Would love to know what HN thinks of the video itself and the product idea too!

Yes it will. The way the organizer is laid out is by trip decision. So initial research, orientation etc, for eg, falls into a "Basics" bucket that provides you the best information to get a sense of the place.

The initial iteration isn't geared towards giving you the answer (need a lot of data to make this happen) vs presenting you with the best & most relevant resources to help you arrive at the answer that best answers your questions

So in terms of finding hotels, as in your example, the tool wouldn't currently do it, but would give you the best resources to help you figure that out as quickly as possible.

Re: users. This is clearly one of the biggest challenges with travel startups given the 1-3 times a year use for most.

We've been testing a community passionate about travel and we're extremely encouraged by the results from the last couple of months in bringing people back almost daily (either to submit content, engage with it or just consume). Bottom line they're coming back for a reason other than to plan travel. But by coming back, we're staying top of mind as the place they discovered these great travel resources so that when they're ready to plan a trip we're likely going to be the place they do it. We're also working on something that ties this community more tightly into the platform down the line so the entire journey from initial discovery through planning is seamless.

We haven't pulled any of the levers that allow for content sharing content or referral mechanisms etc as yet that will serve to bring others to this community, which will serve as the top of the funnel, on an ongoing basis.

10 bucks say a reporter came up with that name initially

A good framework, for overall organization and cleaning, to co-opt, is the 5S methodology used in Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing environments

https://goleansixsigma.com/5s-infographic/

https://goleansixsigma.com/how-to-easily-apply-5s-to-your-wo...

Its actually quite easy to understand and implement.

My reasoning: http://blog.planitwide.com/about/

There's a couple I know:

1. Engagement Pyramid: http://www.socialmediamodels.net/social-media-overview-model...

2. Hook Model: http://www.nirandfar.com/2012/09/desire-engine-in.html

Thanks ASquare, great video! Here is the longer version of the same presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr8B3l85E5Y

Another one on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZCX-izCYMk

Getting eyeballs is one thing - keeping them is another.

That's why near year 2000 the saying went, "Never be between a VC and the door when the lock up period is over."

"Ask users what they want." - This!

Flyertalk forums: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php

Serious question - have you asked this question of people who might really have this problem?

This is customer development 101.

This is a great resource on the topic: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resourc...

Thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with a few of the customer development stuff but I'll be going through the list tonight to learn a bit more. I'm trying to get to a point where I'm asking the right questions to the right crowd. I figured I might have some luck posting on here, too.

Cheers!

Just one thing with respect to the books mentioned at the end of the post.

I've read all of them and don't think that you need any of them.

If you are going to pick one up - get "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya - it's literally a step by step manual on how to do whatever it is you need to.

Thanks ASquare, I'm actually in the midst of reading that one right now. It really breaks things down nicely!