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Ask HN: Review my startup idea

1 points by vaf ↗ HN
Its summer and all my friends are currently traveling. One of the more common type of posts I see go something like this:

Detroit -> New York -> DC -> Denver -> LA -> San Francisco etc etc etc

That or someone simply posts a link to their travel blog where they document their adventures in some far off country like India.

So I was sitting there thinking that there must be a better way to do this. I want to build a system where people can document their travels in a more organized manner.

It would essentially be a blogging system with a twist. Someone who is traveling would "check-in" to cities very much like foursquare. If this person meets people during his travels he/she would create a "People" post where they would upload a picture of this person along with where they met and what they did together. They would add a "Places" post whenever they visit somekind of monument or tourist actions along with a series of photos and descriptions. I'm still thinking of other things to add but one of the cooler features would be a map that would keep track of where this person has been.

All of these "posts" would be collected on that account's site and this person can distribute it.

TLDR; A blogging system that is oriented towards travelers.

5 comments

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PedroCandeias
Sounds cool, as long as it's a plugin for one of the established blogging platforms (like wordpress, tumblr, posterous). Creating the system from scratch will make it incredibly difficult to gain traction.
vaf
I was thinking of allowing users to login with an already established social network like Twitter or Facebook. Im not sure how I would integrate it with wordpress/tumblr/posterous. Any suggestions?
IanDrake
First, how do you make money? Honestly, I would charge people for this and have premium features like hi-res images.

What is the killer feature that make me want to use this instead the many "good enough" alternatives that I already know well?

I wouldn't build this in code yet. Mock it up. Show it to your friends. Is it better than what they currently do?

Would they pay for it? If they say, "Sure, I'd pay", ask for the first 6 months of the subscription right then, a check will do. You'll return it if you don't build it, but this is the real test.

vaf
I havent built anything yet, I've just been mocking it up at talking to people about it.

A potential way to make money is to allow people to map out their trip before hand. Airline companies and travel agencies would surely be interested in offering coupons for potential travelers.