Travelgator profile

I had a great opportunity recently to chat for 45 minutes or so with Travelgator CEO Chris DeBrusk. Travelgator are trying to fill the new need I discussed this earlier post to help online travel consumers answer the question - "where do I go next, what do I do next". Site is just out of beta.

I like the functionality of Travelgator. It lets you save ideas, articles, deals and offers in the one place - called a Travelplan - without locking you into a purchase path. Future product plans hope to expand this feature with plug ins that would enable you to draw in content, deals etc from other sites. In effect adding a targetted tagging/del.icio.us style functionality. Of course there will be user generated content but also in-house content from a paid editor (claim more than 1,000 articles so far). All of this can be shared and have communities built up around it.

On product they want to stay out of the meta-search price comparison game. Mainly because they feel that Kayak and Sidestep are too far ahead in functionality to catch. But recognising the need for a engine have partnered with one of them (in this case Sidestep). The business model therefore comes back to good old fashioned targeted advertising campaigns. Claim to already have 30 click through deals in place.

As I say, I like what I see and Chris knows the market. I see two main challenges for him and his team to make the business work:

• Obtaining traffic - Search engines and word of mouth are the two main (possibly only) sources of traffic. Travelgator are going to be competing with three different types of businesses for eyeballs (to different degrees). Content behemoths like TripAdvisor, membership powerhouses like WAYN and USG/blogging post companies like Travelpost (now owned by Sidestep); and
• Focus - as per my previous post there comes a point in UGC, community based and targeted sites where too much choice is offered to consumers. They either become confused, frustrated and leave or you have targeted so tightly that the addressable audience is always too small.
  

To mitigate against these Travelgator has to find a delicate balance between picking their markets to be able to compete against the bigger (read better funded) competitors while ensuring that the focus is neither too tight nor the options too broad.

Sounds hard - well it is, not just for Travelgator but all of the new wave of online travel content and search players. Travelgator have made a very good start.

Funding to date is all private and angel. Clear to them that a travel provider is the only real exit. They need to build up the traffic and product to create a story around a critical and unique feature that a travel provider can only obtain through acquisition.

Silcon Valley & "in flight entertainment"

Seems that advanced "inflight entertainment" is available to more than just movie stars and Qantas crew. The word from Silicon Valley gossip and insider blog Valleywag is that one of the princes of Silicon Valley - a founder of Kazaa, Skype and Joost - was seen with a companion enjoying the in-bathroom entertainment system on a Virgin Atlantic flight. Here is the Valleywag story.

Continuous Process Improvement and Composite Applications

At the 40,000 foot level, it's hard to see the difference between the "Services" in SOA and the EJBs of Java EE. Java's (remote) EJBs were heavily influenced by CORBA, and both were intended to generate a wealth of remotely invoke-able business oriented components.

There are of course many differences in the technical implementation of Web Services, EJBs, and CORBA objects... but there are not that many conceptual differences. Yes, formatting parameters with XML did open the door of programming language neutrality much wider, but is XML really the killer concept leading Web Services to triumph where EJBs and CORBA objects faltered?

The lasting value of any component technology isn't really due to technical merit (think back on the original Visual Basic components)... it is due to the philosophy and mind-set associated with those who use the components. If the community of users adopts the "right" attitude, the technology will flourish despite technologically superior alternatives (think how long the Mac survived despite under-powered CPUs).

EJBs and CORBA didn't succeed in fostering the "right" attitude for success. Authors crafted components... but those who used the components frequently didn't "get it". Most EJBs ended up tightly bound to specific applications... languishing as just another tier in an "N-tier" application.

The success of SOA is going to hinge on whether or not programmers really grasp the difference between traditional and Composite Applications. Many will grumble that they've been "composing" applications for years by wiring together components. That's true... but the devil is in the details.

There are components, and then there are components. There's wiring components together, and then there's wiring components together. Composite Applications in the SOA context have very specific ideas on what constitutes a component and on how they should be wired together.

SOA is about satisfying business needs, and most of what business needs concerns understanding and improving business processes. I am fairly sure that you have heard the term "Continuous Process Improvement". (CPI) ... but in the event you haven't, CPI is what makes winning companies win. CPI is what propelled Japan's industries from bombed out shells to Global Domination.

Composite Applications enable continuous process improvement. Traditional applications all too often "cast the process in stone". Although software is theoretically easy to change, the sad reality is that many companies are "stuck" with their applications due the the high cost (and risk) of making changes.

Components in Composite Applications closely map to steps in Business Processes. Components are wired together to build processes, but the wiring is "loose". Think plugs and sockets instead of solder.

The "right"type of components and the "right" method for connecting them together go a long way towards enabling Continuous Process Improvement, but it's still not enough:

If you can't see it, you can't fix it.

"It" in this case refers to the activities or services that constitute a Business Process. Composite Applications are not a bunch of Web Services with point-to-point wiring. Composite Applications rely on orchestration engines to coordinate the flow of information between components... enabling rapid change of these applications. Enabling change is a big plus... but how do you know what to change?

Continuous Process Improvement relies on metrics. Monitoring leads to Analysis leads to Improvement. If you don't have the metrics, your attempts to improve a process are based on hunches rather than facts... and that's where the orchestration engine comes in by enabling the efficient gathering of process relevant metrics.

With process relevant metrics, processes can be analyzed, proposed changes can be simulated, and Process Improvement can truly be Continuous... (assuming that your Composite Applications can evolve quickly)

In the final analysis that's the only reason why business care about all of this SOA stuff... improving their businesses.

Tithing or God's Grace. Which Prospers You? Part 2

Welcome to our little chat about tithing or God's grace . I was watching Christian television the other morning and listening to what they were implying. They were talking about the parable of the widow's offering and making it sound like Jesus was just so pleased with the fact that she gave all she had to live on. After I finished stabbing myself in the eye with a fork I thought to myself, don't these so called men of God know how to meditate the word.

You never and I mean never lift a verse out of it's setting. Jesus always taught in whole subjects. The key is to find the beginning of the subject and then find the end. Perhaps part of the confusion here with the widow's offering is that most modern translations put a sub heading right in the middle of this teaching as though Jesus had changed the topic which he clearly had not.

Here is how it should read: Luke 20:45 While all the people were listening Jesus said to his disciples, " Beware of the teachers of the law. They walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the market places and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They DEVOUR WIDOW'S HOUSES and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished and most severely." As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. " I tell you the truth" he said " this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Some of his disciples were remarking how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with the gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said "As for what you see here not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."

As you can see the beginning of the topic is the teachers of the law (or the religious hypocrites of the day). He then points out how proud they were and how they DEVOUR WIDOW'S HOUSES. How do they do that you ask? Jesus looks up into the temple to show you how she just put her last two small coins into the offering and now she has nothing to live on. In other words they taught her a doctrine that she needed to give BIG even all her living. In other words she just gave all her rent money or all she had to live on. Kind of like what we hear on Christian TV today. Does it sound to you like he is endorsing giving all you have to live on or is he REBUKING what is going on here?

The reason I know he is not pleased is the very next thing he says is" do you see this temple". All this is going to be torn down. Or in other words I am changing this whole religious set up! No it doesn't sound like he was pleased with what he just saw at all. It's amazing what you can discern when you start at the beginning of a topic and follow it to the end.

Furthermore there is no doctrine in the old testament that says that the financial burdens of the temple should be carried on the backs of widows. Also in many places in the new testament Jesus councils us to give to the poor. Not take the last few dollars they have. How could Jesus possibly be saying that he recommends what they taught this poor widow to do. He would be contradicting himself.

No clearly to me this is a recommendation of what not to do. Beware of teachers that teach you false doctrine! Our giving should be a fruit of the grace and abundance he has poured out on us. If we are hard pressed financially God is totally there and will take us back to abundance by his grace and grace alone. NEVER do we need to give what we don't have to somehow BUY God's favor. It has already been provided for us through Jesus. Stay tuned for part 3.

5 Strategies That Will Boost Your Home Business Productivity

Looking to boost your home-based business's productivity level? Here are 5 surefire tips to help you do just that!

5 Strategies That Will Boost Your Business Productivity Today! - Part 1

by: Glen Smyth

Building a dynamic small business is a constantly evolving, increasingly demanding role.

It is very easy to get so caught up in the day to day running of our business that we neglect to take the time to look from the outside in to see what we could do to improve our profitability!

Well here are 5 Strategies that could boost your productivity overnight!

They are not rocket science…and you may have even heard some of them before, but they are 5 proven principles that you can review today to help you stay on track regarding the real issues to grow your business from here.

So why don’t you take 15 minutes…make yourself a coffee…and recharge your batteries!

1. Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in one sentence

What is at the heart of your business that makes it unique and attractive for your customers? Summarise your key selling points that make your product or service a ‘must have’ for your clients.

You probably went through this exercise when you first started your business...but have you need to remind yourself regularly why you are doing what you are doing!

New competitors may have emerged and you don't have that same uniqueness that you once had.

Perhaps it's time to reinvent yourself and get that edge over the market once again!

2. Identify Who Your Target Market Is

When you first started your business, you knew exactly who your target market was. Is this market still the same, or have they grown up…or matured in their buying habits.

Has new technology overtaken your ideas?

Just imagine if Video Rental Stores had stubbornly refused to rent DVDs because they were just a Video Store! Your market may have changed, and you may need to reassess who you are trying to reach.

Your original target market have grown older since you began and if you are still promoting your products or service to this same group - their needs may be different!

3. Would you like Fries with That?

McDonalds have made an additional fortune by training every one of their sales force to ask one simple question with every order: ‘Would you like fries with that?’

I went to buy a tube to fix my daughter’s bike puncture the other day, and instead of just selling me a new tube, the smart salesman in the Bike Shop enquired quite genuinely if I had the right tools to fix it.

I didn't - but of course he did...so he cleverly added value to my shopping experience, and added extra profit to his bottom line.

What service or product can you offer to people to make their original purchase with you even more worthwhile?

4. Establish where your clients go before and after they visit you?

If you can determine this, then you can add instant profits to your business.

Just imagine if you owned a Real Estate business. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a Settlement Agent in house? And what about a Mortgage Broker? Or even a Removalist Company?

Perhaps you could rent out a large Furniture Trailer with your company name emblazoned all over it!

Ask yourself the same question and you can start incorporating other services that complement your existing business and watch the profits grow!

5. Ask your existing customers for referrals

If you are providing an excellent product or service, then your biggest fans will be your existing customers.

Why not offer them an incentive to put you in touch with people just like them who would also benefit from your services?

It doesn’t have to be anything really expensive…maybe even just a 10% discount off their next purchase from you.

I referred some friends to a Mortgage Broker a few months ago…and had forgotten all about it…until last week I received 2 movie tickets in the mail thanking me for the gesture.

A $20 investment leaves a nice impression in my mind that will probably make me think of him again when my next friend asks me if I know of a good Mortgage Broker!

Make sure you get Part Two of this article for another 5 Strategies to improve your small business success!

About The Author Glen Smyth is the author of the popular new eBook, ‘The Small Business Success Guide’. Discover how you can build your own profit-pulling small business, starting today: http://www.smallbusinesssuccessguide.com. Make sure you also sign up for the WOW! Factor Newsletter which is full of great ideas from other Small Business owners! info@smallbusinesssuccessguide.com