This isn’t a post about a new startup, because monavis.ca opened more than one month ago, but about how they are currently doing.
My initial reaction was that it was a complete rip-off of yelp. They have exactly the same navigation bar. (Welcome = Bienvenue, About = A propos, Write a Review = Écrire un Avis, Find Reviews = Rechercher un avis, Invite Friends = Inviter mes amis, Messaging = Messagerie, Talk= Discuter, Member Search = Rechercher un membre). Same for features (Reviews of the day, Best, Featured members…) and profile pages for members. Of course, they have setup different categories, the color palette is slightly different, they don’t have all the features, but overall I’d say monavis is a total copycat of yelp, just like tontuyau was for youtube.
However, I thought that it was actually a service that is needed in Quebec, and that user-generated reviews are the best way to get fresh and relevant content. They have currently about 500 users and 1000 reviews (approximations), and they already have users who posted 10+ reviews. This is very good after one month, for a province the size of Quebec.
Of course, there is the issue with Yelp. I imagine the co-founders asking why they would change a recipe that works. Yelp was designed to be viral, relevant and community-oriented and that’s what monavis tries to be. And they actually manage to do so well.
As you can see, I have mixed feelings with monavis. I can’t criticize them for providing a service that noone has provided so far in Quebec. I just wish they added their own personal touch to the service.
So now, after youtube, yelp, when will we see a quebec copycat of facebook? of craigslist? of flickr?
