Jeremy Stoppelman was simply looking for a good doctor.
Instead, he uncovered a billion-dollar blind spot and built a company that changed how we find, trust, and talk about local businesses.
In today’s newsletter, I share the story behind how a flu, a Yellow Pages book, and a frustrating search turned into the global review site, Yelp. That story, along with:
· 3 powerful storytelling takeaways you can use from Jeremy’s journey
· Why 92% of people trust referrals from friends over ads
· A video where Jeremy breaks down how a personal pain became a platform
Enjoy reviewing this story…LG
Founder Story: Jeremy Stoppleman, Yelp
After his first year of getting his MBA at Harvard Business School, Jeremy Stoppelman got an internship at a Silicon Valley incubator. The incubator’s mission was to explore consumer internet ideas that could disrupt industries yet to be modernized.
As Jeremy was exploring ideas, he looked at an old yellow pages book that was propping up his monitor and thought this old physical relic of the past seemed ripe for reinvention.
Then he got the flu.
Needing to find a doctor, Jeremy encountered a frustrating experience while searching for a local doctor in San Francisco. The resources available were shockingly limited.
Insurance websites and online directories only provided basic details like proximity and office hours. None of them answered the questions Jeremy cared about: Who’s a good doctor? Who has a great bedside manner? What have other patients experienced?
“I really wanted to tap into word of mouth,” Jeremy later explained. “But there was nothing online that captured what people thought about the doctors in my area.”
This experience planted the seed of an idea: What if there were a way to bring personal recommendations, those invaluable word-of-mouth insights, into the digital world, where everyone could benefit from shared experiences?
Jeremy’s flu became the unlikely catalyst for what would eventually become Yelp.
Jeremy and his incubator partner, Russell Simmons, started brainstorming ways to solve the problem. They envisioned a social network where users could ask friends for local recommendations, whether for doctors, restaurants, or other services. If a friend didn’t have an answer, users could access responses from the wider community.
The duo pitched their concept to one of the incubator’s investors, Max Levchin. Though initially hesitant, Max saw promise and provided $1 million in seed funding. Jeremy decided to drop out of Harvard to focus full-time on launching the company.
That fall, they launched Yelp. It was centered on sending recommendation requests to friends, asking them to chime in on local spots.
But it flopped. Users didn’t like being prompted with questions they couldn’t answer. The process felt noisy, spammy, and awkward.
“The idea of online word-of-mouth got a very positive response,” Jeremy admitted, “but the mechanism of the site was painful. People didn’t like it that much.”
Despite the lukewarm reception, Jeremy and Russell kept analyzing the data, searching for clues about what users wanted.
That’s when they noticed something surprising: a feature they had added almost as an afterthought, a simple tool for writing reviews, was quietly gaining traction. When users discovered it, they often wrote 5-10 reviews in one sitting, unprompted.
It was a breakthrough. Jeremy realized that instead of asking people for recommendations, the platform should encourage them to share their experiences freely.
Writing reviews was not only useful but enjoyable for many, including Jeremy himself.
Early the next year, Yelp pivoted. The site relaunched, now focused entirely on user-generated reviews. Traffic surged almost immediately. By the end of the year, they had 12,000 reviews posted. By the next year, that number had grown to over 100,000.
What set Yelp apart wasn’t just its utility; it was the community. Jeremy and Russell focused on making writing reviews fun and rewarding, tapping into people’s passion for sharing what they loved (and didn’t).
That authenticity fueled the quality and volume of the content, and Yelp quickly became the go-to resource for local insights. Yelp was dramatically changing how people connect with local businesses, making it easy to find not just what’s nearby, but what’s best.
Today, Yelp generates more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue with over 244 million reviews, 90 million monthly mobile users, and more than 5 million business listings across 30+ countries. What started as a flu-induced frustration has grown into one of the most influential consumer review platforms in the world.
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Storytelling Lessons:
Jeremy Stoppelman was successful in launching Yelp by telling a compelling story rooted in personal frustration, real-world problems, and community-powered solutions. Below are three key takeaways founders can use to tell stories that resonate, differentiate, and inspire.
1. Start with a Pain Point People Feel
Jeremy’s story didn’t begin with a pitch; it began with a problem. He was sick and couldn’t find a decent doctor. The internet offered proximity and office hours, but not the personal insight he needed, like who actually cared for their patients. That frustrating gap became the foundation for Yelp.
Anchor your story in a real problem that others recognize immediately. Don’t just talk about what your product does, talk about the pain that sparked your journey. Use your personal experience to highlight a gap in the world that needs to be filled, and make your audience feel the absence before you introduce your solution.
2. Make It Personal to Make It Powerful
On top of that, Jeremy didn’t pitch Yelp as a search tool. He told the story of a sick guy who just wanted a doctor he could trust. That emotional hook, the frustration, the unmet need, the why, made the idea relatable. Throughout Yelp’s growth, Jeremy consistently shared stories of everyday people using the platform to avoid bad experiences and discover hidden gems.
Personalize your story. Take a business concept and ground it in a human moment. Highlight how your own experience speaks to a universal need. When people see themselves in your story, they trust you more and remember you longer.
3. Build a Movement, Not Just a Message
Yelp grew because Jeremy created a platform where passionate users could share their opinions. From Yelp Elites to everyday reviewers, he empowered his users to become advocates and storytellers. The result? A movement of people sharing stories that fueled trust, discovery, and growth.
Create ways for your users or customers to participate in your story. Give them the tools, language, and community to spread the word. Whether it’s reviews, testimonials, or content co-creation, build champions who carry your story further than you ever could alone.
Me and this moose share story DNA
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Fun Fact:
Did you know that 92% of consumers say they trust referrals from friends and family over all other forms of advertising? That’s according to Nielsen research. It’s no wonder Jeremy Stoppelman turned his flu‑fueled frustration into a digital megaphone for the trusted voices we rely on most.
Emphasizing that word-of-mouth remains the king of influence & why we want people to share our founder story!
Video to Watch:
In this interview “Local Rules! (Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO at Yelp & Nicholas Carlson)” at the Digital-Life-Design conference, Jeremy Stoppelman show you how to turn a personal problem into a compelling brand story.
Jeremy Stoppelman breaks down the inspiration behind Yelp, how the idea evolved, and how sharing a clear, relatable pain point laid the foundation for the brand. It demonstrates how to connect your personal journey to a broader business insight that resonates with others.
Storytelling for Entrepreneurs Issue #038 - The $1 Billion Idea Born from Getting the Flu
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