Every business inside ten miles, not just the ones that signed up. Each one carries a badge, U.S.-owned, foreign-owned or pending, the reason for it, the parent company on public record, and a link to the Google page. Chains get two answers: who owns the brand, and who runs this location. All of it on a list and on a map, signed out, free.
Open it on your phone, type your ZIP code, and see who owns what around you. No sign in needed to search. Saving a business, flagging one, or sponsoring the app takes an email code.
Open SupportUS →Fred applied on a Tuesday at 5:24pm, recently retired, with two app ideas at once. Wednesday at 11:30am we went through both on one call. SupportUS was the first: a way for anyone to find out whether the business in front of them is American owned, and to put their money where their answer is. The offer went out at 2:12pm.
At 4:14pm Fred texted the part that made it hard. A directory of businesses who sign up is worthless on day one, because nobody has signed up yet. Every business in a ten mile perimeter has to show up, with its ownership, whether it ever heard of the app or not. Five minutes later it was paid.
Thursday at 8:33am it was live with that in it. Dallas had 3,572 businesses inside ten miles, Los Angeles was filling in behind it, and 312 chain brands were loaded with their ownership, so a CVS or a Shell got the right badge the moment it appeared. Each listing showed the badge, the reason for it, and a link to its Google page.
Type a ZIP code and get everything inside the radius, from the map's own data. U.S.-owned, foreign-owned, split ownership or pending validation, with the parent company on public record and the date it was checked.
Chains get two lines. Who owns the brand, and who runs this one. Franchised, run by the chain itself, or some of each. Filters for U.S.-run and for franchised, local owner unknown.
A business that backs the app sits first in its results, in gold with a star, ahead of U.S.-owned. The owner approves each one.
Stars and dots on a real map. Anyone can save a business, flag one, or put evidence in on its ownership. The SupportUS team makes the final call, and the record shows it.
The first version had one answer per business. Fred's list, sent Tuesday the 25th, asked for the truth behind a chain: Shell is British, but the station on the corner is usually run by a local family. So every chain listing got two lines. Brand owner, the company on public record. Who runs this one, franchised, run by the chain, or some of each. A Split ownership filter for the ones where the two answers differ. Then the follow up from the review call: U.S.-run as its own filter, and Franchised, owner unknown as another, so a person who only wants a locally run business can find one in one tap.