Posts from — June 2009

There comes a time in the early life of every startup when they want to go big. For Everlater, that day was May 23rd. The Event: Iron Horse Classic. The hook: show off our startup, design skills, and cycling prowess in one fell swoop.

How? Brand spanking new custom kits straight from the long booty shores of Italy. The new outfits arrived roughly 48 hours before the event and like a group of greedy children at Christmas, we tore into the box and gazed upon our new outfits:

(Left to Right: Nathaniel, our friend Nathan, Nathaniel)

Lavender?!?

Secure enough in our masculinity to wear kits representing our future custom white-labeled site http://lady.everlater.com, we rode on with pride. Rumor has it that the group of riders who broke from the pack to stage a competitive push (in what is otherwise a friendly ride) were led by Natty himself. Not until the very last stretch did he graciously let others pass and share in his glory.

The corrected colors should be in our hands soon.

As for the misprints…anyone have any spare blue ink laying around?

If you haven’t been following along with “The Founders“, a weekly documentary about the Techstars experience, you should. These videos tell the story of our summer better than we ever could.

The latest episode, Skills & Persistence features the KKO Poker Night. Bonus: you get to see our man Charlie engaged in an epic arm wrestling match.

The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Episode 4 “Skills & Persistence” from Andrew on Vimeo.

If you missed some of the other episodes, you find them all in one place:
http://www.techstars.org/thefounders/

Last summer, I traveled to Peru and Bolivia for 5 weeks. The weekend after I returned (to Boulder, my new home), I drove to Crested Butte, CO. While stopped atop the continental divide, I wondered: Why did I fly halfway around the world when there is such amazing natural beauty in my own backyard?

With that in mind, check out some of my favorite places that you probably haven’t heard of:

#1 - Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, AZ

(Photo courtesy of TeecNosPos)

Pros:

• Beautiful waterfalls (the larger Mooney Falls is just a mile or two downstream)
• Incredible swimming (the best I’ve ever had, anywhere)
• Impossibly tropical water in the Grand Canyon
• The hike to Mooney Falls climbs down chains and through tunnels in the cliff face

Cons:

• 12 mile hike one way to get there
• Must book weeks/months ahead
• Scorching hot in the summer
• Will likely be crowded

Summary: A must do for anyone who loves hiking, swimming holes, and adventure.

Door County, Wisconsin

(Photo courtesy of WisDoc)

A longtime vacation spot for locals, Door County (that thumb that sticks out from Wisconsin) is a cheaper, less preppy version of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.

Pros:

• Fantastic sandy beaches
• Relaxed Pace
• Lakeside houses hidden in the woods along unpaved roads
• “Sick road cycling” adds @mudandcowbells

Cons:

• Mostly a summer getaway

Summary: A fantastic way to spend a laid-back summer vacation with nature.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

(Photo Courtesy of SC Fiasco)

Pros:

• 700 foot high sand dunes at the foot of 14,000 foot, snow-capped peaks
• Camping allowed ON the dunes!
• Can easily ditch the crowds on even the most crowded days of the year

Cons:

• Hiking in sand gets old. Even the hikes that skirt the dunes are mostly sand.
• Few safe options besides car camping when there is lightning
• No water in the dunes

Summary: If hiking, sand dunes, and mountains are your thing - you can’t go wrong. Even seems like a good place for kids.

Letchworth State Park, Western NY

(Photo courtesy of Zhang Yuan)

Ever heard of the Grand Canyon of the East? Me neither, but somehow I ended up stopping here on a cross country road trip.

Pros:

• This huge canyon appears out of nowhere in otherwise flat terrain
• Lots of camping options
• Great (mostly flat) hiking along the gorge and through dense forest
• Lush

Cons:

• Probably only worth a two day visit

Summary: Good hiking and forests, but also good if you just want to drive from view to view. A huge, scenic gorge/canyon in nowheresville New York - who knew?

Black Hills, South Dakota

(Photo courtesy of dclamster)

South Dakota, no offense, is mostly pretty flat and boring. But in the southwest corner lies both The Badlands and Black Hills.

Pros:

• Mostly undeveloped, yet with the right amount of tourism
• Check out two of the longest caves in the world (Jewel Cave and Wind Cave, plus 6 others)
• Easily day trip to/from Badlands National Park

Cons:

• I didn’t know how much there was to do, and so I didn’t plan in enough time!

Summary: Caving, hiking, and rolling mountains enthusiasts rejoice!

Traveling to faraway lands is an enlightening and valuable experience. But don’t forget, there is plenty of natural beauty in your own backyard. Any suggestions for places I might have missed?

Back in February, we wrote about a few types of travelers who could benefit from using Everlater (Bands, Families, Athletes, Professional Travelers). Today, the list goes on…

Students Traveling Abroad

Eager to explore the surrounding cities and countries of their new continent, students traveling abroad would benefit greatly from being able to easily organize and share their travel stories, photos, and videos. It’s all too easy to ignore the forest for the trees when sharing travel experiences, and friends and family members often need explicit context to fully appreciate the outlandish locales and situations.

Business Travelers

Frequent business travelers don’t have time to set up a blog and update it consistently. However, of all the types of people that might use Everlater, they have the easiest access to an internet connection and the tools (iPhone, Blackberries, etc.) to make quick updates. Business travelers are also often the ones most in need of connections to other travelers and quick recommendations about local events and must-sees.

Road Shows

We know a group here in Boulder planning to travel across the country in a biodiesel bus playing in frisbee tournaments, holding instructional clinics, and educating about the benefits of alternative fuels. How can they share the experience and generate advance fanfare for their arrival? Everlater.

What about a company touring around with their latest product? Not only can they plot out the trip in advance, but an online community can easily grow around the shared experience.

You

Our self-respect notwithstanding, treat us as you like:

• Map your travels
• Update your friends and families
• Share stories and photos
• Blog about the adventure, or just write quick updates

In the end, we aim to do only one thing: Help you share your travel experiences with friends and family.

We recently met with Dave Morin - Senior Platform Manager for Facebook. This was a fantastic opportunity for us at Everlater. We view Facebook as a complement (rather than a competitor) to what we are building, and have spent many a late night discussing their role in our future - then coding away to make it happen.

Always wary of becoming YASN (Yet Another Social Network), we want to leverage as much of your existing social network as possible without fragmenting your content and friends more than they already have been.

Dave ensured us that Facebook’s platform is moving in the direction of openness. This is great news for everyone, as it will hopefully reduce the number of YASN’s. Ideally (in our view) this tact will cement Facebook as the central point of content for the people you care about without becoming a “walled garden” that seals you off from other services that can add value to your social graph.

We’d like to thank Dave for his insights and suggestions as both a traveler and big player in the social networking space. Also, check out <a href=”http://davemorin.tumblr.com/post/113001941/a-day-at-techstars”>the Everlater mention in one of his recent blog posts</a>.

Techstars.tv just released the first of 13 episodes of a weekly webcast called “The Founders”. We’re honored to be one of the three teams from the Techstars 2009 Boulder class that will be highlighted each week as the summer progresses. To be honest, it took a little while to get comfortable with being followed around by a video camera (especially the time Megan followed us down the street and into a sandwich shop).

The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Week 1 “The Selected Few” from Andrew on Vimeo.

At least if this whole startup thing doesn’t work out - maybe there is a future for us in reality television? Real World: Startups anyone?