I briefly visited Laos earlier this year for a Visa run — I 2nd the nice people comment, though I certainly didn’t spend enough time there to consider myself an expert. For more information, take a look at Green Discovery Laos.
All posts by Drew Meyers
Anna Zalazar on OurPhilippines.tv
I had the chance to travel for a few weeks with Anna Zalazar through Belgium and Spain this summer (after having met her in Chiang Mai in April). Anna got featured on OurPhilippines.tv — and of course it strikes a chord since it’s Anna talking about her solo travels through her home country, the Philippines – a country I spent a month in earlier this year.

Congrats on being featured, Anna!

Yacht Week

Tech Startup Learnings: Summary of Startup Weekend Seattle – TravelAngel.co
Last weekend, we (Eric and I) participated in the Startup Weekend Seattle. It was my 3rd Startup Weekend (Amsterdam in July and San Francisco in September) and Eric’s 2nd (Louisville). Timing for the event (November 16th-18th) turned out great, as I already had a ticket into Seattle on the 13th for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. Further, the event was hosted by my former employer, Zillow – so was a great chance to go see some old colleagues and work on a new travel idea for a weekend.
We worked on TravelAngel.co. “Connect with a local expert in 60 seconds.”
The concept was a peer-to-peer marketplace to connect travelers with extremely knowledgeable locals, expats, or long term travelers.
The premise of the idea is that many people don’t want to spend 10 or 15 hours researching their next trip. They’d rather talk to someone knowledgeable about the area (either a current resident or traveler who has spent a lot of time in a given destination) for 30 or 60 minutes and get their specific questions answered. Heck, many of those individuals would love to pay that person to plan the whole trip for them (I just spoke with a friend last night who wants to pay someone to plan the logistics of her upcoming honeymoon).
The traditional travel agent model is broken. If I’m planning a trip to Beijing, I’d rather get advice from someone living in Beijing rather than someone sitting in an office down the street, who has likely never even been to China or maybe only been there once 4 years ago.
Similar to a site such as AirBnB, the business model would be based around transaction fees. For instance, if someone booked at $75 consultation with a Beijing expert, we’d make 15% of that as a transaction fee.
We proved this business model and actually made revenue over the course of the weekend. We connected someone we found planning a trip to Beijing in three weeks with Will Moyer, who has lived in Beijing the past two years. Thus, we earned 15% of $25 ($3.75).
Of the 35 people we surveyed, 49% said they would pay for the service. I know enough long term travelers who would be way more qualified than travel agents to give advice, and all of whom would love the chance to make some money for sharing their advice. We know both the demand and supply is out there – it’s just a matter of connecting the two.
Our team:
- Eric Roland – ruby/ios architect
- Yann Riche – UX
- Pascal Carole – ruby
- Chip Dong Lim – design
- Paul Buxton – program management
- Chris Kelly – marketing
- Amit Deshpande – finance
- Drew Meyers – 3 years of travel, ex zillow
Even though we experienced a technology fail during the final pitch — our slide deck crapped out and I had to wing the pitch with no deck for the 1st 3 minutes of the 5 minutes allotted – we took home third place and a $250 gift certificate.
At the end of the event, someone came up to me and said he wanted to sign up to be the Libya expert — which further proves the supply side of this model is out there. If you’re interested in being a local expert for a given area, shoot me an email (drew at ohheyworld) or leave a comment.
We’ve taken the website down for now, but we plan on bringing the travel angel concept back under the Oh Hey World umbrella down the line. Overall, it was a fantastic experience working with some really amazing people.
Slide deck for those interested:
- Version with no videos – https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwCtu5ygepbZMk1XN2RRVGFhcDQ
- Version with videos (large file) – https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwCtu5ygepbZcEVYWktXZVlfbVU

When Software Bugs Result in Good
As you probably know if you’re following this blog – we’re in super private BETA right now. A couple weeks ago, we ran into a software bug. Don’t get me wrong, most software bugs suck — but this one actually turned out to be great.
Why?
It resulted in a concrete real world example of a user scenario that happens all the time — and it only happened because of a software glitch. I won’t get into the technicalities of the bug, but the gist of it is that the wrong people were notified of one of my check-ins.
The user scenario that came from that is close friends introducing their friends to people if they happen to know their friend is in the same location as someone they know (& the connection would be mutually valuable). In fact, I just did this tonight with a friend who is in Las Vegas this weekend, where one of my closest friends from high school runs marketing for Koi Ultra Lounge. I sent texts to both of them, and told them to meet up if they can.
The problem with those kind of connections are that they only happen when you know where your friends are traveling to and when they will be there — and whether the people you know in that location are actually going to be around. Yet these types of introductions should happen at least twice as often, except I don’t always know where my friends are and think to introduce them to other friends in that city. If I didn’t happen to be on Facebook today, I wouldn’t have known my friend is in Las Vegas for the weekend and, therefore, never would have been able to introduce her to my friend that has lived in Vegas for the past 8 (ish) years.
You and I both know an inside connection from a good friend is always welcome when traveling in a foreign city. You and I both also know there is a better way to facilitate inside connections for travelers than the current process.
And we’re going to build it.

A Great Film Opportunity for Travelers
Do you like traveling? Like microfinance? Like producing films?
If the answer is yes to all three questions, you’ll likely be interested in…
MicroFlicks, a global film challenge, is hosted by World Vision and VisionFund, and is sending five outstanding filmmakers on an expense-paid trip across the globe to produce films that inspire.
Completed films will compete head-to-head in an online competition that will crown one film the “Microfinance Film of 2013” in May 2013. To compete for exposure, awards, and prizes, just send in your best work by December 31, 2012
What are you waiting for? Get filming and submit something by December 31st.

The Growth in International Incubators
I think it’s safe to say Startup Chile is the most established and successful international incubator out there — at least from what I’ve heard. As I’ve said before, it’s a brilliant strategy by the government. Pay entrepreneurs to come live in your country for 6 months, have them teach the local population what it takes to build successful companies, be part of the “story” of 100 companies every 6 months, and as a result have hundreds (thousands eventually) of well connected entrepreneurs traveling the globe who tell all their friends about Chile. It’s a proven fact that non profits’ best donors are the people that come visit because they form an emotional bond to the organization — and countries are no different. A countries most passionate advocates are going to be those who have spent a considerable amount of time as a resident. If you live in a country for 6 months (length of Startup Chile), you’re going to develop an emotional bond toward the country — I’ve spoken to about 8 or 10 entrepreneurs who have gone through Startup Chile and they all rave about Chile, so the government has succeeded on that front.
Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if 3-5 countries launched their own government-funded programs in the next 3 years. It wouldn’t surprise me if Indonesia was in that list — with Startup City Bali as the catalyst. Or Kenya with the iHub. Or Ghana with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology. Or Israel. Or India.
Incubators are certainly not going away. I’d say we’re going to see this scene explode in the next few years, as countries and cities jump in on the quest for the best entrepreneurial & engineering talent all around the globe.
We hope we’ll be one of the 100 startups in Chile for the next class starting mid January…

Where Would You Go?

A Beekeeping Donkey in Brazil
This has got to be one of the most awesome photos I’ve seen — a beekeeping donkey in Cerrado, Brazil.
[Hat tip to my friend Jodi for the tip via Grist]

Building a “Give a Shit” Culture
The other day, I watched this video interview with Krisstina Wise of the Good Life Team (Chris Smith’s first Reveal video interview):

The reason I relate so well with Krisstina is because she truly “gives a damn”. I’ve spent time with her in Austin and at several conferences, and it’s blatantly obvious she cares deeply about her customers and employees. She’s a true leader with a ambitious vision of a better real estate brokerage.
Building a company is a massive endeavor. You’re faced with an endless to-do list and countless critical decisions, on a daily basis. Building a company involves a massive amount of time and, in many cases, money. It takes years to succeed.
While some succeed, most fail. By any indicator, Krisstina and Good Life Team are succeeding.
The universal indicator of success?
Across the board — successful companies, and the leaders (& employees) behind them, give a shit.
It goes without saying company culture starts at the top with its leader(s). Their work ethic and values flow through the entire organization. If they don’t give a shit, no one will.
Successful leaders give a shit about their legacy. That their customers are having a hard time solving their problems. That their website has a bug preventing someone from editing one tiny field on their profile. If it takes 3 days for their team to resolve a customer issue. If paychecks are 1 day late. If their employees don’t love their jobs. That some employees haven’t taken a single vacation day in 9 months. If their customers do not get the highest level of service, each and every time they interact with the brand. They give a shit if their product and service are not great.
In short, successful leaders give a shit about everything. And they fill their organization with others that give a shit.
Krisstina gives a shit (“damn” as she says in the video). So does Spencer Rascoff, who ran marketing while I was at Zillow (now the CEO).
That’s why they succeed.
So, what am I hungry for?
The answer is simple. People that give a shit. About anything. About everything.
Like the Good Life Team and Zillow, and every other successful company, we’re building a “Give a Shit” culture at Oh Hey World. If you fall in that bucket and love travel, let’s talk.
PS: My apologies for the profanity 🙂