers and more.

The information these reviews provide is valuable for consumers and businesses alike.

Threat:

Investor relationship is not good for the yelp.

Business owners have no voice on Yelp.

The Weekly Yelp brings locals updates on the latest and greatest business openings &

other happenings.

Porter Five Forces:

New Market Entrants: No market barriers of the yelp website.

Buyer Power of Buyer: our salespeople call local businesses to introduce our targeted advertising

programs; we're trying to establish warm new relationships, never to irritate someone. 

Persistence is part of sales, and if a business manager asks one of our salespeople to "keep in

touch" or "call next week," we will! On the other hand, our salespeople don't like wasting time

(yours or theirs), so if you tell your Yelp sales rep to call back in three months, we'll do that. And

if you really want us never to call again, we will add you to our "Do Not Call" list. If you ever

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become aware of a Yelp team member violating your specific request along these lines, please let

us know.

Product and Technology: Yelp was launched to give people the ability to e-mail a list of their

friends ask for recommendation for a restaurant, doctor, barbers or any service provider in a

specific geographic area. You can access Yelp via iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and more - see the full

list of mobile apps here.

Buyer Power of Supplier: Yelp search result pages often feature one clearly labeled Yelp Ad at

the top of the page. We got the idea for this design from the major search engines. Look at the ad

designs compared here and, if you find yourself even a little confused about the Yelp ad, please

send over any suggestions about how to make it even more obvious.

Yelp's numbered search results (all of the other listings in white background) have absolutely

nothing to do with who is paying us. For example, check out this search result for the very

popular "Restaurant, San Francisco" query. As of November '11, only 1 of these top 10 resulting

restaurants.

Feasibility Analysis:

Yelp was created to help consumers find great local businesses. And it's working: as of Aug

2011, about 80% of Yelp reviews are 3+ stars. So if anything, that small percentage of negative

reviews provides an important consumer service. Just like in the real world, not every local

business experience is going to be perfect.  Freedom of speech is a well-protected right, whether

that speech is online or in any other form. As a result, reviewers are well within their rights to

express their opinions (ranging from "I love the ambiance" to "The cashier was rude to me") and

relate their true experiences ("I ordered the shrimp scampi" and "The doctor wouldn't accept my

insurance"). Some of the most successful business owners on Yelp use their free business

owner's account to contact positive and negative reviewers alike, even when they feel a review is

unfair or incorrect. Reviewers are usually thrilled to get a well-meaning response. The handful of

business owners who have pursued the "nuclear option" of suing someone over a negative

reviewer have met with little success, high legal bills, and a lot more attention focused on the

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negative review than they originally bargained for. When that happens, we make it a point to

involve ourselves early on to protect the rights of legitimate reviewers.

Discussion Question:

• Q1: Go to yelp’s Web site and look up one of your favorite restaurants. What do

you think?

First thing: the decor! "I believe" quotes from all sorts of popular people are all over the

walls. Nice to read and remember, even make fun of some. My favorites are the sports

players and those who write lit.

Nice space, easy to get to in the Fido, plenty of room. Nice servers, great lighting, can see the

small kitchen in the back, but in a clean and cozy way.

The first time:

My partner and I went for Valentine's Day this year. He really knows how to pick them well.

We're not too fancy shamans, so this was perfect. A little nicer, heels and a nice sweater,

button ups and dark jeans would suit. Special V-day menu was on par. Decent veggie

options. Just right portions, especially if you are sharing and having a few drinks. Servers are

very courteous and accommodate very well.

Second time:

Such a pleasure, again. We had a group of about 6 for my partner's birthday dinner. We had

our own table in the back, and our server was such a pleasure to chat with. I had to again, as

one of the very few vegetarian dishes that I appeal to. More omnivore friendly dishes here

definitely. Just ask, and they'll help you out if you're anti-meat. From everyone else, they

were all happy with their food, good portions. Fun drink selection. Full bar, wines good too.

A happy place for food and service.

If you're like me and make more than one trip to the look while having a few drinks, you'll

pass by a room that's part of Credo that they do banquets and parties in. This time, I was so

jealous! It was one of those wine & painting parties! It's nice to know Credo is willing to host

events like that. They do other events; I just wish I had known about that specific one. Of

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course, events are run by other companies, and Credo provides the space.

Overall, a great place for yummy food, drinks, and bonding time.

• Q2: What are the most important assumptions that yelp’s initial business plan is

based on? Compare and contrast the two.

Most would say that the most important assumptions is that people will try yelp once or twice,

and will tire of the service.

Another important is that people will only use the free users of the site, and will rarely if ever

click through and uses the service as the result of take in information of friends in yelp.

• Q3: What changes to yelp did the company’s founder make to effectively

implement their revised business plan?

Yelp does have a unique technology, and its investors probably thought that the technology was

compelling enough that it would either-

• Change to specific business criteria in geographic area.

• Change to motivate consumer and investor.

• Find a commercially viable application, like Pandora’s present Web site,

• Will be licensed to a music company that will use the technology, or

• Will be purchased by a larger firm.

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