After months of work we've reached a milestone. Expedia has approved Oistr to sell hotel bookings.
They realize that there are going to be other sites out there selling travel so they have a number of solutions people can use. Most sites simply bounce a user out to the Expedia interface, or an interface designed by Expedia with your logo on it.
We went the extra mile though and designed our own user interface that we think is more intuitive and easier to use - the beauty of a new type of design with all the price and selection that Expedia has to offer.
Research shows that a customer that is looking to book a hotel only succeeds around 50% of the time on a site they chose for that purpose. 1 out of 2 are dissapointed with the amount of information available, simply can't navigate the interface or come up against technical obstacles. We have designed Oistr to be as easy to use as possible.
By approving us, Expedia is saying that the Oistr interface is up to snuff to represent their products, it is a compliment. (Not to mention the other compliments they've paid us.) It makes us feel good about the hard work we've put in.
Now we just need to get some more people using the site....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New Ventures BC and free resources for startups like ours
New Ventures BC is dedicated to helping new businesses get off the ground - strengthening our economy.
They have competitions that encourage businesses to develop and seminars on everything from organizational structure to where to find funding.
I recently discovered the Vancouver Enterprise forum which also has resources for entrepreneurs, there’s the Ontario Centre for Excellence and those are just the few that I know about.
Take into account Meetup groups, Facebook networking groups and more you could spend your entire day every day just networking and looking for money for your business. Some people say that this should be 75% of a CEO’s job description in a start up and it is certainly true at Oistr.
Part of the reason our economy is stronger and better than other countries is these resources that are openly available and sponsored by larger businesses.
Imagine living in a country where you are free to start a business, in fact you don’t have any of the same red tape to go through in order to open your doors, but there is no education or networking or easy avenues to getting funding for your idea. How are you going to start a business besides a shoe shining stand or a tailor?
Earlier in this blog I posted an entry about how much of that aforementioned red tape there is when you’re trying to start a business in Vancouver and how I felt that was a major holdback for our economy. Now I have a better idea of how available help including money is for new businesses and how that makes all the difference in the world.
They have competitions that encourage businesses to develop and seminars on everything from organizational structure to where to find funding.
I recently discovered the Vancouver Enterprise forum which also has resources for entrepreneurs, there’s the Ontario Centre for Excellence and those are just the few that I know about.
Take into account Meetup groups, Facebook networking groups and more you could spend your entire day every day just networking and looking for money for your business. Some people say that this should be 75% of a CEO’s job description in a start up and it is certainly true at Oistr.
Part of the reason our economy is stronger and better than other countries is these resources that are openly available and sponsored by larger businesses.
Imagine living in a country where you are free to start a business, in fact you don’t have any of the same red tape to go through in order to open your doors, but there is no education or networking or easy avenues to getting funding for your idea. How are you going to start a business besides a shoe shining stand or a tailor?
Earlier in this blog I posted an entry about how much of that aforementioned red tape there is when you’re trying to start a business in Vancouver and how I felt that was a major holdback for our economy. Now I have a better idea of how available help including money is for new businesses and how that makes all the difference in the world.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Oyster, Oistr, Oystr and more.
So there is only one way to spell oyster, but there aren't that many dot coms available out there and sometimes you have to settle for what you can get. There are many variations that are held by domain name squatters wh are asking for 10,000 and up for the name - that they aren't using.
Oistr is a different spelling, hopefully it's nice and memorable. I find it easy to rattle off and anyone listening hasn't had a problem typing it in.
I spoke with the CEO of a company that has around 5 different sites run out of one office, he has been diligently buying up domain after domain and he still estimates he's losing at least 10 percent of his traffic to mistyped domains that he doesn't have.
Of course, there are some ways around this, if you can convince your audience to bookmark your site or better yet, make it your homepage you're off to a great start.
If you can't do that, then make it as easily shareable and social as you possibly can. Oistr has share options at every single turn, links to Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook and a chance to email friends whenever possible. You like a picture? Email the link. You like a collection of pictures? Email the link. Have you created a trip? Email the link to your friends, in fact, invite them to take part in the trip.
This last one needs special mention - collaborating on a trip. If you and your friend did a cross Europe trip and visited 17 countries, put your pictures up on the map. Show people how far you travelled. Also, let your friend put his own pictures up - he can still take them down and edit them whenever he wants. Plus, it updates in real time, if your aunt doesn't look at the link for a week and a half, any updates will be reflected when she finally does get around to checking it out.
So we couldn't get Oyster. Or oystr, or oister, or any other reasonable variation. Typos such as ooistr and oiistr are available for people who tap the same key twice (I find it seems to happen more often on my macbook than a normal keyboard) and we are picking these up so any of our traditional advertising requiring people to type the name in will still be directed to the right place.
As we develop we may start buying more expensive names like Oyster, the nice thing is we'll have the data to make the decisions. Isn't technology great?
Oistr is a different spelling, hopefully it's nice and memorable. I find it easy to rattle off and anyone listening hasn't had a problem typing it in.
I spoke with the CEO of a company that has around 5 different sites run out of one office, he has been diligently buying up domain after domain and he still estimates he's losing at least 10 percent of his traffic to mistyped domains that he doesn't have.
Of course, there are some ways around this, if you can convince your audience to bookmark your site or better yet, make it your homepage you're off to a great start.
If you can't do that, then make it as easily shareable and social as you possibly can. Oistr has share options at every single turn, links to Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook and a chance to email friends whenever possible. You like a picture? Email the link. You like a collection of pictures? Email the link. Have you created a trip? Email the link to your friends, in fact, invite them to take part in the trip.
This last one needs special mention - collaborating on a trip. If you and your friend did a cross Europe trip and visited 17 countries, put your pictures up on the map. Show people how far you travelled. Also, let your friend put his own pictures up - he can still take them down and edit them whenever he wants. Plus, it updates in real time, if your aunt doesn't look at the link for a week and a half, any updates will be reflected when she finally does get around to checking it out.
So we couldn't get Oyster. Or oystr, or oister, or any other reasonable variation. Typos such as ooistr and oiistr are available for people who tap the same key twice (I find it seems to happen more often on my macbook than a normal keyboard) and we are picking these up so any of our traditional advertising requiring people to type the name in will still be directed to the right place.
As we develop we may start buying more expensive names like Oyster, the nice thing is we'll have the data to make the decisions. Isn't technology great?
Monday, May 25, 2009
The Future is Friendly
As I write this, I am comfortably riding the bus. I remember a day when I didn't even have text messaging on my phone, now I have the whole Internet.
I recently upgraded to a 3G network phone and discovered the joy of tethering to my laptop. Now, I've got the whole Internet anywhere I have cell coverage, at speeds faster than regular dial up and for many things as good as high speed dsl.
But that wasn't good enough. When I'm going to see my parents on a Saturday afternoon I don't want to carry my laptop around. I played around with a couple of different mobile apps, and with Windows Mobile there is a lot of choice.
At some point I stumbled upon Skyfire. www.skyfire.com. This incredibly cool browser works to minimize bandwidth and maximize the mobile browsing experience. Java? Check. Flash? Eat your heart out iPhone. Nearly everything you could want. About the only exception are applications that require click and drag.
Unfortunately, this includes my website www.oistr.com which can only offer limited functionality. My point is that when you don't have to pack around a laptop and you can access the Internet from your phone the face of travel is going to be changed forever.
In the future, accessing our site from a phone will let you find the nearest bar or restaurant to your location, complete with pictures, price range and user comments. Additional functionality may include the ability to upload your pictures and videos directly from your phone, reserve restaurant seats or car rentals or book a bus tour or scenic flight.
Have you ever been standing around in a city not sure what you want to do? We aim to solve that problem by letting you see what other users are doing in real-time. If you're a surfer you'll be able to see which beaches are busy, a skateboarder, you'll see where the skate parks are or where the popular jumps are. If you're a middle aged European couple you can find the best lookouts and restaurants.
Telus is a phone company in Canada and their slogan is "the future is friendly". Seeing as how they are going to be providing many users with the mobile ability to do all of these things, I have to agree with them.
I recently upgraded to a 3G network phone and discovered the joy of tethering to my laptop. Now, I've got the whole Internet anywhere I have cell coverage, at speeds faster than regular dial up and for many things as good as high speed dsl.
But that wasn't good enough. When I'm going to see my parents on a Saturday afternoon I don't want to carry my laptop around. I played around with a couple of different mobile apps, and with Windows Mobile there is a lot of choice.
At some point I stumbled upon Skyfire. www.skyfire.com. This incredibly cool browser works to minimize bandwidth and maximize the mobile browsing experience. Java? Check. Flash? Eat your heart out iPhone. Nearly everything you could want. About the only exception are applications that require click and drag.
Unfortunately, this includes my website www.oistr.com which can only offer limited functionality. My point is that when you don't have to pack around a laptop and you can access the Internet from your phone the face of travel is going to be changed forever.
In the future, accessing our site from a phone will let you find the nearest bar or restaurant to your location, complete with pictures, price range and user comments. Additional functionality may include the ability to upload your pictures and videos directly from your phone, reserve restaurant seats or car rentals or book a bus tour or scenic flight.
Have you ever been standing around in a city not sure what you want to do? We aim to solve that problem by letting you see what other users are doing in real-time. If you're a surfer you'll be able to see which beaches are busy, a skateboarder, you'll see where the skate parks are or where the popular jumps are. If you're a middle aged European couple you can find the best lookouts and restaurants.
Telus is a phone company in Canada and their slogan is "the future is friendly". Seeing as how they are going to be providing many users with the mobile ability to do all of these things, I have to agree with them.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Go be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard
Today, it was sunny. It's not sunny that often in Vancouver and we wanted to get the most out of it.
So, we went and sat on a patio. Now, if you've ever spent a sunny afternoon drinking a beer in Gastown, Vancouver, it's likely you spent it on this patio. It's huge, covered in brick and brilliantly placed on the north side of the intersection for maximum sun exposure. (Being in the northern hemisphere, this is the only way.)
Back to the idea of being a tourist in your own town, I decided to climb up on a statue of Gassy Jack. Legend has it when Vancouver was nothing but a small collection of miners and fishermen, Gassy Jack said, "If you build me a bar, I will serve you the liquor."
Unsurprisingly, the bar was put up in a day.
Gastown is a very historic area of our great city of Vancouver and I have never once explored it. There are bus and walking tours, plaques all over the place and a lot of history. I've never looked for any of it.
That made me think. People go on vacation, take the tours, take pictures of themselves with mascots and statues and monuments, but they never do that in their own city. I think people should more often.
For Oistr we're going to have contests to get people to go do this stuff, learn about their own city and have a good time doing it. Then, as luck would have it, they'll be able to put up their pictures, their thoughts and let other people enjoy them.... Think about it, if you're planning a vacation, wouldn't you want to see pictures of the locals doing the cool activities? Wouldn't that be useful to you?
So, we went and sat on a patio. Now, if you've ever spent a sunny afternoon drinking a beer in Gastown, Vancouver, it's likely you spent it on this patio. It's huge, covered in brick and brilliantly placed on the north side of the intersection for maximum sun exposure. (Being in the northern hemisphere, this is the only way.)
Yes, we should have been in the office working on Oistr but once in a while you have to take an afternoon off and go for a walk. Enjoy the sun. Then, go back to the office and struggle to cross everything off your to do list. Maybe take a nap. But, at 8pm when you're still working, you can feel proud of what you've accomplished - maybe.
Back to the idea of being a tourist in your own town, I decided to climb up on a statue of Gassy Jack. Legend has it when Vancouver was nothing but a small collection of miners and fishermen, Gassy Jack said, "If you build me a bar, I will serve you the liquor."
Unsurprisingly, the bar was put up in a day.
Gastown is a very historic area of our great city of Vancouver and I have never once explored it. There are bus and walking tours, plaques all over the place and a lot of history. I've never looked for any of it.
That made me think. People go on vacation, take the tours, take pictures of themselves with mascots and statues and monuments, but they never do that in their own city. I think people should more often.
For Oistr we're going to have contests to get people to go do this stuff, learn about their own city and have a good time doing it. Then, as luck would have it, they'll be able to put up their pictures, their thoughts and let other people enjoy them.... Think about it, if you're planning a vacation, wouldn't you want to see pictures of the locals doing the cool activities? Wouldn't that be useful to you?
I think it would.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Amazing Photos from Above
I came across a list of photos from Jason Hawkes with map information for the locations. I took all of the locations and mapped them with Oistr so that they are now browseable by map.
Enjoy! Pass it on! These really are some fantastic photographs. I admire Hawkes skill and eye for composition.
To see the larger map and actually view the photo's full screen, view it at Oistr here.
Looking at things from a different perspective than everyone else is used to is also a difficult thing to do. I guess once you get your head around it, then it isn't too bad but respect is still do to those who think of it in the first place.
Monday, April 27, 2009
New Ventures BC Competition - round 2 here we come
We recently entered the New Ventures BC competition. This competition is for start up companies looking for venture capital to expand and or survive. During the competition you get a mentor and access to seminars and other tools to make the startups in BC better and more competitive.
We like competition.
So we found out today that we made it to round 2. That's roughly the first 50% of the entrants weeded out.
On the scale of eliminated entrants, that is the largest. From the point of view of how well we did, it only places us in the top half of the competition.
It's a positive step forward. It means that the judges may see some value in our idea and we are getting better at explaining our idea to potential VC guys.
The procedure for entering the competition has already helped us improve our presentation skills and the further into the competition we make it the more polished we will have to be.
A voyage of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
We like competition.
So we found out today that we made it to round 2. That's roughly the first 50% of the entrants weeded out.
On the scale of eliminated entrants, that is the largest. From the point of view of how well we did, it only places us in the top half of the competition.
It's a positive step forward. It means that the judges may see some value in our idea and we are getting better at explaining our idea to potential VC guys.
The procedure for entering the competition has already helped us improve our presentation skills and the further into the competition we make it the more polished we will have to be.
A voyage of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
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