Peekaboo.

It all started with a snowball fight.  Your typical, run-of-the-mill, 3am snowball fight outside my college dorm with no gloves or coats.

It was Christmas break of my senior year and my friend and I had ventured into Boston for a little city getaway from our families and some quiet in our dorms before everyone returned.  We went out with one of my friends from high school who brought two of his friends he knew in college.  Afterward, we all went back to my dorm for a major snow battle and some cheesy bread.  What I didn’t know at the time, was what that snowball fight outside my dorm would turn into.

As we sat around my table eating Dominos’ heart-attack-on-a-plate, I got to know the two randoms in my apartment a little better than just by shoving snow in their faces.  They went to Suffok, they do something involving money and numbers and things I don’t understand in the Financial District, and oh wait, they own their own business at 24.  When they found out I was in advertising, they suddenly seemed veryyy interested.  I like to think the great friendship that our night turned into was more to do with the time we spent going out on weekends, weekday dinner dates, afternoon coffee breaks, etc., and less to do with the beneficial ways in which they can use my knowledge about advertising/marketing…but we may never know.

Anyway, their internet start-up company started doing pretty well and being the most energetic, zealous, driven duo I know, the two couldn’t just sit back and watch their company grow peacefully.  They had to stir it up and do more.  Fast forward months of hard work, late nights, and Indian programmers, and here you have the product of their restlessness….Peekaboo.

Peekaboo is a free mobile app, currently available for iPhone and iTouch that uses the GPS in your phone to find the discounts and deals that are surrounding your exact location.  It’s beneficial for two groups of people:  Users and Businesses.

Users:  It’s lunchtime.  You’re hungry.  You have $5 in your pocket.  You’re a broke college student and that’s all you can afford to pay for lunch.  What do you do?  Open Peekaboo, search the deals within a mile (or 5 miles, 10 miles, etc) from your current location and find out that your favorite sandwich shop has $2 off subs.  Bingo.

Businesses:  It’s lunchtime.  Your restaurant’s empty.  The place next door has a line out the door.  Probably because their food is cheaper.  You don’t want to cut the prices on all your food…so what should you do?  Easy.  Sign up for Peekaboo for free and add a coupon.  $2 off any sub.  20% off a combo meal.  Anything.  Suddenly, you’re giving that place next door a run for their money.

The best part about the app, and the thing that makes it different from other discount apps like this, is that these deals you receive are unique to people with the app on their phone.  Nobody can walk in and receive $2 off their sub. It’s not like just walking in with a newspaper ad.  You have to show the coupon that is ONLY available on Peekaboo.

I’m really glad I met the two of them.  They’re great people and wonderful friends and even better, thanks to them, I’m getting 20% off my haircut next week.  So here’s my shameless plug for them.  Because they deserve it, because they worked hard, because they’re bound to be successful, and because soon they’re going to support me and bring me on exotic tropical vacations.

www.peekaboomobile.com