Page 36 March 2012 Check the phone to fi nd your next place to shop By Christina Samson Ernie Garcia, Jr. and Ben Huston, both 29, are entrepreneurs on a mission. “We’re sort of enamored with data and the way we can enrich people’s lives with data,” Garcia said. “We’re trying to create purchases that are perfect matches,” Huston added. They’re also helping to promote local businesses. And they’re doing it through Looterang, a discount program directly linking tailored offers to the user’s credit and debit card, (although Garcia and Huston prefer to call users “Looteranger’s.”) Make no mistake, as Huston said: “We’re not trying to be a better Groupon.” Looterang, which is a free service, is pretty simple. If a person is out and looking for a place to eat, the Looterang application (available for iPhone and Android phones) would look at past purchases the person made using data from his or her debit or credit card and suggest similar merchants located nearby. “The goal is that you can make a lot of spontaneous purchases with the application,” Huston said. For example, if one had eaten at a Mexican restaurant twice within the past three weeks, Looterang would use a complex algorithm to suggest similar Mexican restaurants nearby that offered discounts. The restaurant and deal are selected with a simple tap on the phone and the discount is automatically applied when the card is swiped to pay for the meal. Or, if it’s a cash back offer, then the money is transferred directly to your account. So there’s no rummaging around for coupons (or forgetting them at home) or pressure to use an already-purchased deal. No one (such as a fi rst date or a higher- ranking co-worker, for example) knows the meal was received at a discount rate. “Every day there’s four people that sit around a water cooler and try to decide where to go to lunch,” Garcia said. “And they go to the same four restaurants every day but there are a hundred other businesses that they’ve never been to that they’re likely to enjoy.” By promoting local businesses, Garcia said, “we’re trying to solve the problem from both sides.” Garcia, an Arcadian since he was 8, met Huston, an Arizona native from Gilbert, at Stanford where the pair was attending undergraduate school. Continued on page 37 I.S.A . CERTIFIED ARBORISTS ON STAFF & CREWS Fully Insured / Licensed / Bonded Contractor - ROC # 251150 Call us at 480.820.3939 or visit us at Bartlett.com 480-820-3939 Call for a Free Consultation Professional Pruning Root Zone Fertilization Insect & Disease Management Hazard Tree Evaluations & Removals Root – Rx Program Aerial Lift Technical Support by our Research Laboratories Cabling & Bracing Serving the Valley for over 25 years! Serving the Valley for over 25 years! Free 2 hour parking with validation 455 N. 3rd Street | Phoenix, AZ 1130 | STARBUCKS | CAFÉ ROMA | SUSHI KOKORO | ARIZONA BEACH CORNER BAKERY CAFÉ | SAM’S CAFÉ | AMC 24 THEATRES MY BIG FAT GREEK RESTAURANT | CULTURE FRESH BOUTIQUE NY & CO | BRICK PIZZA-WINE-CHEESE ...and many other great retailers and restaurants Join Us for ART DETOUR! Saturday, March 17 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, March 18 (Noon to 6 p.m.). The Arizona Center: The First Stop for Art Detour weekend with two days of art, music, performances, restaurant discounts and more. FREE PARKING for Art Detour 24. artlinkinc.wordpress.com Your dream kitchen awaits you... ... or bath, home office, closet system, flooring, granite or entertainment center. We do it all! $250 CREDIT TO AMEROCK HARDWARE WITH THIS AD! With the purchase of a kitchen remodel 602.653.7446 3523 E. Broadway Road • Phoenix ROC# 258859 Licensed Bonded Insured www.CoventryKitchensandClosets.com
Page 37 March 2012 Looterang Continued from page 36 Huston went on to graduate from Harvard law school and began working for other major discount/coupon companies. Upon returning to Arizona, the pair began working on turning the idea of Looterang into an actual startup. One of the challenges was getting 150 local merchants to sign on. “They have a lot of deal fatigue,” Huston said. “Our biggest challenge was convincing them we were doing something different.” Another was making sure that Looteranger’s information was safe. To do that, Huston and Garcia use Yodlee – the same company used by Bank of America, American Express and 5,000 other fi nancial institutions – to store the user’s banking information at a guarded facility off-site. User information is con fi rmed using Verisign Identity Protection and electronic transactions are protected using Verifone, the same company that handles card transactions in stores when the card is swiped. Huston and Garcia don’t see account numbers, just where the card was used and how much was spent. The company’s privacy practices are monitored by TRUSTe. And it’s all in the name of “extremely tailored recommendations,” Huston said. So far, there are about 3,000 “Looteragners” in the Valley and Garcia and Huston are hoping to expand nationally. 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