Hmm, I did not think about it this way. Personally, I have no problem asking to use the bathroom.
The problem happens in places like NYC, where a sit-down restaurant with less than 9 seats is not legally required to have a bathroom. Or in SF where the TJ's next to my apartment has had an "out of order" bathroom forever. Or if you have IBS (5-10% of Americans) and need to use the bathroom right away, all of a sudden.
This is not typically as much of a problem outside of major cities though, more of a nice to have in that case.
In all seriousness, you’re absolutely right. I can name 10+ apps, it is not a new idea.
But I have found existing apps have been abandoned, lack data or a system to keep data accurate over time. That’s partly my motivation for doing this today.
And people seem to value it already! I had gotten a ton of positive feedback.
Thanks! You're on the money with the challenges for this product.
For scaling, it's a fair question when you start thinking about this on a global level. The current plan is to launch in the high-value cities like NYC, Portland, Chicago etc., which isn't unrealistic. We have to put in sweat equity before we can expect any user contribution and maybe we can reach an inflection point where user contribution takes over for us over time.
We also need keep the site free for consumers to encourage contribution, so I don't have a good answer for monetization yet.
The problem happens in places like NYC, where a sit-down restaurant with less than 9 seats is not legally required to have a bathroom. Or in SF where the TJ's next to my apartment has had an "out of order" bathroom forever. Or if you have IBS (5-10% of Americans) and need to use the bathroom right away, all of a sudden.
This is not typically as much of a problem outside of major cities though, more of a nice to have in that case.