BorrowedSugar.com makes the word "local" meaningful again!

I haven’t written about startups or companies in general for a while… today I want to share with you some details about an organization from Austin, TX, its name is Borrowed Sugar.

Borrowed Sugar gets its name from the simple act of one neighbor lending a cup of sugar to another. The company is trying to do what other internet giants have tried and are still trying to do currently, to capture the “local” markets but none of them have had much success, not yet. Borrowed Sugar is different, the site focus not only in “local” stuff but it truly engages and connects with the community, the site has a beautiful user interface (UI) and once you sign-up, you’ll see some great features, many things that you would expect from such a site and couldn’t find (at least not in one place) until now:

• Local News
• Q&A
• Bulletin board
• Calendar
• Sidewalk sale

Sign up for the Beta program to see more and have a great time browsing all the local things you’ll find in this site. The site makes the word “local” meaningful again!

Here are some more details about Borrowed Sugar’s inspiration, history, its goals and their website.

Inspiration: Borrowed Sugar gets its name from the simple act of one neighbor lending a cup of sugar to another. Our goal was to really bring that relationship of trust to more people through our website. We felt that technology may have helped us connect to people across the world, but it failed to do so for those across the street. Living local may be our motto, but it means something a little different to everyone. We built Borrowed Sugar to help people engage in their communities, whether that meant learning more about their neighborhood, attending more local events, or supporting schools and local businesses.

History: Our company was founded in December of 2009 and has been under development until recently. About half of our team is either a UT student or alum while the rest are from all around Texas.

Plans/Goals: We plan to launch Borrowed Sugar nationally by August 1st. As I mentioned, our closed beta was open to only Westlake residents and we are now in the process of acquiring users to all of Austin. We really believe that Borrowed Sugar could change the way people learn and interact with their community.

Website: The website has 4 main components. The first is a local news feed which shows you what’s happening in your specific area of residence. The bulletin board and Q&A serves as a way to share information and ask your neighbors questions. The calendar provides information about local events occurring in your area. Lastly, the Sidewalk Sales are deals running with local companies. Often, the proceeds to these deals will be donated to the local schools in that area.

If you want to learn more, checkout the site now, contact them and meet the team behind it.

As always, please use the comments section below to share your feedback or any questions you might have, cheers.

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