We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joe Edgar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Joe with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I grew up as the child of a large, low-income family of 13 in rural Oregon, where work was simply part of daily existence. My mother cleaned our local church as a janitor, and my father was a home-building contractor. From a young age, we all pitched in: on weekends, we’d clean the church; on job sites, we’d start by picking up boards and sweeping, then progress to lifting walls and roofing as we grew older. Labor Day was never a holiday—it was just another workday.
When we weren’t on a job site, we tended our home garden, mowed neighbors’ lawns for extra money, or worked on local farms in exchange for meat. We didn’t own cows, but we’d occasionally care for a milk cow whose calf had died, requiring twice-daily milking—even in winter. I’d have to catch her (Old Betsy in the photo), clean her udders, and hand-milk her while dodging kicks to the bucket. Afterward, we’d filter the milk, pour it into large jars, and let the cream separate to the top.
We stayed incredibly busy, yet living in Oregon made it impossible to ignore the surrounding beauty. With 12 siblings, hiking with kids might seem overwhelming, but my parents somehow managed frequent trips with all of us—often week-long adventures. Those are some of my fondest memories, and I’ve passed the tradition to my own sons. For the past several years, we’ve hiked the Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail together, one week each summer—a true joy. I hope I’ll be able to with all my daughters soon.
Instilling that same work ethic in my children, however, hasn’t been as straightforward as acquiring it myself. It takes more intentional time to teach them than I often have available, whereas for me growing up, hard work was non-negotiable.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m the founder of Loca.us, an app that helps local small businesses connect with and reward loyal local customers.
Smartphones have made the world smaller, but they’ve also pushed our neighborhoods farther away. Local businesses now compete for attention on the same platforms as billion-dollar corporations with massive marketing budgets and thousands of locations.
I discovered this problem firsthand while traveling with my kids through Texas small towns, trying to patronize only local shops. It’s become incredibly hard to find a true hole-in-the-wall breakfast spot—they’re nearly extinct.
Loca.us solves this by bringing cash rewards to a single app featuring thousands of local businesses. We’re currently live in Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Portland, and Eugene, with plans to expand nationwide soon.
No more confusing points programs or spending a fortune on credit cards. With Loca.us:Earn real cash rewards—easy to understand and simple to claim: Take a quick video of a local business and share it with friends to earn rewards
or upload a receipt after shopping to get cash back. The more you shop local, the bigger your rewards.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
If I had to narrow it down to three qualities, I’d say curiosity, resilience, and willingness.
Curiosity killed the cat, but cats have nine lives—so the risk is worth it. As kids, we questioned everything: Why this? Why that? Most adults stop asking and start accepting. Rebuilding that habit isn’t easy; it demands noticing the smallest details. This morning, I was eating oatmeal from a bowl and sipping tea from a cup. Why don’t bowls have handles? We sip tea, but slurp runny soup with a spoon. I want a handled bowl—when it’s nearly empty, I’ll drink the rest like a mug. Curiosity uncovers assumptions we’ve blindly accepted for years.
Resilience can’t be practiced in calm waters—it’s forged in the storm. In 2015, while building TenantCloud, our lead investor ghosted my calls and skipped the capital call. Weeks later, my younger brother passed away. Soon after, we were hit with $100K in payment fraud, and my older sister died. Eight months of relentless emotional, mental, and physical drain that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. There’s no secret formula—just keep going. Because I did, that company grew to hundreds of millions in value and is now used worldwide.
Over the past decade, I’ve traveled frequently to Ukraine. During the invasion, I’ve been awed by the Ukrainian people fighting for independence from an oppressive neighbor. On my last trip, two nights saw more than 600 drones and missiles rain down over civilian areas—all night. Over the past three years, that’s averaged 70 attacks per night. Yet if power goes out, generators appear everywhere; businesses stay open. Instead of complaining, people come together, support each other, and keep moving forward. Their resilience is a profound example to me.
Willingness is the third. I grew up surrounded by great fishing but rarely cast a line. Later, sailing Texas lakes, I’d spot fish bobbing at the surface. The first few times seemed odd; now I know what to look for and have caught many big fish with my bare hands off the sailboat (catch and release). The point: you not only get great fish stories – you can find a lot without a rod if you’re willing to sail around and look for opportunities.
When growing a company, you don’t know what you don’t know. So you test everything—knocking on doors, cold-calling, emailing, texting—whatever feels awkward or unglamorous. If you’re not willing, the company dies.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
In growing Loca.us, our mission is to empower local businesses, but many owners are wary—they’ve been pitched empty promises before and barely have time to listen. I get it: they’re heads-down running their shops and don’t always see the bigger picture. When 38,000 Austin small businesses unite on one platform, they become a real force against the 200 multinational giants flooding the same feeds with billion-dollar ad budgets.
We need help spreading the word to these owners—showing them how Loca.us drives real customers through cash rewards, not points or gimmicks. It’s free to join, takes minutes to set up, and early partners are already seeing repeat traffic they can measure. The more local spots we bring together, the stronger we all become.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://loca.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loca4us
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loca4us
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/loca4us
- Twitter: https://x.com/loca4us
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@loca4us/featured
- Yelp: https://www.tiktok.com/@loca4us
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
