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When Angie Hicks started Angie’s List in 1995, with her mentor from her time as a college intern at a venture capital firm, the Columbus, Ohio-based business bore her name for a very good reason. Angie began the undertaking, which featured a print magazine and a call in service, from a card table in her launch partner’s garage, and when members wanted to access the company’s database for information about local service providers, they called Angie directly. Luckily, Angie’s List only had 1,000 members that first year, or the phone never would have stopped ringing. Today, the company covers more than 200 markets, and has roughly 750,000 members. And, last year, it announced that it had received more than $50 million in investment capital from several sources.

But, in the early days, growth was slow and strategic. In its second year, Angie’s List acquired the Indianapolis-based company, Unified Neighbors, on which it had based its own business model. They then went on to open one new market roughly every year. In 1999, they launched their Web site, making their database easily accessible to more members in more cities, and accelerated their expansion by opening three or four new markets each year. In 2006, they tripled their markets from 30 to more than 100, at which time they began investing in national advertising.

Many things have changed, but the company’s core offering remains the same. Although 90 percent of member activity now occurs on the company’s Web site, Angie has maintained a commitment to the same level of customer care she was personally responsible for in the early days. Members can still access Angie’s List via telephone, and even if Angie isn’t fielding the calls herself, she still makes sure the business provides a service and a value that make her proud to have it bear her name.

What we learned from Angie: “I think it’s always important to listen what your customers say because there are certainly evolutions that happen. We added categories, and things like that, based on consumer demand. But the one thing I caution entrepreneurs about is; one of the most common reasons that they might fail is that they start doing too many ideas at once. It’s important to have discipline about the concept, so you can give it the time and energy for it to develop.”

To Market, To Market

“The biggest challenge, for us, was we were bringing a new concept to market in Columbus. I was going around telling people, ‘Hey, pay me, and join my club, and I can tell you what your neighbors say, as well as thousands of other neighbors.’ So, we were trying to insert ourselves into a purchasing decision, where nothing like us existed before. We could explain, ‘It’s somewhat like Consumer Reports. There’s a service like this in Indianapolis.’ But it was very much bringing to market a new concept.”

Investors Are Assets in More Ways Than One

“We didn’t necessarily have a strategic partner in the traditional sense of, oh, this company is important for us as a large institutional investor, but we would always pull from the strengths of our investors. One of our investors ran an advertising agency, and he always had great insights. You certainly pull from the strengths of the team around the table because they’re each going to bring insights and fresh ideas that you might not have come across on your own.”

Hey, Little Spender

“Even to this day, the physical expenses that go into running the business, we keep very, very low. If we’re going to invest money in something, we’re going to invest it in our employees and in growing the business by acquiring members.”

Learning Curves Are Your Friend

“For us, opening up market by market was a great way to do it. It allows you to gain experience, learn, and then roll your best practices to the next market. But then, it got to a point where it was time to really start stepping on the gas. In many ways, 2006 was a turning point, on the marketing side of our business. We had gotten big enough…that we found that it was economical to look at some national advertising. And then, when we made that switch, it was a race to get more markets opened because we wanted to leverage that exposure.”

Grow Smart, Grow Strong

“We know what we can invest in new markets and attract new members to the service, and we know what kind of a return that gives. I think that’s something that’s really important for entrepreneurs, is to understand exactly what kind of return their core service, or their core offering, provides, and then to have the discipline to review new ideas and new potential revenue streams against that.”

Mistakes Happen

“Anytime you’re starting a business, I think you’re always making mistakes, every day….You’re always learning. And I think what really differentiates [entrepreneurs] is your ability to recognize and correct your course and do so quickly. In many ways, being a nimble organization, and being able to recognize and admit that that may not have been the best choice, and being able to fix and diagnose and move on, I think is a very important skill set for an entrepreneur.”

All You Have to Do Is Call

“We still have a call in service, which makes us very unique in the Web world. I’m a firm believer, you should be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone. It might not represent a big portion of our business, but it certainly brings a personal touch and connection to the members. There are times when things go awry — I had an experience the other day — water was shooting out of the back of my toilet tank. I’m not really thinking that I’m going to go and take my time and research [online]. I just wanted to call and get connected with a plumber. So people at different points might be searching the list in different fashions.”

Your Family, Your Priority

“One time somebody gave me some advice: ‘Nobody is going to make your family a priority, except for you.’ There are always going to be people pulling in all different kinds of directions. I have three small children. So making sure that I’m home to have dinner with them, making sure I’m getting to their events, that is time that I work to carve out. It’s important to them, and it’s important to me. And it’s an important balance that I’ve got to work to create. That is something I think you have to set as a priority, and you think about it every day.”

This Featured Lady was profiled by Sarah Tomlinson, a freelance writer in Los Angeles, California.

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