Alex clearly knows what it takes to thrive in technology, having already founded a successful vacation rental website and sold it to Expedia in 2000. Following a stint helping Walmart establish its online business, Alex returned to the start-up world with an idea that became the website Roost, which he founded in 2007. Efficient, accessible, and free, Roost assists small businesses and individual professionals with the task of effectively using social media to promote themselves and build clientele.
Roost originally began as another concept – a search engine for real estate. “But two things happened,” Alex recalls. “First, the real estate market cratered around us. At the same time, Facebook and Twitter were becoming more popular. That was the catalyst to change the business to social media and how it could be used to connect people with their customers.”
Essentially, Roost takes the effort out of using social media for the small business owner. “You follow the steps,” Alex details, “and Roost does the work, providing a structure to follow and content to use. We also provide Webinars and how-to videos to teach people more. You can manage all your social media from one place.” Rather than create a Facebook page that is seldom updated, an individual can spend just 20 minutes online with Roost each week and then count on the service to post content regularly on several social media platforms.
“I’ve always had a marketing bent to my thinking, looking at how we communicate what we do and how we help customers,” Alex says of his inspiration for Roost. A Middlebury graduate, he started out in advertising in San Francisco before earning his M.B.A. at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. As Roost’s CEO, he sees new users flock to the site every day, from flower shops to museums to pet apparel stores, and even a roller derby team.
With its 15 employees, Roost serves more than 25,000 small businesses across 50 industries and plans to accomplish still more. “We really want people to be able to use Roost anywhere,” Alex asserts. “Right now, you have to be on a computer, but a mobile application will soon be a big piece of what we offer. We want to build the leading platform for small businesses.”
Initially, he says, companies had to be concerned with search engines and being found quickly in an online search. “I think using social media is the next generation of marketing for small businesses,” Alex states. I’m not saying that search engines are going away, but social media is becoming more important. It’s about how to build relationships with your customers and their friends.”
