It is the end of the year, and the executive turntable is spinning a little faster. Today, it was TrueLocal Head Jake Baillie’s turn to announce his departure. TrueLocal,
a spin-off from GeoSign, provides unique, local company URL information for Internet Yellow Page and others. The company has hired an executive search firm, and will likely turn to a seasoned sales, data and organization person.
Baillie says he is leaving, along with several other members of the 36 person company, to launch an incubator company funded by GeoSign head Tim Nye. “My strength is in growing a business,” he says. Baillie adds that TrueLocal is meeting its goals, but he can’t see running it as it becomes an enterprise with hundreds of employees.
The company, in fact, has embarked on an effort to break free of its dependence on licensing its data. It is currently attempting to sell local advertisers directly. For the past couple of months, it has been working with a 3 person telemarketing firm that has sold several hundred ads on a test basis. Just last week, Baillie apparently decided to upgrade the effort and has advertised, via LinkedIn, for a VP of sales. “In 2007, our entire growth plan revolves around our marketing department,” he noted in the ad.
One thing that remains totally unclear is what has caused TrueLocal’s traffic to plummet over the last 30 days, per Alexa (which isn’t always very accurate). Alexa found that the traffic has fallen from 380 per million to 80 per milion. Baillie’s said he was surprised by the Alexa data.
Perhaps it is because, instead, it is basically a flawed model? I looked up my wife’s business, one of the only full service interior designers in our town, zip code 55391…she came up on the 5th page. Others came up that were 20 miles away.