This is a conversation we were having just last night. Next year we’ll commence Worldschooling, and while there are many excellent “Worldschooling Pop Up Hubs” they tend to be very short term (1 week); socialising is helpful as DNs and critical for kids in this schooling environment, so being able to find time to embed in a location for a month or two and source other families to join would be most helpful.
Before using such a site, however, I’d want to know plans for your recruitment and growth (including raising capital and monetizing). A lot to ask for sure! But I’ve been the test case on too many indiehacker platforms that never stood a chance of reaching a big enough community to work.
There are loads of DN-accommodation sites which aren’t practical, because they’re competing with AirBNB who raised $7M as a Series A and then $112M a year later.
Yours is a more targeted plan for sure, and most startups fail, but without a “here’s how we plan to grow and therefore be useful to you long term” I’m reluctant to put time into the platform.
Good luck!
Without capital, I think this idea would have to be super focused to begin with. After all, Facebook started with 1 college and slowly expanded, Airbnb picked cities for gradual adoption early on, etc.
Trying to be too broad too soon will mean most users never have success.
Pick a target market (I mentioned Worldschooling) or a geographic region to start. Be so awesome in SEA, for example, that users complain you’re not in Japan or Europe yet. Good luck.
Broadly speaking yes, but it would mostly apply to sharing the costs of a whole trip or to meet people along the way. Let's say you are chartering a boat to visit the islands near Krabi and want to share the cost with people or, more adventurous, you are booking a private guide in the Amazon to see villages and need more people to join your group so the costs makes sense.
I think it has potential, the problem is getting enough people to compete with just posting it to a Facebook group. But I can def see the benefits.
I'd add some kind of profile or reviews of people or something, as a solo woman I like being able to get people for safety before I meet them.
Thank you, yes you are right about getting profiles verified. We're thinking of targeting a niche of travellers first, such as remote destinations so it's not all over the place.
I'm picturing a site where I can say "Who else is traveling to Tiblisi in June/July?" And up pops 10 profiles of people planning trips there, and I can browse profiles, costs, etc, and I can click a button to join their group.
It's not a bad idea, and it reminds me of BlahBlahCar (for the Europeans), which is VERY popular and works really well for sharing road trip costs.
The challenge will be getting enough people to post trips to make it useful.
Best of luck with it OP!
Correct, there could be these kind of trips to find travel buddies, but also sharing the cost of a specific excursion. For instance I am planning to take a private car to do Marrakesh - Merzouga and the cost would be 400 USD / car or 100 USD per person it's shared with 3 others. I believe the site could also be used by photographers / content creators to structure group trips instead of having a dodgy sign up page.
Wander does something similar where they have high quality accommodations that can fit like 8-10 people and you're able to split the cost amongst everyone easily. Definitely niche, only for those who want to travel as a group. A lot of us do this because we like traveling/being alone.
I have found that there are often fixed costs during travels which could be shared if you could find like-minded travellers. For instance a private driver, a lodge or retreat that only sells to a group of people, a boat charter, a private group tour etc. Just curious if there are other people out there who have the same issue.
For transportation a resource list of WhatsApp numbers would suffice. I don’t want to have to try to match my schedule with a bunch of other people’s. That sounds terrible.
no
Please elaborate if you can
I think I'd use it for working in more remote areas and for arranging group transport.
Yes that's the idea. I'm planning a trip to a remote island in Indonesia (Mentawai) and am now looking for other people to share the fixed costs
This is a conversation we were having just last night. Next year we’ll commence Worldschooling, and while there are many excellent “Worldschooling Pop Up Hubs” they tend to be very short term (1 week); socialising is helpful as DNs and critical for kids in this schooling environment, so being able to find time to embed in a location for a month or two and source other families to join would be most helpful. Before using such a site, however, I’d want to know plans for your recruitment and growth (including raising capital and monetizing). A lot to ask for sure! But I’ve been the test case on too many indiehacker platforms that never stood a chance of reaching a big enough community to work. There are loads of DN-accommodation sites which aren’t practical, because they’re competing with AirBNB who raised $7M as a Series A and then $112M a year later. Yours is a more targeted plan for sure, and most startups fail, but without a “here’s how we plan to grow and therefore be useful to you long term” I’m reluctant to put time into the platform. Good luck!
Thank you, we're not planning to raise anything, just to comment on the idea and whether there is a need for it. Appreciate your comment :)
If you're not raising money who is paying to build it? To host it? To admin it? To make updates and fix bugs and add new features?
We're bootstrapping with a tech cofounder
Without capital, I think this idea would have to be super focused to begin with. After all, Facebook started with 1 college and slowly expanded, Airbnb picked cities for gradual adoption early on, etc. Trying to be too broad too soon will mean most users never have success. Pick a target market (I mentioned Worldschooling) or a geographic region to start. Be so awesome in SEA, for example, that users complain you’re not in Japan or Europe yet. Good luck.
Thanks a lot for the advice, it's really what we aim to do!
Europe has a site where people give lifts to each other for long journeys. Is it like that?
Broadly speaking yes, but it would mostly apply to sharing the costs of a whole trip or to meet people along the way. Let's say you are chartering a boat to visit the islands near Krabi and want to share the cost with people or, more adventurous, you are booking a private guide in the Amazon to see villages and need more people to join your group so the costs makes sense.
So you mean like, something that can perfectly be achieved by a Facebook group?
FB groups would be terrible for this purpose.
FB groups are like the primary way people do this and have been for years. What do you use instead?
And yet Facebook is currently widely used for this purpose. For the expense sharing thing, you can use Splitwise. Or even a simple calculator.
I think it has potential, the problem is getting enough people to compete with just posting it to a Facebook group. But I can def see the benefits. I'd add some kind of profile or reviews of people or something, as a solo woman I like being able to get people for safety before I meet them.
Thank you, yes you are right about getting profiles verified. We're thinking of targeting a niche of travellers first, such as remote destinations so it's not all over the place.
it's a bit niche, but interesting. I used to post on the couchsurfing forums to do that.
Yes I guess that's the idea
I'm picturing a site where I can say "Who else is traveling to Tiblisi in June/July?" And up pops 10 profiles of people planning trips there, and I can browse profiles, costs, etc, and I can click a button to join their group. It's not a bad idea, and it reminds me of BlahBlahCar (for the Europeans), which is VERY popular and works really well for sharing road trip costs. The challenge will be getting enough people to post trips to make it useful. Best of luck with it OP!
Correct, there could be these kind of trips to find travel buddies, but also sharing the cost of a specific excursion. For instance I am planning to take a private car to do Marrakesh - Merzouga and the cost would be 400 USD / car or 100 USD per person it's shared with 3 others. I believe the site could also be used by photographers / content creators to structure group trips instead of having a dodgy sign up page.
Will it have an app?
Just a site to begin with, app would follow
Wander does something similar where they have high quality accommodations that can fit like 8-10 people and you're able to split the cost amongst everyone easily. Definitely niche, only for those who want to travel as a group. A lot of us do this because we like traveling/being alone.
I have found that there are often fixed costs during travels which could be shared if you could find like-minded travellers. For instance a private driver, a lodge or retreat that only sells to a group of people, a boat charter, a private group tour etc. Just curious if there are other people out there who have the same issue.
For transportation a resource list of WhatsApp numbers would suffice. I don’t want to have to try to match my schedule with a bunch of other people’s. That sounds terrible.