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Company Blog

October 2008
3

We’re excited to announce that TravelMuse has been selected to present at the Travel Innovation Summit taking place at the 2008 PhoCusWright Conference on Nov. 17 in Hollywood, Calif.

 

Approximately 20 of the leading travel start-ups will have 10 minutes each to showcase their solutions on stage in front of members of the press, investors and leaders from around the travel industry. If you’re in Los Angeles and would like to meet with us, grab a pass and head on over to the conference! It should be a great show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We’re excited to work with the local Junior League Chapter, the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay, Inc. (JLOEB), on their annual fundraiser. The Junior League was founded in 1935 and is an organization of women, who to this day are committed to building better communities and making a difference in the lives of children and families served by the League.

 

TravelMuse is delighted to have this opportunity, and as we continue to effect change in building our travel planning community, we hope we can help other groups like Junior League. Starting now and running through November 30th, the team here at TravelMuse will donate $1 per each League-generated visitor who signs up and starts planning a trip using the TravelMuse Planner—a centralized place to collect, organize and share travel research. There is no cost to participate and no obligation to book a trip. (The total donation is capped at $1,000.)

 

Whether League members are looking for destination ideas on where to take their next family vacation, organizing a girls’ getaway, embarking on a romantic trip for two or meeting other League members at the 2009 Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) Convention, TravelMuse.com now makes the entire process easy for anyone to plan a trip. TravelMuse.com is also the JLOEB 2008-2009 exclusive travel partner and a silver-level sponsor of the Fifth Annual Artful Living Home Tour, Nov. 7- to 8, 2008, in Alamo and Diablo, Calif.

 

“Oftentimes, all it takes is a simple action to result in something truly impactful,” saya Tricia Stenger, president, JLOEB. “The League produces tangible benefits for children and their families throughout the Bay Area, and I am ecstatic that our philanthropic efforts through TravelMuse will further expand our combined impact in the community.”

 

At TravelMuse, effecting change is one of our core values, and we believe companies should not only invest in their employees and partners, but in the community at large. The Junior League is well known for building better communities, and we’re thrilled to work with their members on this program to further inspire others to make a difference.

For full details, read our press release.

 

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TravelMuse kicked off September with our appearance at DEMOfall 08 on Sept. 8, where we launched Social Trip Planning. Thanks to all the press and bloggers who covered us, we were excited to meet you and share our story so far.

 

Edward N. Albro from PC World said, “It looks valuable as a way to come up with initial travel ideas and plans” and included TravelMuse in the “12 Promising New Web Sites and Services” out of all DEMOfall 08 and TechCrunch50.

 

Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat listed TravelMuse in his top ten company picks of DEMOfall 08 and also wrote specifically about how TravelMuse plans to simplify travel planning.

 

Business Week’s Carmine Gallo took a look at the DEMO presentations from a slightly different angle and wrote about how to deliver a presentation under pressure, highlighting TravelMuse’s presentation and comparing it to advice from Moore—the need to create a new place in my brain to hold the information you’re about to deliver.

 

Troy Wolverton of San Jose Mercury News listed TravelMuse in his Top 5 picks from DEMOfall 08 and referenced the pain he feels when planning his own vacation with his wife … and how TravelMuse aims to solve that problem by providing a work space where multiple people can swap travel ideas and research.

 

Michael J. Miller from PC Magazine listed TravelMuse in his “My favorite DEMOfall 08 Products” saying, “I very much like the look and features of TravelMuse. I like the idea of gathering and collecting information on the trip from any Website in one place, and letting multiple people work together to plan a trip.”

 

Rolf Potts of Vagabonding said, “TravelMuse makes a nice way to bookmark and store your research, and it’s definitely a must-have for groups planning to travel together” , adding  ”you’d be hard pressed to find a travel site that looks as slick and is as easy to use as TravelMuse”.

 

PLing of TripHow said, “TravelMuse is the best thing on the market right now.”

 

Thrillest said, “Organizing a killer trip with friends can be a serious pain--open up the planning to everyone and prepare for a parliamentary stalemate, but leave one person in charge and risk visiting MimeFest, again. Make group trip planning frighteningly easy, with TravelMuse.”

 

To read more, visit our press page.

 

Now while most of our attention was on DEMO, our Interns, Hannah and Marissa, managed to score free passes at TechCrunch50, by volunteering—here’s what they had to say:

 

“Our volunteer duties included everything from building a bunker of backpacks on Sunday, to manning the registration tables—in between we managed to listen to company presentations and check out the booths in the Pit. Our favorite companies included Swype, which we had a lot of fun trying out, and GoodGuide – we’re glad to know what’s in our shampoo! Marissa also learned a lot from the lunchtime panel about Venture Capital firms and loved hearing Mark Cuban’s keynote discussion.

 

We managed to do a little TravelMuse guerrilla marketing on the side, before heading to the after-party, where we ate our weight in canapés and watched TechCrunch attendees network up a storm. Hannah returned to TechCrunch on Wednesday to see Joss Whedon and loved handing him his name badge as he checked into the conference."

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Russ Lemelin has been an advisor to TravelMuse for more than six months. As CFO, he brings a wealth of experience in the online travel space to the company. He was one of the earliest employees at SideStep, Inc., where he held the role of CFO and interim CEO. Russ spent six years at SideStep, during which time he oversaw the company’s revenue grow from $0 to $30 million per year. SideStep was acquired by Kayak in December 2007 for approximately $200 million. Prior to SideStep, Russ led corporate development at Komag, Inc.

 

Russ lives with his wife and three girls in Danville, Calif. He enjoys traveling to Hawaii, spending time with the family and watching classic western movies. Russ is a self-proclaimed, die-hard Oakland Raiders fan and was born and raised in Northern California.

 

 

 

 

 

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