This post is about Commute.ph, our project, or our app, or our “startup”. Before posting something about that, let me show you what I like most in Commute.ph.
I really like how adding of routes is implemented in the web app. Our main problem before implementing this feature is that the user might be overwhelmed by the text fields that are needed to be filled up. At your first thought, adding of routes may seem scary. Luckily we found a way to make adding of routes fun!
Yes, strong word there. Fun! Adding of routes is fun.
How? Let me show you a screenshot.
See those colorful buttons? Yeah, seems fun right! Press them to add routes. Then see what will happen.
Each button pressed will show their respective text field. With this, you can add routes one step at a time without scaring yourself of too much text field.
Also, each mode of transportation is represented by a color. Brown for walking, pink for tricycle, blue for jeep, orange for Fx, and green for trains. As I remembered we colored trains with green because they are eco-friendly. These colors are shown in the buttons and on the side of their respective fields.
When “Add Route” button is pressed the route created will be submitted and added to the database. The result will be like this…
Pretty neat right?
Adding of routes is simple like that. And through the use of colorful buttons, good interface, and of course, step by step process I think we made this scary task fun!
To give some credit, thanks to Camille for the UI and the awesome UX.
Last week, Ian and I went to Cebu to attend the first startup weekend there. It was our first time in Cebu. And it is also my first time riding a domestic plane and it is so small. Our flight got delayed by an hour but it is normal for a Cebu Pacific flight.
We, together with Ian’s officemates arrived in Cebu by around 12am. We checked in our hotel afterwards after riding a 30 minute taxi drive. Hotel Stella is our hotel, and I recommend it.
In the morning, we ate at Casa Verde (cheap, big servings) and had a fail go to beach attempt and just wasted our time. In the night, Ian and I attended Startup Weekend Cebu as planned.
Just like in Startup Weekend Manila, we pitched KomyuTips. But there’s also difference. Ian pitched, and we changed the name to Commute.ph. We also met Adrian Tan of Remember and Mark Co of FamilyKo, they are both JFDI incubatee. They serve as our mentor through that weekend.
The next day, we arrived a bit late. We don’t have any tables to use so we just use armchairs. Luckily we got tables later that day.
Adrian and Mark, together with Raf Oca, taught us how to validate our idea. Through that day, we just do customer validation. We ask our friends in Facebook, and created a survey in Google Docs. In the end of the weekend, we got almost 60 feedback. Almost all of them answered that they will use Commute.ph.
We went out early that day to have a dinner with Adrian, Mark, Raf, and others. I don’t remember the place where we ate but we ordered Cebu lechon and crispy pata
We ended that day with a meeting with Camille in our hotel via Google Hangout.
The last day of Startup Weekend Cebu was pitching time. We arrived in UP Cebu by around 10:30am. We ate breakfast, and then that day was all about our pitch and presentation.
Mark and Adrian are still with us to mentor for our presentation. Unfortunately, Adrian needs to go out early because he has a flight to catch going back to Singapore.
I was doing our presentation and Ian will do the pitching. Ian’s pitch was pretty good. Even though he’s reading a script, he delivered it well. We presented our web and a mockup mobile app, our customer validation, our revenue plans, our market stream, and what we learned during the weekend. Judges asked some questions and it ended our presentation. We sit beside Mark to listen some pitches.
After the pitching, judges meet and announced the winners. Unlike Startup Weekend Manila, there are only three winners and some awards. We didn’t manage to win as planned but we got a special award. We won People’s Choice Award through use of some campaigning in Facebook and Twitter.
That was Ian thanking the mentors and judges.
We approach few judges afterwards. We received feedbacks how to improve our app. Ian did a good job pitching, but we still didn’t manage to win. After talking to the judges, I realized that there is a flaw in the crowdsourcing part of our app. Well, we might find a way to fix it in the future.
With Mark and Raf, we went to the after party. Even though it is called an after party, and we supposed to party, we did not. Yes, we socialize but we still talk about the startups and its future here in the Philippines. It was 1am in the morning then when our Cebu and Startup Weekend experience ended.
We went back to hotel to prepare our stuffs and head to the airport to fly back to Manila.
Attending both Startup Weekend in Manila and Cebu, I can say that SW Cebu is better. I really felt the presence of mentors there.
Day 1
I pitched. It’s the biggest news for this night.
Well, I arrived late. It’s around 7:30pm and pitches are firing. I didn’t manage to get it at first but then I realized that I need to register my name for me to pitch. I then reached the person who is in charge and I write my name immediately in a paper. My name was in the bottom of the paper. I then assume that I may be the last to pitch.
And then it was my turn to pitch. I’m not the last one, but I’m one of the last. I think that the few firsts and the few lasts are the one that get the most attention from the audience. In my opinion, my pitch about KomyuTips was successful. You can read my pitch here.
The fire pitches extinguished and then the voting proceeds. I watched how KomyuTips’ votes increased and it was awesome.
That’s KomyuTips up there.
I then talked with Camille to some other designers. And after a while, voting ends and they removed the top ideas from the glass wall to be posted in the board. I assumed that KomyuTips got posted in the board because I didn’t manage to see it where it is previously placed. But then when I see the board, there is no sight of KomyuTips there.
I now that there’s something wrong happened. Therefore, when the announcement of top ideas finished, I immediately approached the organizers. I ask them where’s KomyuTips? I know that it is one of the top picks but I didn’t saw it in the board. Well, they don’t have any answers for me. Ah, they have. They also don’t know what happen.
What happened to KomyuTips? It got merged. Yes it got merged to a different idea. It is also about commuting but it is totally a different idea. Who merged it? I didn’t know. The organizers didn’t know. The people who pitched those ideas also didn’t know. So who knows? I also didn’t know.
I didn’t like what happen so I just rant it on Twitter.
I then roam around in the area. I eventually met JP. He approached me and talked about KomyuTips. He said that he want to worked on it for the weekend. That was my plan, therefore I agreed.
Day 1 ends with uncertainty. Will KomyuTips be presented at the end of the event?
Day 2
Regret: I arrived late, again. I arrived at around 2:30pm.
I find JP and immediately start with KomyuTips. Nothing much happened in this day. JP coded KomyuTips and I filled up our database. Mentors arrived and checked out KomyuTips. We received positive feedback and it was great. The only negative comment I remembered was from Terence Pua of Insync. He said that he don’t like the name. I think he said that it was too general. Well, he was right. Also, we realized that KomyuTips is hard to spell.
Before dinner, Camille came to help us. She get out of her previous team and went to us. Well, she was my team mate even before the event started. She work the UI of KomyuTips and JP put it to code.
Day 2 is all about getting feedback from mentors. And we gathered positive of those.
We go home by past 11pm. Tired but with anticipation for the next day.
Day 3
I changed. I arrived at around 8:30am. Well, I’m still the last to arrive compared to Camille and JP. It is the last day of the event and we’re not done yet. I therefore immediately get my laptop and beefed up our database.
It was breakfast when we share the same table with two of 1 Share 1 Life team. And I just realized that Albert of 1 Share 1 Life is the founder of Spell Dial. Wow! After breakfast, we immediately get back to work.
At lunch, we shared the same table with SGEntrepreneurs. We shared KomyuTips to them and they checked it out after lunch. We somewhat pitch it during lunch and it continues when they arrived in our workstation to take a look of the application. Yes, we also gain positive feedback from them. And yes, it’s awesome.
After a while, we switch our focus from the application to our presentation. We made several revisions on it. We have I think 17 slides but it ended 5 slides. It is because Guyi from LobangClub stated that we need to focus on our application because it is good and it must be the highlight, rather than on our presentation.
I was supposed to present the slides and JP for the demo but we eventually decided to let Camille do both. We were the third to the last to present.
Yes, and we obviously knew it, commuting is not fun in the Philippines.
I was outside when Camille presented it because only two allowed inside. I only managed to watch their presentation via the live stream in the other room. KomyuTips only got two questions and they quickly answered it.
After the presentation, we patiently wait for the announcement of the winners through the help of the first Standup Weekend Manila by Jerome Punzalan. When the judges arrived, they announced the winners. We were surprised by how amazing the prices were. We thought the winners only received glory. Too bad we didn’t manage to win an award, but the first prize got a Nokia Lumia, four domestic tickets, an office in The Fort, and much more.
But we were still grateful. Repeating my tweet before, we don’t won an award, but we won a product. After the Startup Weekend Manila, only few tweaks is needed for KomyuTips and it is ready to launch.
And then it ended. What will happen after?
We still continue to KomyuTips. As a matter of fact, we met last Thursday and discuss some things about KomyuTips like changing its name. We also decided that we will go to Startup Weekend Cebu, so see you there!
So guys, just wait and we will launch soon.
Pics are from JP’s Google+ page and SGEntrepreneurs Facebook Page.
So I pitched KomyuTips in Startup Weekend Manila. It is my first time and done through a fire pitch. You can watch it here (at 1:18:00) but you can just read it below.
Hi! I’m Jolo Balbin, MS Computer Science student in DLSU. So guys, do you know how to get here in MINT College by just commuting? Don’t ask me, I also do not know. I can’t find any directions how to get here. Well yes there is Google Maps. But it just provides me some weird walking directions. And I’m not walking here from Cubao.
So my idea here is called KomyuTips, commuting tips at your fingertips. It is a web app that provides commuting directions for the commuters in the Philippines. It will also give flexible information that will give the commuter total control to decide what possible mode of transportation he/she will take. Travel cost and duration are also included.
KomyuTips can promote tourism here in our country. We can also partner with some places like restaurants to provide there prospective customer how to go to there place even by just commuting.
So there, I am a developer, and we have a designer. I just need any help that anyone can provide. Thank you!
Yeah, that was me reading my pitch from my iPod Touch.
That’s it! I think it was a success. It is because I know I got their attention when they laugh when I said that I’m not walking to MINT College from Cubao. Also, KomyuTips got several votes!
Well, it was shot behind but you can see the votes by the number of post it stick on our paper.
We just launch the splash page for KomyuTips!
Well, KomyuTips is a project for us. It aims to provide commuting directions in the Philippines.
Commuting here is tricky. We have the common transportation modes like trains and buses. But we also have these jeeps, FX, and tricycles that are somewhat unique in the Philippines. A combination of these all can confuse people to what mode they need to ride to get to their destination.
Through KomyuTips, people can determine what transportation mode they must ride to reach their destination. KomyuTips can also provide information to have an efficient trip, time wise or money wise.
That’s it! Sign up in KomyuTips and we’ll let you know when we launch. You’ll be the one of the first to try this awesome project!
