Bill Osterl, founder and longtime chief executive of service review site Angie’s List, who also led Mitch Daniels’ initial campaign for governor of Indiana, later went on to become a Republican force in the state. died Wednesday at his home in Indianapolis. he was 57 years old.
His assistant, Jackie Annan, said the cause was a complication of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1995 by Mr. Osterle (pronounced Osterley) with Angie Hicks, the idea behind Angie’s List was to connect people who paid for a subscription to trusted contractors and other home improvement professionals. was to tie it to and remove some services. Anxiety from hiring strangers for expensive home repairs.
Originally called Columbus Neighbors, the business was a very local operation. Ms. Hicks went door-to-door to enroll new subscribers, provided referrals over the phone, and consulted a physical list that had to be updated whenever a company’s rating changed. The service was further spread by newspaper advertisements, and in 1996 the name was on her Angie’s List.
In 1999, as the dot-com boom neared its peak, Angie’s List moved online. The site, which still charged subscription fees and made money from advertising, rated various companies from A to F in categories such as punctuality and professionalism. It also allowed users to write signed reviews for various businesses in their area, and Angie’s List hoped the reviews would be fairer and more accurate. (The user’s full name was not shown, but had to be provided to the company.)
Companies with bad reviews can try to resolve issues with complaining customers through Angie’s List. If a business ignores the complaint resolution process or fails to resolve a complaint, the company may be placed in a penalty box, a form of online pillory, and temporarily lost from listings on the site. . Widely praised companies received Super Service Awards and increased visibility on the site.
Osterl became CEO in 1999, when Hicks dropped out to attend Harvard Business School. (She has since returned in a different capacity.) Over time, the company employed more than 2,000 people, primarily based in Indianapolis, and millions more in dozens of cities across the country during Osterl’s tenure. Built a user base of people.
In 2004, Osterl resigned to lead Daniels’ campaign for governor. He was a longtime acquaintance of Mr. Daniels, then Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Oster raised millions of dollars for Mr. Daniels’ campaign, got Mr. Daniels touring the state in an RV, riding a motorcycle, and staying overnight with voters so that he could help the people. proved to be a person of
Daniels won easily, defeating Democratic incumbent Joseph Kernan with more than 53% of the vote.
Osterl turned against the Republican establishment in Indiana in 2015 when Daniels’ successor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows companies to discriminate against LGBTQ people. critics argued.
The bill drew protests not only from politicians in other states, but also from business leaders like Apple’s Tim Cook and many of the Hoosiers, with thousands protesting in the state capitol.
Osterl cancels $40 million deal to expand Angie’s List’s Indianapolis headquarters, resigns as chief executive officer and donates $150,000 to focus on gay rights in Indiana threatened to support a challenger to Mr. Pence.
he said 2015 Indianapolis Star He said he believes the bill will hurt the state economy and the Republican Party.
After the uproar, the Indiana legislature swiftly passed an amendment aimed at protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. However, Angie’s List never built an extension to Indianapolis.
Angie’s list publishedIt acquired shares in 2011 but struggled financially after a promising initial public offering. Osterl stepped down as CEO in 2015, and in 2017 Angie’s List was acquired by entrepreneur Barry Diller’s digital media group IAC for about $500 million, which merged with Home Advisor Services. bottom. Angie’s list is now known as Angie.
William Seeley Ostall was born on September 26, 1965 in Lafayette, Indiana, northwest of Indianapolis. He was the youngest of five children of Eric Osterl, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, and Jermaine (Seeley) Osterl, who studied horticulture at Cornell University before their marriage.
Mr. Osterle grew up in West Lafayette and graduated from high school in 1983. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Purdue University in 1987 and was awarded a scholarship by Governor Robert Orr.
About a year later, Mr. Osterl was hired by the Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute, then a think tank led by Daniels, was headquartered in Indianapolis. After that, he was accepted into the Harvard Business School. But before he left, Mr. Daniels had a conversation with him.
“He pointed his finger at my chest and said, ‘You better come back here.’ You owe us,” Osterl said in 2021.
He earned a master’s degree from Harvard University in the early 1990s and married Melissa McCain in 1991. Their marriage ended in divorce.
Mr. Osterl got a job at a private equity firm in Columbus, Ohio, where he met Mr. Hicks, a recent graduate of DePauw University.
Inspired by an Indianapolis newsletter service that helps find plumbers and other home workers, Osterl and Hicks started working in their home garage. Once the company took off, they named the company after Ms. Hicks, acquired the service that originally inspired it, and eventually moved their headquarters to Indianapolis.
In 2002 Mr. Osterle said: Or Fellowshipnamed after Governor Orr, brings up to 90 fresh graduates to Indianapolis to work for two years at a major corporation.
In 2007, Osterl married Christy English. She survived him, as did four children from his first marriage: Maggie Shipman, Katie Smith, Fischer Osterle, and Emma Osterl. Stepdaughter Kayla English. A daughter from her second marriage, Luella Osterle. Two brothers, Eric and Dale. Two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Ellen Osterl. and three grandchildren.
The Orr Fellowship was the first of many efforts Mr. Osterl undertook to keep educated and talented workers from leaving Indiana.
Mr. Oster started a business to address this problem. make my moveworking with communities in Indiana and other states to present incentives for remote workers to move to those communities.
