
Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule - emmiechang
https://www.camperoo.com/scheduler
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tagawa
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.

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joshmn
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 ;]

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emmiechang
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](https://www.camperoo.com/products/k/ukulele)

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callmeed
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...](http://cdixon.org/2009/08/25/six-strategies-for-overcoming-
chicken-and-egg-problems/)

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emmiechang
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!

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samstave
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.

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emmiechang
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?

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samstave
___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...

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emmiechang
@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...

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bluedevil2k
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.

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

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nwenzel
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.

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

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blossoms
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!

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emmiechang
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!

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cheneytsai
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.

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

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samstave
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.

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

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samstave
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](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"

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emmiechang
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! ;)

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

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ars
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.

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emmiechang
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...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-11%20at%206.31.45%20PM.png)

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

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

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emmiechang
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](https://www.camperoo.com/camps/join) )

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

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

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emmiechang
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%2020...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-11%20at%206.31.45%20PM.png)

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

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northband
Hey that's a cool idea - good luck!

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aelaguiz
Love it!

