Helping local business owners survive & thrive
Learn how we got here, what keeps us going, and why our customers love Pinn. This is personal for us.
Local business owners are heroes to us.
They risk everything — years of their lives, their families, their savings — to pursue their dreams.
They’re the heart of our economy, creating the majority of new jobs. They remind us that it’s possible to rise from being an entry-level worker to becoming a business owner one day, as 70% of restaurant owners do.
But local business owners are on a path to extinction.
Just 20 years ago, 60% of restaurants were owned by independent mom and pops. Today, that number is 40%, and dropping. Big chains keep taking over. Mom-and-pops keep shutting down.
A technological revolution is going on.
Local businesses are being outspent by large corporations. Massive brands are pouring billions into marketing and technology to replace their small local counterparts.
But Pinn is changing the odds. Pinn is a proven system for independent local businesses to protect their reputation and grow profitably — to help them win, in spite of these Goliaths.
Local business owners need tech that helps them, not hurts them.
See the difference we’ve made since 2020.
Local-business customers whose reviews Pinn has read.
Independent operators using Pinn to protect their reputation.
Estimated revenue impact of decisions made on Pinn.
Helping local businesses protect their margins.
How it started
Pinn was founded after the team watched a family member’s business slowly disappear from the first page of Google. Her rating slipped, the reviews nobody had answered piled up, and the new competitor two blocks over took over the local pack. She didn’t need more software. She needed someone to read her reviews and tell her what to do about them.
Our founders built the first version of Pinn for her. It was one weekly brief — what moved, what was loudest, what to do this week — and it worked. Within six months her rating recovered, her reply coverage went from 30% to 95%, and she had a clear read on the two competitors she actually needed to watch.
Pinn grew from there. The team partnered with engineers and editors who had spent years inside large hospitality and healthcare groups — people whose parents and grandparents also ran local businesses. Helping owner-operators is personal for all of us.
Help mom-and-pop business owners succeed in the digital age
Pinn is perfect for mission-driven, craft-obsessed people who get excited by our values. Learn all about it in our careers page.
