GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, today launched Flare, a first-of-its-kind, community-based app that helps bring business ideas to life. Flare empowers people to share ideas and get guidance from friends, fellow entrepreneurs, and experts in a fun and collaborative way, providing an immediate resource to receive feedback and drive new concepts or ideas forward.

New business ideas come from everywhere and everyone, but only a fraction of them go beyond the initial stage to become something bigger. In a recent survey conducted by GoDaddy, 67 percent of respondents reported having come up with a concept for a business, product or service, but only 15 percent actually pursued it. The biggest barriers for not taking action: people didn’t know what to do next (30 percent) and fear/self-doubt (15 percent). Nearly 55 percent said they regret not taking the next step with an idea.

“Everyone has ideas, but too often they don’t go anywhere,” said Rene Reinsberg, vice president of Emerging Products at GoDaddy. “We created Flare because we recognized the need for a community where people can get impartial feedback on ideas and connect with others to help them turn those ideas into something meaningful. Whether you’ve just had a fleeting thought and want to explore where you might be able to take it, or you’ve been dreaming of creating your own business your whole life, Flare is the first place to go for someone that wants to take the next step.”

Flare also enables people to give back to the community by becoming advisors. It gives people the opportunity to share their knowledge in a given field or discipline with others seeking advice. By supporting a concept, advisors can play an active role during its developmental journey. Followers can also pledge to be a future customer, providing a valuable signal to the entrepreneur about demand and marketability of his or her new product or service.

Flare Features:

• A simple, easy-to-use, elegant interface reminiscent of popular social media feeds
• Quickly give feedback by swiping left/right to dismiss or be reminded of an idea if it becomes popular
• Tap on an idea to learn more. Love an idea to follow its progress and shape its direction
• Spread ideas by easily sharing them via social media
• Explore ideas that are nearby
• Quickly poll your followers for directional feedback regarding pricing, desirability, feasibility, among other things
• See all of your followers, across all ideas, and their expertise
• Gauge interest of your followers in being future customers via pledging

Flare represents the latest example of GoDaddy’s ongoing commitment to develop innovative technologies and products designed to empower entrepreneurs – whether they’re looking to simply get started with a new idea, get online, or grow a business.

Flare is available immediately in the Apple App Store. It will launch in June on Google Play for Android devices.