Photo credit; Butch Lebo on Flickr

New Zealand expat Rebekah Campbell, who started Posse.com, which she says is the world’s first social search engine, started selling flowers and golf balls by the side of the road when she was a child just because she likes the idea of starting a business.

The former Wellington native evolved to managing bands and originally established Posse.com as a way for bands to engage their fans to help promote them and sell concert tickets.

But after selling the fan engagement platform, Campbell rebranded Posse.com as a social search engine that helps people find the favourite places of their social network. The mobile app and site launched in March of this year and has signed more than 35,000 merchants worldwide, including 7000 New Zealand stores.

Users tell Posse what they want, such as “great coffee”, “brunch” or “a gym” anywhere in the world and they will get recommendations from their “posse” of friends and local experts.

It covers most world cities, including Auckland and Wellington. The denser the population the better.

A two-tier subscription model lets businesses send customers gifts and special offers. From next year, $50 and $100 monthly subscriptions will give stores access to additional features to help them build customer communities.

The successful business has attracted a lot of attention from major tech players.

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