Thursday, May 3, 2007

What's in a Name?

Why GoLoco?

It took longer to name this company than it took to name all three of my children put together. With them, I didn’t have to worry about whether I could register the domain name, or whether people could repeat and spell the name after hearing it said once. So,

Go loco with freedom and independence, enjoying your friends and your life on your own terms
Go loco from location to location, using local locomotion (yes, there’s a Latin root there)
Go loco -- low cost and low CO2 – a way of life.

After so many months of work (which we’re already forgetting about), it is a thrill to actually see people use the service the way we intended. I imagine this is what a museum architect must feel like on opening day: “look! That person stopped right there, just as we had planned!” and “huh, they missed that cool thing entirely, what happened?”

So we are seeing missed cues, and making the necessary changes as fast as we can, and relishing the perfect moves, like this one:

David Slater posted his daily commute, every Mon-Fri, leaving around 6am, returning around 3pm with the informative note: “This is my daily commute. My hours are flexible and I would consider adjusting my hours for a daily ride share."

Yes! David, you got it exactly right. We’ve only just started and we can’t passively await a connection. Like David, I’ve posted all my routine car trips, and I’m waiting for the pleasant moment when I see the email from GoLoco telling me that someone else actually wants to join my fascinating trip between Cambridge and Hammond Pond.

And I’ve also stumbled happily across destination ideas. The Peabody Essex Museum? I haven’t been there in a year. The Crown Colony? Where in heck is that? And of course, who is going?

And relevant to nothing but a great trip comment:
“The toddler *will* be in the car, price has been adjusted accordingly.”

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those domain speculators are loco. At least it pushes real sites to think of cool names :-P. Btw, can we/are you planning on implementing a way to get notifications and interact via cell phones? It would be really cool if I was out and about and I could check to see what rides are going where and then sign up for them. Also, how about some posters for kids to hang up around campus? Make a web form that appends the user's picture to it as a rides wanted/share poster. Give us the tools and we'll spread the word :-) Love the site!!!
-R.J.

KG Finfrock said...

How about a FAQ sheet, like fees and such?

KG Finfrock said...

Never mind, I found my questions answered. Just had to look a little harder. :-)

The Scholz Family Blog said...

i'm confused, did a few high school kids make this site?? how do you expect this to work? i signed up to the web site today, but i'm not impressed. you don't have a browse function to see trips in my area, groups in my area, or anything for that matter in my area. searches don't show nearby points, provide any information, or have even an example of what you'd see if you did find a trip. seriously, i'm thinking this is a big joke, did a few high school kids make this site??

Anonymous said...

Rob - if you configure your address into Goloco, the site will automatically display nearby trips on the homepage after you log in.

That being said, the search functionality could definitely use more refinement. The ability to just enter a zipcode and do a geographic search for nearby trips would be great.

I've noticed a lot of good improvements in Goloco over the past few weeks. But they still have a lot of work to do.

Robin, I'm working hard towards that free t-shirt you are offering for the first person to exceed you in number of friends. I hope to claim it in the next few weeks.

-Brian

Grandfather said...

Here it is, October 21, 2007. Somebody finally did something useful, and nobody knows!