(sent October 19th, 2017) We won the Tnooz hackathon a few weeks back and sold the new product we built to our first paying client within two weeks. Kudos to Ludo, our data science lead, who did the hackathon with me, and Anais, our BD lead, for moving fast! More on this below.
Equally exciting: Hitlist is live on Android (in beta)! And featured in the Early Access section of the Play Store. Please check it out & encourage your Android friends to try it out — click to tweet or share on Facebook.
Focus this month is our official Android launch when we come out of beta. Any tips on nailing a product launch, or intros to blogs/publications that might cover the launch?
UPDATES
- Hitlist for iOS is fully updated to take advantage of a bunch of iOS 11 features including drag and drop and force touch. If you buy the iPhone X we’ll also analyze your facial features and send flight alerts targeted to your mood. Just kidding! That would be creepy. Or amazing? We’re not ruling it out.
- We’re doing a giveaway of $4k in travel-related prizes, enter here.
- The new product that we prototyped at the hackathon is a custom button to show live flight prices to an event, calculated from the viewer’s point of origin auto-updated according to the viewer’s location. For example, instead of the SXSW website including a link to ‘search for flights on Kayak,’ you’d see a button saying ‘Flights from <your location> to SXSW for $430’. We think it’s something that festivals, sporting events, and wedding websites could use to boost revenue and provide value: by showing live prices rather than a generic link, the consumers get the information they need quicker and are more primed to buy if they choose to click through. Check out an example on the ATECH conference website. If you or someone you know would like a custom button on your site, please let us know.
- We took on a strategic investment from Fareportal, parent company of CheapOAir, as a first step to integrating more direct booking in-app and the ability to offer completely proprietary discounts to logged in Hitlist users.
- Nice shoutouts for Hitlist in Wired, Elite Daily, SFGate, & interviewed on the Travel is Your Business podcast.
UPCOMING
- Still not sure if I’ll be at PhoCusWright in Fort Lauderdale Nov 6–9th, but please let me know if you will be.
- I’m speaking at the Airline Information event in Palm Springs Nov. 29–30th, tickets to join me here.
WHY WE’RE DOING THIS
Amadeus, the world’s leading GDS, coughed on September 28th and flights were delayed or cancelled on four continents. It’s clearer than ever that the infrastructure that underpins the aviation industry is in need of an upgrade. It’s a ways down Hitlist’s roadmap but some day we look forward to replacing this system.
FINAL WORD
Instead of our usual gif, set aside 10 minutes to watch this mesmerizing time lapse of a cargo ship’s journey (h/t to Christina Heggie of jetBlue Ventures for sending it along)
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