TechCrunch 50: New Start-up Provides Free, Instant Access to World's Largest Source of Consumer Product Information

SAN FRANCISCO - Millions of people looking to buy safe, healthy and green products now have the perfect tool to help them navigate the marketplace. GoodGuide, which debuted at the influential TechCrunch50 Conference today, will for the first time give consumers fast and easy access to the world's largest and most reliable source of health, environmental and social performance information of household products - from baby shampoos to bathroom cleaners.

"GoodGuide makes it easy for people to find safe, healthy and green products," said founder Dara O'Rourke. "Whether you are at home or on the go, GoodGuide delivers the best scientific information straight to your fingertips to help you find better products."

O'Rourke, a professor at UC Berkeley, developed GoodGuide with fellow experts from Harvard and MIT as well as tech talent from Google, eBay, Amazon and Intuit. The idea was born when he discovered that the sunscreen he had been putting on his five year- old daughter had a toxic ingredient. He realized that we know very little about the products we bring into our homes and to our families every day, and that other parents should have the same access to product information that he and his fellow researchers had. He also wanted to solve the problem of increasingly confusing marketing claims regarding whether products were actually healthy, safe or green.

The key to GoodGuide is that it offers not only an unprecedented amount of valuable information, but information where and when shoppers need it most. Mothers can find out which brands of shampoo and soap are safe for their children through a quick online search. Shoppers can even send a text message from their cell phone while at the grocery store and instantly find out how a product ranks compared to other brands. They can also create shopping lists online to print out or email to themselves and others. In the next few weeks, GoodGuide will be introducing an application for the iPhone.

"Seventy percent of Americans say they want to buy greener products, but only a tiny percent actually do," said Patrick Chung, a partner at New Enterprise Associates, which provided seed funding for the start-up. "By giving consumers access to the world's most comprehensive data on the products they use every day, GoodGuide will become the de facto gatekeeper to all manner of consumer purchases. It will revolutionize how people interact with products and companies. It will shift the balance of power in the marketplace by giving people the information they need to make better decisions, when and where they most need it."

GoodGuide already offers ratings and detailed product information for more than 60,000 everyday household and personal care products. In the coming months, GoodGuide will release similar product information for food, toys and electronics. In addition to GoodGuide's own recommendations, users will be able to screen products based on what matters most to them. For example, some people will want to avoid products tested on animals, while others might believe those same products are safer for people. GoodGuide lets people customize the service so that they can find products that reflect their own values.

O'Rourke is also partnering with well-known health, environmental and social nonprofits to spread the word about GoodGuide. Natalie Cadranel of Healthy Child Healthy World said, "we know first hand that parents are hungry for reliable information to ensure that the products they buy are safe for their children. We believe GoodGuide is just the tool they need because it's so comprehensive and easy to use."

"GoodGuide helps consumers make better choices," O'Rourke explains, "so that together we can demand more of the products we want, and ultimately change the landscape of the marketplace."

About GoodGuide
GoodGuide™ provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies. GoodGuide's mission is to help consumers find safe, healthy, and green products. With its origins as a UC Berkeley research project, GoodGuide has developed into an independent "For-Benefit" company. GoodGuide is committed to providing consumers the information they need to make better decisions, and to ultimately shift the balance of information and power in the marketplace.

About TechCrunch50
Founded in 2007 by leading technology blog TechCrunch and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the TechCrunch50 conference provides a platform for early-stage, and frequently unfunded, companies to launch for the first time to the technology industry's most influential venture capitalists, corporations, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs and the international media. Companies are selected to participate exclusively on merit.