I’m making my first official post for Offbeat Guides from Santiago, Mexico, which is rather appropriate considering we’re a travel guide company. The weather is beautiful and the skies are clear.
Skype, IM, and cel give me the luxury of working with the team on the run-up to our Alpha and enjoying some time off with my family. I grew up in the Silicon Valley and, I must say, being at the intersection of technology and travel is a beautiful thing. I’m watching my daughter’s swim in the pool (where I will be momentarily) and I’m helping two great people, Dave and Eric, build a new company at the same time.
Going into Alpha is always nerve wracking. You know you have something good and you know you’ve worked hard. You also know that something is going to go haywire. It’s the nature of the beast. The good news — we do haywire well. All we ask is that you give us honest, brutal feedback.
Adios!
March 12th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
i like turning offbeat into a noun.
June 1st, 2008 at 3:10 am
I really like this concept and can’t wait to see how the guides turn out. Are you going to be setting up a webform for feedback or would you rather have us just send it all to product@offbeatguides.com?
June 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am
Andrew, thanks for checking us out! For now, send your feedback to product@offbeatguides.com. We love feedback!
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
What will you be do with the guide regarding photography? Most travel guides are lacking on presenting the locale from a photographer’s perspective. As they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. I would be very interested in hearing how you will approach the travelers that are budding photographers. Might I suggest a section entitled “Photography Tips” (i.e. best time of day for a shot, photography resources, must see/photo locations, ask the expert section…..etc.). The journey is the reward.
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hi there,
I truly LOVE the concept here. I have started the presses on my first guide, so I’ll just tell you about what I think of the site so far…
- Simple to use, although I was confused as to why you needed to know where I lived. Perhaps this will become clear as I read the guide, either way I was still confused. Perhaps you could explain why you need my address…
- My guide just got spammed! It might be good to let the end user know that this is a possibility, so that they can go hunt in spam after 20mins or so.
- I deliberately selected a location that I AM going to on holiday this coming summer - Lorient in France, and I have to say that if I had paid $24 for this in print - I’d be on the phone pretty sharpish asking for my cash back. Sorry, that is just what I think - although it might not be what you want to hear.
28 of the 73 pages were in French, which I cannot read. The language guide, whilst good, is not really the primary reason that I wanted the guide, in fact there were only 3 pages in all 73 which were about Lorient itself. I think that I could find much more than this for free in a matter of seconds.
The idea is great, and perhaps for major cities like London the guides are great, but I was very disappointed with this one.
Sorry, but I thought that you’d like to know.
Nathan.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
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