About NearRise
Welcome to NearRise: the digital cure for a broken small-business ecosystem. This page explains how we're building it. Our Manifesto explains why.
In every neighborhood, from Miami to New York, local entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our community.
Yet, finding and supporting them is fragmented. Customers struggle to find authentic services, and entrepreneurs fight for visibility in a crowded digital world, often paying high fees for broken tools.
We decided to change that.
Our Mission: Helping Small Businesses Rise
Small businesses are the heart of every community, but for too long, they've been held back by fees, complicated software, and platforms that take more than they give.
NearRise exists to fix that.
We're building the easiest, most affordable way for customers to discover local businesses, and the most powerful all-in-one platform for owners to run their entire operation without 30% commissions or seven different apps.
Our mission is simple:
Help small businesses rise, thrive, and take back control.
Built on Trust
We believe trust is earned, not bought.
That's why every business on NearRise can earn a Verified Badge by completing a full, transparent profile: accurate hours, address, owner information, and service details.
There's no trick. No monthly fee.
A small one-time $5 verification covers the cost and gives customers confidence that the business is real, active, and ready to serve.
Trust is the foundation of every community. We're committed to building it the right way.
Our Story: Built on Community, For All Small Businesses
Our journey began with a personal frustration.
As a former restaurant owner from the Haitian community, I saw the talent, hustle, and resilience in my local lakou, and I wanted to build a tool that helped us shine.
But as I started building, I realized the problem was much bigger than my neighborhood.
The 30% delivery fees that crushed my margins…
The 6 different screens for booking, orders, and payments…
The constant juggling of expensive tools…
This wasn't just a Haitian problem.
It wasn't even a Caribbean problem.
It's a small business problem. Everywhere.
The Jamaican restaurant in Brooklyn.
The Dominican barbershop in Orlando.
The local salon in Miami.
The neighborhood auto shop in Philly.
Different industries, different backgrounds, but the same struggle:
Big tech takes too much, and small businesses get left behind.
That's when the vision had to grow.
NearRise was born from that moment, a platform built on the values I grew up with: community, fairness, resilience, and standing together.
Not to serve just one culture, but to empower every local entrepreneur who keeps their neighborhood alive.
NearRise is for all of us, a fair, modern, all-in-one platform built to help small businesses rise.
What We Do: A Platform for Everyone
For Our Community & Customers
Discover & Connect
Explore thousands of businesses. Find restaurants, lawyers, mechanics, boutiques, tutors, salons, barbers, all in one place.
AI-Powered Service
Chat with our AI assistant to instantly place pickup orders, book appointments, reserve tables, or reorder your favorites.
Find Opportunities
Browse local job listings from small businesses in your city.
For Our Business Owners
You built your dream. We built the tools to help you share it with the world.
Our model is simple and fair, built for every budget.
1. Get Found (Visibility Model: Free)
Free Basic Listing:
Every business gets a permanent free profile with name, address, phone number, categories, and map placement.
Premium Placements (Ads):
When you're ready to scale faster, you can choose optional visibility boosts. You only pay when you want more exposure.
2. Get Tools (Subscription Model)
Our AI-powered "Pro" tools act as a 24/7 digital concierge for your business, taking orders, booking appointments, and managing customer interactions.
Restaurant Pro Plan: $45/mo
A simple, powerful, commission-free system that includes:
Full Menu Manager
Pickup Ordering (0% commissions)
Table Reservations
Real-time Order Dashboard
Customer history, favorites, and reorders
AI auto-generated marketing & promotions
No commissions. No hidden fees. Just one stable monthly price.
Why This Will Work
Delivery apps charging 15–30% are destroying margins.
Small businesses are drowning in 5–7 different software subscriptions.
AI finally makes automation affordable and accessible.
Customers WANT to support local businesses. They just need one place to do it.
No existing platform unites food, services, AI, and community in one home.
The small business economy is massive, global, and underserved.
We're solving a real problem with real cultural roots.
Built by Someone Who Lived It
I didn't build NearRise in a boardroom.
I built it after watching my own restaurant get crushed by delivery fees and expensive tools I didn't have time to learn.
I watched friends (barbers, mechanics, stylists, food truck owners) fight with tech that wasn't built for them.
I watched big platforms extract money while giving nothing back.
So I built the platform I wish we had back then: simple, fair, powerful, and made for real people running real businesses.
NearRise wasn't built for Silicon Valley.
It was built for the small business owners who keep their communities alive.
Odney Joseph
Founder & CEO, NearRise
The NearRise Manifesto
Small businesses deserve better.
For years, owners have paid 20–30% commissions, juggled multiple apps, answered late-night calls, and fought a system designed to keep them dependent.
We're done with that.
NearRise is built on four beliefs:
1. Local businesses deserve fairness.
No more predatory fees. No more forced terms.
You should keep what you earn.
2. Technology should empower, not overwhelm.
Owners shouldn't need six platforms just to operate.
One platform. One dashboard. One simple system.
3. AI should level the playing field.
Your AI assistant should help you take orders, manage bookings, write your content, and understand your customers without hiring a team.
4. Communities rise when small businesses rise.
When the barber succeeds, the neighborhood succeeds.
When the restaurant wins, the community wins.
When small businesses rise, everyone rises.
This is the movement.
This is the mission.
This is NearRise.
Join Our Movement
This is more than a directory. More than software. More than listings.
It's a network. An economy. A community. Our digital home.
Whether you're a customer exploring the best local businesses or an entrepreneur ready to expand your business, you have a home here.
NearRise. Where Local Businesses Rise.
Built with love and purpose,
Odney Joseph, Founder of NearRise
Ready to Get Started?
Join thousands of businesses and customers already part of the NearRise community.