[aricle published technation.com.au on June 11th 2008]
Time for everyone to meet another one of our writers - Mike Watkins.
Mike is a 22yo Kiwi whose background in Tech began in 2004 when he created findatraveller.com.
Findatraveller connected solo travellers around the world, the idea being no solo traveller had to travel alone if they didn’t want to.
In late 2005 a decision had to be made regarding the future of findatraveller, as traffic was low and growth was near non existent. He shut down the site in early 2006.
Here, in Mike’s words, is what happened next: -
For the next 18 months I analyzed the online backpacker industry intensely and made note of several new technology developments coming out, as well as what the backpacker really needed in a website. From this, gunnago.com was born.
Gunnago’s core centers around googlemaps technology and allows backpackers to find information quickly and easily as it is done geographically. The interface is unique and can display a large amount of rich media from within the one screen, without endless amounts of annoying page refreshes. The base design was completed in early 2007 and the first edition of the business plan completed by mid 2007.
After working through contacts he had met at Google, Mike was able to source an angel investor and gained seed capital funding for gunnago in late 2007. The site is weeks away from a beta testing phase and will be launched publicly in the latter half of 2008.
To quote Mike: -
I’m always interested in new ideas or thoughts in how to capitalize on the social and new media spaces and would welcome the chance to have a chat with people or companies willing explore the opportunities that this space is creating.
As I mentioned before, I will be putting up contact details for all our writers in the near future but, once again, in the meantime, feel free to welcome Mike in the comments
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