Rex
Rex helps users find and recommend good food, faster
Posted Sunday, August 3, 2014
Rex is based on the belief that who recommends a restaurant is the most meaningful aspect of word of mouth. And that written reviews are not meant for the smartphone. A tiny keyboard, tiny screen, big thumbs, and bumpy bus rides don’t mix. Our premise contrasts the proposition of many review sites - that a descriptive review is what users want, even if it’s read from a smartphone and even if the reviewer is unknown to the reader. So we flipped the traditional model on its head. First, we simplified the feedback mechanism. Because the recommender is the most important aspect of a review, we scrapped the written aspect and changed the metric from review to recommendation. Recommendation - versus likes, stars or satisfaction - is powerful because it implies risk sharing and simple because it's binary. Tapping “recommend†doesn’t require typing, and we've leveraged that quality to make the interaction gestural and fun. Next, we elevated the importance of each user’s network. With Rex, users only get recommendations from people they trust enough to follow. Aside from a more engaging, trustworthy platform, Rex is also a more mobile-friendly one. There’s nothing to read through and nothing to type. Finding recommendations is fast - there are no reviews to read through and restaurants are displayed by proximity. And all it takes to make a recommendation is a tap. Rex is a native iOS mobile app, to start. We’re seed-backed and based in San Francisco, but part of the team is remote and we’re growing. We're in private beta now and launch is scheduled for the fall of 2014.