Angi CEO Oisin Hanrahan told CNN Business that the name change is intended to help highlight that the company owns other housing-related services, particularly HomeAdvisor and Handy Marketplace. (Hanrahan is a co-founder of Handy, who joined Angi in 2018 after the company bought his startup).
“The Angie’s List brand is well known and loved … People understand what it stands for and trust it,” Hanrahan said. “The challenge is that we are no longer just a list. Customers were confined and restricted by the literal nature of the name.”
He noted that Angi has focused on every aspect of the home improvement business, offering customers an easy way to find contractors, book them and pay them, not just a place to review them.
This strategy has paid dividends over the past year, when millions have been trapped at home during the Covid-19 pandemic or fleeing to the suburbs for more space. Wherever they live, many people have been looking to improve their residences or are taking on big projects like moving into a new home.
Angi is part of Barry Diller’s IAC Public Business website
Angi’s shares have risen nearly 25% this year and have risen around 250% in the last twelve months.
But what will happen to Angi now that many people trapped at home over the past year want to travel more thanks to increased vaccine availability and the reopening of the economy? They may not be as focused on trying to find painters or people to fix a broken closet door.
Hanrahan admits that Americans want to go out and start doing things. But he believes the broader trend of people improving their homes will not change, and they will increasingly want to use services like Angi on their phones to find, book and pay for internships, he said.
“Of course, as people start traveling again, there will be a change in the way people spend. But the much bigger change is going from offline spending to online spending in general,” he said. to say.
As for the eponymous Angie of Angie list, Angela Hicks Bowman is said to be great with the name change. In fact, Hicks continues with the company, serving as both CEO of Angi’s clients and director of the board.
“She is incredibly excited about the evolution and mission of the company,” Hanrahan said. “The house is the most important place on Earth and we want to help people love where they live.”