Why we started EntryVerified

I've worked from home for more than fifteen years. In all that time, I don't think a single week went by without someone knocking on my door or ringing my bell.

The dog would start barking. I'd be on a conference call, or finally deep into something that needed my full attention. I'd get up, open the door, and say I'm on a call. They'd say no problem, I'll come back. And they would. And I'd still be working.

I got to the point where I couldn't stand it. Not the individual people, the whole thing. I never once asked anyone to come to my door, and I was never once glad they did.

Then I was at a block party, saying all of this out loud around a table, and one of my neighbors stopped me.

She said those people are our neighbors too. They're main street businesses that stay open because people around here do business with them. They have a job to do, and they need to be able to talk to people.

I told her it's the timing. They're doing it while I'm working, and they wouldn't want me interrupting them at their job.

She said she understood, and that it frustrated her too. But they're trying to make a living, same as the rest of us, and if I could see it from their side I'd probably be less angry about it.

I thought about that for the rest of the night, and she was right. The problem was never that a local business wanted to reach me. The problem was how they had to do it. Knocking is the only tool they've ever had, and it's a bad one for everybody. It interrupts the homeowner, and most of the time it doesn't even work for the person knocking.

So we built the other way around. A sign with a QR code — for your door, your yard, or your doorbell camera. They scan it, they send you what they came to say, and you read it when you're ready. Nobody knocks. Nobody rings. Nobody stands on your step waiting for you to get off a call.

You still decide whether to respond. That was always the point.