Ex-Googler, Allen Romero, presented his Venice based start-up, Hang Local, during Social Media Week LA at Crowdfunder's CrowdfundXLA competition. Before starting Hang Local, Allen worked at Google from 2003-2009 as part of the mulit-billion dollar launch of Google AdSense and filed 5 patents in the social, mobile and local spaces.
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Hang Local (http://hanglocal.us) is a HTML5 mobile web app that allows you to pull out your phone and see who is available to hang out.
During his pitch, in which Hang Local placed second, Allen cited the importance of more time offline with friends and deeper friendships over number of friends and announced the beta release of hashtag meet ups.
Hashtag meet ups allow for Hang Local users to add a hashtag to their profile such as #SMWLA and connect with friends in their network around that hashtag or meet new people out of their network.
Users on Hang Local always have full control of whether they share their availability with just their close friends or a wider audience.
Several folks at the event met each other using the hashtag #crowdfundxla. Allen believes this will naturally connect with friends trying to meet up at large events like at a #ladygaga concert or students connecting late for a #cs101 exam.
Hang Local generates revenue by partnering with local merchants to provide services and tools that increase their web presence and connect merchants to their customers through local advertising.
By partnering with local merchants, Hang Local lives true to the 'Keep It Local' slogan by ensuring that dollars are put back into our local economies.
Hang Local is live and available online at http://hanglocal.us and gaining traction in the Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York metro areas.
