Telling Stories
“Where have you guys been?!”
That’s not a question you expect from a close friend.
And it was immediately, painfully clear what the real question was:
“Did you bail with your Kickstarter money and buy an island or something?”
He had a point. Since delivering the Kickstarter bags and launching this website in early 2014, we’ve been keeping a low profile on the interwebs. We justified our silence in three main ways:
- “We want to tell stories about our users, not about ourselves.”
- “Wow, product development has completely taken over our lives.”
- “Wow, it’s surprisingly time-intensive to buy an island with unmarked bills without arousing the suspicion of authorities.”
As valid as those reasons may be – and believe us, the island thing was an absolute debacle – they ignore the fact that the best way to improve yourself, improve your business, and improve the travel experience is to quit hibernating, engage, and have high-quality conversations.
We never assumed that graduating to ‘International Businessman’ (the businesscards are on the way) was going to be cigars and caviar; which is lucky, because the reality is far less sexy.
Who knew you could live in a departure lounge for 6 days?
Or more sexy, depending on your (kinda weird, tbh) preferences.
One of approximately 16,000 Skype calls made over the last few months.
So what exactly is going on? We’ve been working on:
- A bunch of new products for release this year (they’ll be announced via newsletter)
- Finding good people to help us make great products
- Developing the travel tips resource and product design course
- Structuring the business to run efficiently, so we have more time to meet and talk to people
- Telling your stories
- Making sure our early users are given the best possible support, rather than chasing new users and profit at all costs
We’ll talk more about all of this – and just as importantly, our beliefs and goals for the business – in months to come, but for now we’d love to know: what do you want to read about?
Leave a comment below, tweetus, or email us:feedback[at]minaal[dot]com – we’d be stoked to hear from you.
Keep moving,
J, D, & the Minaal team
Thomas surveying the scene, Gran Canaria. Photo cred: @surfoffice
