Every neighborhood already has a short list.

Ask any bar owner who they call when a pipe bursts, and they'll have an answer — a plumber a few blocks over, someone a neighbor vouched for once. That list exists everywhere, in someone's phone, passed along one conversation at a time. It just isn't searchable by anyone else.

The Short List is that same list, opened up: a directory of neighborhood businesses ranked the way a real recommendation would rank them — by how close they are and how trusted they are, not by who paid the most for the placement.

We started in Crown Heights because it's dense, transit-heavy, and full of small businesses who already rely on each other more than they rely on national platforms built for homeowners. It's not a guess — Census data puts zip code 11213 at over 62,000 people per square mile, with 54% of workers commuting by public transit versus just 19% by car. The proximity model isn't specific to this neighborhood, or even this city — it works the same way in any dense area, anywhere. Crown Heights is where we're proving it first; the plan is every neighborhood worth proving it in next, across the US, into Canada, and beyond.