HispanicBusiness

A Boston startup says it has an antidote to the proliferation of online daily deals and will put business owners in control of their customers.

Privy allows small businesses to create their own offers and distribute them online to targeted audiences, including Facebook fans, Twitter followers and email lists.

"A lot of small businesses feel the pressure to be spending time on social media -- but it's hard for them to demonstrate the return on that and say a Facebook fan is now a customer or a Twitter follower is worth X dollars," Privy founder and CEO Ben Jabbawy told the Herald. "That's one of the things we help our businesses with."

Privy, which so far has raised $330,000 in angel funding, was a finalist last year in the $1 million MassChallenge startup competition and has entered again this year. The five-employee company has grown to 150 customers after coming out of beta mode this month.

Businesses use forms on Privy's website to create promotions and, with a click of a button, choose where to distribute them. Consumers then use their mobile phones to redeem offers, and Privy powers the transactions and collects a small fee.

"The entire transaction is handled on the business's website, and that's important because they want to feel like they're the ones developing the relationship with the customers," Jabbawy said.

Privy was started in response to the "inefficiencies of the daily-deal model" under which companies such as Groupon and LivingSocial operate, according to Jabbawy.

Using Privy, the Harvard Square Business Association resurrected "Harvard Square Deals" on Monday, offering promotions from the square's merchants through its website. Five percent of deal proceeds goes to Harvard Square nonprofits.

"(Privy's) software is so easy to use and so fast that, if on Wednesday a hotel realizes they have a lot of vacancies for the upcoming weekend, they can very quickly structure a deal and get the information out there," executive director Denise Jillson said.