GPS Business News:Can you remind us a bit about how and when you started GlobalMotion?
Joost Schreve: I started GlobalMotion in 2006 because I saw an emerging opportunity at the intersection of two major trends:the transformation of the web towards becoming increasingly interactive and social,and the fact that more and more devices were becoming location aware. At the same time I saw that many start-ups were focusing either on location-aware content consumption,or on location-based social networking. I felt that this left a huge blank space for what I call location-centric personal publishing. My vision is that the most compelling way to share travel experiences is by creating a visual experience,based on a map with geotagged photos and other geotagged media. The conventional travel blog,a white page of text with some photos sprinkled in,doesn’t really tell the story of a trip.
We launched EveryTrail.com to enable GPS and smartphone users to upload GPS tracks,photos and stories,while at the same time we built out the technology platform that we license to corporate customers.
JS: Traffic at EveryTrail.com is growing very fast,currently at 500% per year. Our growth has been purely driven by word-of-mouth and organic search traffic. We have about 60,000 members now,who upload an ever increasing number of trips,ranging from sightseeing tours in the word’s major cities all the way to 4-week treks in the world’s remotest areas. Our database now consists of about 115,000 unique travel experiences,many of them richly illustrated with geotagged photos and detailed stories.
GPS BN:You have both a B2C and a B2B business,can you explain us how it works and what are their revenue models?
JS: On the consumer site we have EveryTrail.com,which is an ad-supported online service. Because of the rate at which our traffic is growing we are on a path to derive significant online advertising revenues. But currently our B2B revenues are much larger. We license our software using a SaaS model to some of the world’s leading brands. Our customers use our platform to offer our trip sharing functionalities to their customers. We currently see strong demand for white-label social networks focused on travel and outdoors. Our corporate customers use these to increase customer engagement and loyalty. It provides them with a great channel to establish an ongoing relationship with their user communities.
GPS BN: Who are your customers today in B2B?
JS: Currently I can share two live customers. The first is Globalstar,makers of the Spot Satellite Messenger. The Spot Messenger is a very cool device,used by tens of thousands of people worldwide,and growing fast. The device broadcasts its location automatically at set intervals,or triggered by the user,via its proprietary global satellite data network. The device is used by travelers to share their whereabouts with their loved-ones at home,for safety and pleasure. We take care of the online user experience,by providing an geo-social network at www.spotadventures.com,that gives their users the ability to share their travel experience,both live and after their trip,add photos,stories,and allows their family,friends and other followers to view,rate,and comment on their travels.
Continued…
Later this summer we will announce 2 large new customers,and more later this year.
GPS BN:Is it important to have a B2C business to sell in B2B in your field of operation?
JS: For us it’s very important for several reasons. The first is that our consumer site www.EveryTrail.com gives us insight and teaches us what consumers want and don’t want. We launch new features very frequently and learn quickly what works and what doesn’t. Since our 60,000 members are very vocal we are pretty good at predicting to our B2B customers what features their users will want. The second reason is that EveryTrail serves as a proof that our software not only scales and can handle high levels of traffic,but also meets the expectations of consumers. Our corporate customers have repeatedly mentioned this as one of the key reasons to select GlobalMotion. Finally,EveryTrail also serves as a great online customer acquisition channel:Two of our largest corporate customers were looking for a geo-social network solution like ours and found us by searching online. Since EveryTrail.com has strong organic search engine rankings,we pop up on top of search results pages for many queries,and that’s how several companies found and approached us.
JS: The entire user experience is important. Users want a solid site that’s easy to use,has compelling features,and allows them to leverage some of their existing online identities and content repositories. We have for example integrated our site with Flickr for photo imports and with Facebook and Twitter for sharing of content.
There is no silver bullet. Our experience tells us that there is not one single feature that in and of itself makes a big difference. We have made thousands of small and large improvements in the course of the last 3 years of development and it’s the combined set of features and enhancements that drives the satisfaction and retention rate of our users. And many improvements are still to come. In addition to the web site,the iPhone as well as other smartphones have been another trigger for growth. Besides providing a tremendous user experience,the fact that these devices now have GPS integrated has opened the door to more people who didn’t have personal GPS devices.
GPS BN: Do you feel that privacy is important for your users when sharing geo-aware UGC?
JS:Absolutely. The combination of location-aware apps and personal information makes privacy an important area of attention for us. The most important part of this is to be very open and upfront to users about the fact that they are sharing their location online and giving them the tools to keep their data private when they want that.
JS: We have raised series A capital from private investors. The first quarter this year we were nearly break-even and our goal is to reach profitability this year.
GPS BN: What do you envision for the next 5 years?
JS: We are playing in a very high-growth market. The potential for growth is enormous. Demand from both consumers and business is accelerating. The mobile ecosystem is becoming more and more open,driven by innovation in distribution and open platforms like iPhone and Android. There is lots of competition,which will inevitably lead to consolidation and a shake-out. Within 5 years the large field of competitors will have to be reduced to a handful of leaders. My goal is to make sure we remain a leading force in this market,and I am confident we are going to achieve that.