About Lokals

It started with a washing machine

Someone asked me if I knew anybody who could fix a washing machine. I didn't. And when I went looking, I realized there wasn't really anywhere good to look — not for someone local, not for someone who actually does this for a living.

What we have instead is social media. You post in a group and hope somebody who knows somebody sees it before it scrolls away. That works when it works, but a Facebook post is not a business listing, and a group full of everything is not a place to find someone by trade. I wanted somewhere built specifically for businesses and the people looking for them, instead of somewhere social that we all use for that by default.

So I built it.

Who's behind it

I'm David McCarter III. I was born and raised in Mobile — my dad's side of the family is from down here, so this is home in the long sense of the word.

I have a computer science degree from South Alabama and I've spent seven-plus years working in IT. I've had ideas for businesses for about as long as I can remember. Lokals is the one I decided to actually build, partly because I could, and partly because the problem it solves is one I ran into myself in my own city.

What Lokals is, and what it isn't

It's a directory of local entrepreneurs. You search for a trade and a town, you find someone nearby, and you contact them directly.

Some things it deliberately doesn't do:

• It doesn't take a commission. What you agree on with a business is between you and them. Lokals isn't in the middle of it.
• It doesn't charge for leads. Nobody pays per phone call, and nobody is bidding against four other businesses for the same job.
• It doesn't host reviews. Google and Facebook already do that, and star ratings are easy to farm. What Lokals shows instead is how long a business has been listed here and whether they actually answer the people who reach out.
• It isn't a social feed. There's nothing to scroll and no algorithm deciding who gets seen today.

Getting listed and getting found are free, and they stay free.

Who it's for

Anyone around here who can be hired for an afternoon. Appliance repair, lawn care, barbers, photographers, DJs, caterers, tutors, food trucks, designers — if you run it and someone can pay you for it, you belong on Lokals. It's for the people building something in their own city, not for national chains with a franchise in town.