Oh Hey World – 250 Early Beta Invites Up For Grabs
When I met Drew Meyers for the first time I was immediately impressed with him as young man intent on soaking up every bit of knowledge a human could consume. He’s a quiet combination of compassion and passion. It’s refreshing to find someone who sees his drive to better himself inextricably tied to a commitment to help others. A rare combination indeed. We’ve been good friends since.
Drew acquired this blog after leaving Zillow. They decided to consolidate their blog offerings at the time and because it was the brainchild of Drew, they kindly turned over the reigns. I was honored when Drew asked me to be his partner in taking GeekEstate to the next level so he could pursue his other endeavors. Drew’s primary passion over the years has been travel. I have often joked that I was living vicariously through him whenever I would get a message from some exotic location he just landed in. Greece made me particularly jealous. Drew has turned that experience and passion into something that I think will be the next big thing in travel, Oh Hey World.
It might be a bit off topic for this blog, but I think he’s earned the right to use it as a bully pulpit for his new venture and he is rewarding all of the users by offering 250 early beta invites to OHW. I hope you’ll take advantage of it and give him some valuable feedback.
Big Picture – What’s Oh Hey World All About?
It’s about creating the most amazing way to arrive in a new city.
What’s the first thing you do when the wheels hit the ground or the train arrives at the station? You turn your phone on.
All your goals when you arrive — including notifying your husband, wife or parents you’ve arrived safely, updating your travel blog or twitter connections, transportation to your accommodations, knowing the best nearby bike trail for tomorrow’s ride, knowing which long lost friends live in the area, who the best Yoga instructor is, and the location of the best Thai restaurant in town for dinner — needs to be at your fingertips — and discoverable with one click.
Oh Hey World is turning the moment when you arrive in a new destination from the current mess it is today – some combination of text, email, voice, FourSquare, Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Uber/Lyft/Taxi – to a seamless experience driven from the palm of your hand.
Oh Hey World – Today
The easiest way to find a friendly face in every city, and ensure those back home know you’re safe and sound. Drew and his team have built that functionality on top of a centralized location sharing platform with tools such as lists, tagging, and search, that can be utilized in a number of ways by you to organize with others around passions, experiences, trust levels, and geographies. They understand that travel needs are not all the same, and you may use the platform slightly differently than others. That’s okay. The key is flexibility.
Pain points OHW addresses:
- Have children that travel and don’t check-in very often? No matter how often children check-in with parents while traveling, it’s never enough to give parents peace of mind.
- Ever wonder who you know that lives in Miami, San Francisco, Boston, or even somewhere abroad like Barcelona? We make it drop dead simple to search your Facebook connections by city.
- Ever had a hard time meeting someone with shared passions or experiences to enjoy a good conversation with while traveling (or heck, even in your own town)? While there is a chance you’ll enjoy your discussion with the person you meet at the hotel bar, there’s a better chance you’ll enjoy an interaction with a truly like minded individual. Maybe you are a die-hard cyclist looking for someone to ride with in Boulder. Maybe you are a microfinance fan looking for a good conversation in Barcelona (that would be Drew). Or maybe you would just rather talk to someone who has a shared passion for marine biology?
There are four major features OHW provides in the Beta:
- The easiest way to share your safe arrival with family and friends – via email, text, Facebook, Twitter, and to a WordPress.org blog – with one click.
- A discovery engine for those who share passions and experiences (tagging with a geo layer).
- Traveler lists to organize your network.
- One feed of the current travels of everyone you care about.
The link below is good for 250 registrations. A lot more than 250 people read this blog, so you’ll have to act quick…
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.