NewsPress ReleasesMilestonesMedia Contacts
Yiftee in the News
Cheeky Monkey Joins Yiftee, Connecting Residents with Local Businesses
May 17, 2013 – Menlo Park – Atherton Patch
Palo Alto Sport Shop and Toy World Joins Yiftee, Connecting Residents with Local Businesses
May 16, 2013 – Palo Alto Patch
Yiftee, a mobile -micro-gift startup, comes to Stanford
May 15, 2013 — Stanford Daily
Mom’s Day Gift Guide
May 13, 2013 — Your Life A to Z
Gift Card Promotions For Mother’s Day & Graduation!
May 10, 2013 — Capitally Frugal
Yiftee Adds 12,000 Featured Merchants For Mothers’ Day Gifts On-The-Go
May 2, 2013 — WOBmedia.com
Unexpected Gifts for Mother’s Day
May 2013 — More.com
Madcapz Mother’s Day Gift Idea
April 22, 2013 — Style Blog
Offer options while giving gifts at the workplace
April 4, 2013 — People Matters
21 Helpful Apps for Parents
March 2013 — WorkingMother.com
Apps you don’t need…but probably want
March 21, 2013 — Yahoo Shopping
Yiftee Wins Big at SXSW
March 11, 2013 — Brooklyn Based
SXSW 2012: The Appoconomy
March 11, 2013 — bub.blicio.us-Brandon Carson
SXSW Appy Awards highlights new apps
March 8, 2013 — KXAN-Austin Texas
Yiftee at SXSW: Social Gift Giving
March 9, 2013 — Alex Weiner of Gartner
BASES Past Winners- Yiftee
March 1, 2013 — Stanford BASES
Gifting Goes Mobile With Yiftee
March 1, 2013 — YoungUpstarts.com
iTwinsDay::Yiftee::A Little Something For You!
February 27, 2013 — Twiniversity.com
Gift-giving ideas: The Yiftee app is all over it
February 27, 2013 — Cool Mom Tech
Dear Local Business. It’s Your Time To Shine. So Many Services For You. Yiftee Debuts
February 25, 2013 — Small Biz Technology
Real Gifts via SMS: Yiftee Launches GiftUp API, Secret Admirer Feature
February 14, 2013 — Twillo
Yiftee: You’ve Got A Gift! (…and a Secret Admirer)
February 6, 2013 — KFMB Channel 8-San Diego
Yiftee™ GiftUp Enables Instant Gift-Giving From Within Foursquare™ – Available for Any Website or App to Add Native Gifting Capability
January 30, 2013 — Yahoo!™News
Yiftee’s Gifting App Supports Local Businesses for Free
January 18, 2013 — Small Business Trends
Yiftee is a Nifty Way to Support Local Businesses
January 18, 2013 — Small Business Finance
Yiftee Raises $850K For Local Business-Focused Gifting Service
January 7, 2013 — TechCrunch
Local startup offers new take on buying local
December 26, 2012 — The Almanac
The rise of Yiftee and Social Gifting: A nifty new way to give a lot more than thanks
December 18, 2012 — Emerson College eCommunication Thoughts
Online Start-Up Lets You Give Presents From Afar Without Those Pesky Gift Cards
December 20, 2012 — The Consumerist
Finally, an online retailer with something for everyone
December 19 ,2012 – CNN Money/Fortune
Yiftee: Give Locally, Even from Far Away
December 18, 2012 – Brooklyn Based
Lori Laub and Donna Notivsky launch Yiftee as easy way to buy small gifts from local merchants in mind
December 17, 2012 – InMenlo
Gifts ordered virtually show real appreciation, Platform enables online ordering, in-person pickup
November 29, 2012 – Half Moon Bay Review
Need a Small Gift for Someone Special? Send a Yiftee
November 28, 2012 – Menlo Park– Atherton Patch
November 24, 2012 – Pacifica Patch
November 24, 2012 – Half Moon Bay Patch
Local startup and MPPC team up with turkey dinner donation program
November 18, 2012 – InMenlo
Gift Site Yiftee Comes Up With A Way To Use Tech To Turn Our Impulses To Good
November 16, 2012 – siliconbeat
Help Yiftee give a happier holiday
November 16, 2012 – Menlo Park—Atherton Patch
Trade Talk: Nifty new ways to give gifts online
October 26, 2012 – INFORUM. The Forum of Fargo-Morehead
Nuevo concepto de regalos económicos (New concept of inexpensive gifts)
May 15, 2012 – elneuvodia.com
Yiftee: antídoto para el “daily deal craze” (Yiftee: antidote to the “daily deal craze”)
May 11, 2012 – elweb.com
Local Merchants Find Yiftee Nifty
May 9, 2012 – Los Altos Town Crier
Yiftee Press Releases
Yiftee™Adds 12,000 Featured Merchants For Mothers’ Day Gifts On-The-Go
May 1, 2013
Yiftee wins Appy Award at SXSW
March 8, 2013
Yiftee: You’ve Got A Gift! (…and a Secret Admirer) Let the (anonymous) gift-giving begin!
February 6, 2013
Yiftee ™ GiftUp Enables Instant Gift-Giving From Within Foursquare™
January 29, 2013
Yiftee™ National Launch Spreads Joy With Gifts On-the-Go that Strengthen Communities
December 12, 2012
Milestones
2013
| March |  Yiftee is honored to announce that it has won the Appy Award for location or place-based apps at the South by Southwest Conference and Festival (SXSW). The Appy Awards, created by MediaPost and now in their third year, are dedicated to acknowledging creativity and excellence in app design. Yiftee was chosen by a panel of industry experts who personally reviewed the finalist apps. |
| February |  Just in time for Valentine’s Day, local gift-giving service, Yiftee, is launching Secret Admirer Yiftee gifts, which appeal to a wide audience. Shy, secretive or simply playful people now have a way to delight the target of their affection with a thoughtful gift, delivered anonymously via email or mobile phone. The recipients can participate in a game in which clues about their Secret Admirer’s identity are revealed until the gift itself is unlocked on Valentine’s Day. |
| January |  Yiftee launches its new “GiftUp” API, which enables any website or app to offer instant gifts from within their site. The first implementation of GiftUp is on social networking leader, Foursquare. The GiftUp API is applicable to a wide variety of websites and applications, such as dating, greeting cards and social networking. Any shop or restaurant could use the GiftUp API to sell gifts from their websites that their customers could pay for online and send to their friends. The recipients are notified by text and they stop by the store or restaurant to pick up the gift. |
2012
| December |  Yiftee launches Superstorm Sandy National Gifting-to-Rebuild Program, focused on areas that have ongoing recovery from this devastating hurricane: Red Hook (Brooklyn), Rockaway (Queens) and Staten Island. The program allows anyone in the US to donate needed goods and services through local merchants in those areas, thereby doubling the impact of the donation to help both the merchants and the families get back on their feet. Yiftee has partnered with community volunteer organizations Red Hook Volunteers, Smallwater and local churches to deliver the goods where most needed. |
| December | Yiftee introduces the ability to donate the gift value to charity. We have seen that often with Yiftee gifts as in life, “it’s the thought that counts.” The gift giver feels good for recognizing his or her friend, and the recipient feels good to be appreciated. But occasionally the recipient does not have time to pick up his or her gift. Now recipients can also be givers by donating the gift value to charity, rather than allowing it to be returned to the giver. Initial donations will be divided evenly between these top notch, family-oriented organizations: World Wildlife Fund®, National Parks Conservation Association®, Big Brothers/Big Sisters®, Teach For America® and Feeding America®. |
| December | Yiftee rolls out Yiftee Connectors. A program where community leaders and influencers provide the company with valuable product feedback, refer their favorite Merchants to be featured and receive Yiftee gifts to give to their friends to spread the Yiftee love! Yiftee also works closely with fifty women bloggers to send and receive gifts and get the word out that Yiftee is available everywhere, especially for holiday gifting! |
| November |  Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC) and Yiftee partner to create Have a Happier Holiday program to encourage gifts of turkey ($30), fixin’s ($20) and pie ($10). Generous Yiftee customers chip in to feed a hot Thanksgiving meal and/or provide gift baskets for more than 300 people as part of MPPC/Verbo Church’s traditional holiday event benefiting the Redwood City, CA community. |
| August | Yiftee opens its digital doors to Merchants to sign themselves up to be Featured on Yiftee.com and in the Yiftee iPhone app. Now they can enter their company and gift descriptions and photos and they will be contacted by a Yiftee Merchant Engagement Manager, Yiftee representatives throughout the US and Puerto Rico, to review and approve their listings before going live. As always, there is no fee, no discount required and no commitment for Merchants to become featured. |
| July | Yiftee introduces Merchants in Rhode Island, North Dakota and Oregon. |
| May |  Yiftee is selected as one of nine finalists, chosen from 400 applicants, in the Stanford University Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) eChallenge competition, and one of 34 start ups to compete in the BASES Product Showcase. Both are held on May 22nd, 2012 on the Stanford Campus and more than 350 people attend the Product Showcase. |
| March | Yiftee expands beyond the San Francisco Bay Area, adding merchants in Seattle, Washington and Brooklyn, New York. |
| March |  Yiftee rolls out with Small Bar in Puerto Rico, marking our first presence outside the continental US and honoring our co-founder Aldo, a native of Puerto Rico. Shortly thereafter, Yiftee adds several more Merchants in Barranquitas, Condado, Hato Rey, Mayaguez, Rio Piedras and Viejo San Juan. |
| February | Yiftee opens web and iPhone application up to public beta testing for Valentine’s Day gifting. We feature 50 merchants in the San Francisco Bay area and over 120 gifts from $0 to $20. |
| January | Yiftee iPhone app is launched in the Apple™ App Store for alpha customers so they can give Yiftee gifts on-the-go. Busy people now can send Yiftee gifts in minutes while at the soccer game, in the grocery store check-out line or waiting to pick-up the carpool using the new Yiftee app. |
2011
| November | Selected from a pool of 88 applications, Yiftee is one of six start-ups accepted into the Stanford Forge Accelerator program in recognition of our top quality engineering team. Forge provides assistance and guidance on strategy, financing and legal issues working with Stanford professors, Silicon Valley venture capitalists, law firms and seasoned entrepreneurs. |
| November | Yiftee.com sees daylight! After only ten weeks of development, in true lean start-up fashion, we launch our alpha website with five featured Merchants and twenty customers who enjoy sending each other gifts and redeeming them in Menlo Park and other nearby cities. Despite it being early, feedback is extremely positive from both Merchants and customers. |
| September | After speaking with over sixty small and medium-sized businesses, countless consumers, many potential investors, Yiftee Co-Founders Jon, Donna, Lori and Aldo decide what company we are going to be. We begin designing and building the website and mobile app and recruiting our first Merchants. Yiftee as we know it, is born. Shortly thereafter, Christina joins as our designer. |
Yiftee Media Contacts
Melanie Anderson, Pitch Public Relations™
melanie@pitchpublicrelations.com, (480) 225-7148
Donna Novitsky, Co-Founder and CEO
donna @ yiftee.com, (650) 564-4438
Lori Laub, Co-Founder and Merchant/Customer/Partner Relations
lori @ yiftee.com, (650) 564-4438
See our Media Kit >> HERE