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Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids
- j2d3 13y ago"Expedia for..." sounds pretty weird. Think of something else. I can't remember what actual Expedia is for.
- j2d3 13y ago...that said, I do like the idea - have a 3 year old, and trying to understand what is available out there is incredibly difficult and haphazard.
- subpixel 13y agoI literally had to think...what is Expedia?
- hablahaha 13y agoThe whole title sounds a bit weird. What about "Kayak for childrens' camps and activities" or instead of Kayak, Hipmunk? Since they are in YC, they should totally mention that in the title as well.
- emmiechang 13y agoWe actually do the registrations, not just an affiliate thing like kayak or hipmunk....opentable for kids camps?
- nicoles 13y agoI like OpenTable for kids camps! I think more people probably get how OpenTable becomes a core part of the restaurant's infrastructure than Expedia does for travel.
- HavonaMadama 13y agowe use the Open Table reference for our similar service I agree that is the closest comparison especially because I noticed you also have SaaS for vendors in addition to the marketplace.
- sjayman 13y agoGenius! I have 2 kids and spent the last 3 weeks fretting about camps and getting kids into camps. Its all word of mouth at the moment. Brilliant idea!
- emmiechang 13y agoThanks! Are you in the Bay Area by chance? I'm Emmie, the founder. New site design to push out this weekend, please take a look again soon. (we wanted to push it out before the TC article, but it was too unstable)
- arethuza 13y agoPlease come to the UK - my wife and I spend a remarkable amount of time trying to organize stuff to keep our son constructively occupied! [NB One thing I would love is some way to enter into a discussion with our son about what he wants to do and to rate different options - at the moment we do this through email and printing stuff out, which is dreadful.]
- emmiechang 13y agoHey! Actually, I just found out that there were camps in the UK. I met an ex pro-football player who used to run his own programs in the UK from 1999-2009. I'll definitely explore expansion to the UK! I love it there, and drive a Mini :). Good points on the discussion with your child--we'll have camper profiles soon to allow for kids to bookmark their own things
- gargarplex 13y agoJust a friendly reminder for parents to not turn a blind eye to anything that goes on at camp. For example, bullying. Teach your child strategies for dealing with it and keep a close emotional attunement. This is a PSA for parents who actually care and don't just use camp as a glorified babysitting service.
- pstuart 13y agoDamn. I started down this path but had to give up -- it was too hard to scrape the data. Add to that building relations and the site itself (by myself). Best of luck!
- nicoles 13y agoGreat work Emmie! This is totally needed, finding and registering for camps has been a mess for years.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jfornear 13y agoThe resemblance to http://www.zappos.com/ http://www.zappos.com/ is somewhat ethically questionable.
- emmiechang 13y agoLove how you're the only Person ever to say that! We were definitely inspired by it. Switching in a few days to the new look and feel, designed specifically for us!
- jfornear 13y agoThat's good, congrats on the launch!
- cfontes 13y agoI remember this being here as a SHOWHN a few months ago. Now it's YC14? Congratulations.
- Alex_Jiang 13y agoDuring early elementary school I learned more in camp than I did at school. I was also first exposed to C++ in a summer program around 1998. With the right vendors this is more than a marketplace for camps, it could radically change education. Kids can pick up technical skills VERY early (that schools won't give them), and they'll have years to master them.
- lrichardson 13y agoI remember being pitched this idea at START pitch day - I really think it is a great idea. I agree with the comments above: "OpenTable for camps" is a much better (or at least more recognizable) comparison than Expedia. Congratulations on becoming part of YC 14!
- angersock 13y agoVery happy to see another successful venture from Houston. Great work folks! :)
- emmiechang 13y agoThanks! H-Town represent!! (wait that sounded really silly...probably less silly than if I really said that out loud)
- stephenhuey 13y agoIt's encouraging to the rest of us Houston startups to see your progress!
- angersock 13y agoYes, all 4 of us! :P
- hackergirl 12y agoHave you seen CampEasy? Looks pretty big and complete