Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

camperoo.com

57 pointsemmiechang37 comments

I think you'd get more sign-ups if you could allow people to create a calendar without registering and then say something like "register now to save this calendar". By that time, they're more invested in the product than someone who's just arrived at your site. I could be wrong but I think @patio11 uses this tactic for Appointment Reminder or BCC.

Great idea-- we'll try that next. We wanted to throw something out there first, and the easiest way was to just tie into our existing login system. Shipping is better than perfect right? :)

Make sure you’re careful about a change like that. I’ve also heard of cases where doing that caused problems, because people would forget to register and lose their data.

Note taken--maybe we'll just capture e-mail address!

Not affiliated with the product at all but I don't know why more products don't work like this. It's just genius.

With a ukelele ;]

Aww... Thank you Joshmn. This makes me seriously feel good. I sit at my chair (granted it's a fancy chair) in my home/office toiling away at all hours and your comment just really made my day....(er night). New iterations to come later this week. Did you see we have Ukelele camp?

https://www.camperoo.com/products/k/ukulele

This is a GREAT idea. I've got 4 kids and we put them in all sorts of camps/activities in the summer. Last summer they did tennis camp, surf camp, dance camp, baseball camp, art camp, and some others I can't recall. So, this is definitely something I'd use.

Now, as for the implementation, here's what frustrates me: You don't serve my city (San Luis Obispo, CA). Furthermore, you don't state anywhere on your home page "Serving San Francisco & Seattle. Put in your email and zip code and we'll notify you when we have your town." You should REALLY do that.

For this issue, you should also take a "backwards compatibility" approach (as Chris Dixon put it [1]). Getting more camps in new cities is hard–I get it. But, just about every city in America has a parks and recreation department and most of them publish their summer activities in a PDF guide. So, you get an intern and have him/her gather the URLs to every PDF available in California. Then Oregon. Then Washington and so on. I come to your site and put in my zip code–you say "Hey, we don't have anything in your city yet but here's your local activity guide" BAM ... backwards compatibility.

Marketplaces are hard. Keep up the good work.

[1] http://cdixon.org/2009/08/25/six-strategies-for-overcoming-c...

Erik, great comments. Thanks, I'll definitely reach out to you when we expand to southern CA, you're the core demographic. I was talking to a friend the other day who did a 'cost analysis' of how much she was spending on camps. It turns out it was close to $4500 just for two kids and only 6 weeks! I'm sure your camp budget blows past that. On another note, we're definitely considering 'stocking empty shelves' but want to focus on getting really good at figuring out the right way to get parents to register before expanding. I'll reach out directly!

Also look at the Care.com model: I paid ~$100 for a THREE-MONTH access to care.com to find a babysitter in my area...

That process took ~2 hours, and we found a great sitter! She has been our go-to sitter and we never went back to care.com for anything...

So; one model could be ""pay for a summer subscription to all the info in your area for the period ~June through ~september"

Winter activity packages extra.

Get your friends to also sign up for service; to be able to register their kids to events/camps for a discount to yourself....

Etc.

Good idea--we're trying to get more people to invite their friends. Create an account, we give you $25 and when your friends create an account, you get an extra $25...that works now, but really amping that up is a good idea. The care.com model is interesting--some other sites are toying with the subscription model...i would rather you book stuff on Camperoo ;) Any suggestions as to what you would WANT to see about a camp to make you want to register for it?

some other sites are toying with the subscription model...i would rather you book stuff on Camperoo ;)

Awesome; let me tell you what I would be willing to do as a parent of three kids:

I'll pay a subscription of X per month which includes a set (large)% of that monthly subscribe as a payment to the camps I want to sign up for.

This would amortize the camp cost over the year vs. lumpy charges for camp in summer....

Pre-signups for camps in [MONTH] might be easier for some people...

You handle registration, scheduling, blah blah blah...

Ratings, reviews, recommendations, etc. etc...

As a parent - with 3 kids and a NEED for this... this is so much higher value than care.com

"kids lists of who attended so my kid can keep in touch with that kid"

There are so many opportunities, and I believe that the core boils down to allowing a parent to say:

I live HERE, with kids of AGE/GENDER, and need to go to camp during DATE-RANGE, for budget of X. Once complete: campbook.com... to keep in touch with other campers...

@samStave--Want to come work with us? :).

Secondly, the pay-wall is interesting. What would you pay for--? more comprehensive reviews, more camp offerings?

I like the deposit thing. In the Fall, we'll start the 'buy credits now' and amortize over 9 months. For now, summer's only 4 months away.

The social aspect is HUGE--we definitely want to roll that stuff out sometime. I want Camperoo to be the hub of EVERYTHING related to your kids outside of school, and around here social network is sort of a 'dirty' word for investors, but there is definitely a HUGE social aspect to attending camp and talking to parents of kids who attended the same camp and year-round activities...

oh yeah--would you give me $20/mo for full concierge access, fully credit-able towards any camp on our site? venmo me the money ;)

My wife and I just sat down and planned our kids summer camps and would have greatly benefitted from this. For a marketing tip, I'd focus on the mommy blogs, since I'd guess they do 80-90% of the summer camp planning.

Awesome, any mommy blogs you (or your wife) particularly like to visit?

Finally, a startup that recognizes that people do get married and do have kids. I know, I know... seems totally nuts. But it happens to the best of us.

Now if you could just help me get them from point A to point B, that would be even better.

Yes! Transportation is on our list--right after a bunch of stuff of course. In the meantime, want to buy some camps/activities?

I respect your work, but I must say this: "You are terrible."

Why you might ask? Well ask any kid who has been forced off to Bible Camp or some other humiliating childhood summer activity.

Keep up the great work!

I'll take that as a compliment. I own a tech camp in 10 locations nationwide, and if you told an athletic kid he had to spend 8 hours/day 5 days a week in an air conditioned room staring at a screen, he'd think it's horrible. For all my tech-y kids that come to camp, the thought of playing soccer in the sun horrifies them! It's just funny, and bible camp doesnt sound too bad--i mean, it's not band camp or anything!

As a former teacher at one of those camps, I can attest to having kids there who loved being there and learning. What kids end up doing in their summers should be a ongoing dialogue between the parent and their child, without any voice overpowering the other.

The assumption that some kind of camp is needed. I say, camp can stifle the youth's initiative, as it provides a constant irrigation of the senses with no effort (other than the activity of course).

Spending weeks with your friends wandering, making up games, looking at the world and thinking - happens on lazy summer days, not at camp.

I meant to say "SHOW HN" apologies for the mistake everyone!

I have three kids and my eldest is 9, I've been looking for something like this the last two summers.

I'll check it out when I get home and come back and provide feedback.

Please do--and reach out to me directly. I'd love to help out.

Hey EmmieChang!

I think the idea is amazing; but I have some issues with the workflow and UX.. [1]

WRT the main page; you have a box for the type of activity in search.

You lack the filters that are on the next page, assuming I enter an interest... This sucks; ill explain.

I don't want this to be the entry, because I dont know the ACTIVITY; I am filtering on the following in priority hierarchy:

1. LOCATION

2. AGE/GENDER

3. DATE RANGE

4. BUDGET/AVAILABILITY

Here is how the thought process works in a parents head:

"I have a 9 year old girl who will need to be in camp from DATE to DATE and I can afford max of $XX.00 for that period -- Show me what you have"

Then from there, you should branch to many other things:

Based on your budget and date-range; These are the available camps.

The front page of your site asks first for activity. Even after entering activity; I DO get a filter option for my region... but when I select that region; the results have NO germane granularity in the list. (Meaning they dnt show WHERE the event is...)

http://imgur.com/a/mmch2

I have a stay-at-home-mom who will not be driving to a camp ~10 miles away... etc...

So, I tink the start is great - it does not resolve the issue with how does one find an event near their home.

So; my recommendation: Treat CAMPs like RESTAURANTS -- the SAME thought process that one uses to select a restaurant is the one they use to select a kids camp.

"Dad works, mom has limited range and needs max convenience to shuttle kid; has limited date range for when reservation is needed AND will pick most economical+nutritious [READ: FUN] option within that selection set"

Wow, thanks. I compare myself to OpenTable all the time, but I like hearing it from your standpoint. re: location, I hear you--will def work on that soon. Reaching out directly! ;)

Cool idea, even if the fundamental idea of packing your kids off to camp is a bit weird...

Can you put up a static demo? Or even just screenshots? I want to see what this is without actually registering, but every link that looks promising takes me to a contact page.

Here's a screenshot of a demo schedule. Super simple, add your kids, add an activity and share with your friends or family

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%2020...

Ah, so it's a daily schedule, not an hourly.

So not suitable for running a backyard camp with activities during the day.

Yeah--it's a weekly scheduler. However, if you need a management tool to run your camps--we can help you with that (it's free, go to https://www.camperoo.com/camps/join )

Awesome, love family oriented startups. Also check out activityhero.com. I used them last summer and they have more cities.

Would really appreciate a demo of how this works, especially without having to create an account just to find that out.

Cool--we're working on that. how old are your kids?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%2020...

Check out the screenshot--dead simple. What do you think? Would love your feedback.

Hey that's a cool idea - good luck!

Love it!

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