Formed on the heels of a Facebook group that grew to almost 20,000 members in less than two weeks, the Secret Cincinnati web portal is nearing official launch, chock full of submissions by "secret agents" about the best aspects of the city.
"The way this came about was kind of a . . . challenge that my business had constantly undergone," says Chris Ostoich, founder of Blackbook, a Cincinnati-based company that connects employees who are relocating to Cincinnati with the resources to make them feel at home. "As an example . . . we had a female Procter & Gamble brand manager that had made a very specific request through our platform, which was she was seeking an African-American OBGYN. That's just tough information to find."
Enter Joe Pantruso, a serial entrepreneur involved in Internet security businesses who gave Ostoich an article describing the explosive growth of a London-based Facebook page focused on the best-kept secrets of that city.
"That morning, probably 15 minutes after Joe gave me that article, I started the Facebook page Secret Cincinnati," Ostoich says.
That was in late February. In the coming days, when membership ballooned, it became evident that the Facebook group would be inadequate as an interactive medium. Ostoich, Pantruso and web developer Sean Biehle put out a call for those who were interested in "building a business over a weekend." More than 100 people applied; 25 were selected. The Secret Cincinnati web site was born.
Currently in beta testing with a tentative launch date of late May or early June, the site already has attracted interest from other cities "and we're trying to work out a licensing strategy right now for that," Biehle says.
Sources: Chris Ostoich, Joe Pantuso and Sean Biehle, Secret Cincinnati
Writer: Gene Monteith