Social Vertical justapinch.com Honored With Tech & Entrepreneur of the Year Accolades

Series A Funding Round Investors Reaffirmed

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May 01, 2012, 03:00 ET

FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- When it rains it pours for tech startup American Hometown Media (AHM). The two-year-old entity was recently named one of Nashville's 25 most innovative technology companies by the Nashville Post for the rapid growth of its primary subsidiary, recipe and coupon social network www.justapinch.com. What's more, AHM CEO Dan Hammond was honored as "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Nashville Post and the Nashville City Paper in conjunction with the Nashville chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization for his strong leadership, innovative thinking and business savvy.

These accolades support the recent investment in AHM, completed in December 2011 and totaling more than $4 million. Participating investors include Nashville Capital Network's Tennessee Angel Fund and affiliated angels, Tennessee Community Ventures, Limestone Fund, and Solidus Company.

"The site's fast growth, engaged user base and proprietary programming were key factors for our group's investment decision," says Sid Chambless, Executive Director of Nashville Capital Network. "We were also drawn to the strong management team and their successful track record in previous business ventures. These recent awards only reaffirm our group's decision to support Just A Pinch."

With more than 90,000 recipes posted to date, Just A Pinch is the largest collection of user-generated recipe content (UGC) posted anywhere. Members average 17 minutes or more per session and up to 50 percent visit once per day with a significant amount visiting three times per day. That equates to 8.5 hours per month, which rivals the largest horizontal social networks including Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and others. What's more, its overall growth has risen from 200,000 unique visits per month in 2011 to more than 1.4 million monthly uniques, a 600% increase, one year later.

"Our site's innovative 'vertical social network' approach to recipe and coupon sharing, along with its unparalleled functionality, has led to site growth and user engagement that has exceeded expectations," founder and CEO Dan Hammond remarked.

The third company conceived and founded by the media entrepreneur, Just A Pinch features everyday American home cooks as the celebrity. Putting the spotlight on these unsung heroes is the "secret sauce" (in contrast to the plethora of "celebrity-based" cooking media) that is propelling this new digital offering.

"Our phenomenal growth can be attributed to the authenticity of the site content. Our members want real recipes from real home cooks, and we delivered that to them through a sophisticated social vertical engineered from the ground up," says Hammond.

Hammond experienced similar initial success with his first company, Publishing Group of America (PGOA), which like Just A Pinch, also had a focus on hometown America. PGOA launched American Profile and Relish magazines, two of the largest magazine launches in U.S. history. In 2007, PGOA sold to Bain Capital and Shamrock Capital Advisors, a transaction that netted investors a 7x return in their invested capital.

Site enhancements for 2012 include an expansion of e-commerce capabilities, mobile apps, photo and video-sharing capabilities and live chat. "It's looking to be another good year of explosive growth, expanding functionality and robust new opportunities for Just A Pinch," Hammond said.

About Just A Pinch
www.justapinch.com is a vertical social network built around recipes and coupons, with interaction through posting, rating, voting, testing, commenting, chat groups, private messaging, and use of Facebook connect, Twitter, and other third-party platforms. Home cooks use the site to swap and discuss thousands of "family-tested-and-approved" recipes, share cooking tips, earn blue ribbons, build custom cookbooks and grocery lists, and print coupons. The site is owned by Franklin, Tenn.-based American Hometown Media.

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SOURCE American Hometown Media