WeGoWeGo Blog

Happy New 2010! Check out the new WeGoWeGo.com

2010-01-12T20:29:00.004-05:00

Five months have passed since we introduced WeGoWeGo.com to the Toronto community. With the New Year beginning, we wanted to share with you our progress to-date and more importantly introduce exciting new features!

Here are some highlights from the past few months:

We had over 10,000 unique visitors come to the site since the launch of our Beta
We have tripled our monthly visitors traffic
We hit 1200 daily page views just before year-end
We completed a research study with the Humber College PR Program that helped us shape the next phase of WeGoWeGo.com.

As a results of the enlightening Humber College study, we are pleased to introduce to you the newly improved WeGoWeGo site.

Some of the key new features include:

New Home Page Design

Facebook Connect functionality that allows for easy login and connection with your friends on WeGoWeGo
Easy voting functionality of key city events
Hot events widget that features key events as decided by users
Top 10 activities and upcoming events of the day widgets
Twitter feed integration
Mobile phone special event updates
Social share functionality
Simplification of the search categories

Enhanced Venue and Event Pages

Similar events and venue recommendations engine has been implemented allowing users to find relevant events even faster
Enhanced My Planner (previously called My WeGoWeGo) functionality
Other usability tweaks (see if you can spot any)

I hope you like the improvements and I encourage you to let us know your thoughts. If you have any suggestions or if you spot a bug, please let us know at support@wegowego.com.

Cheers

WeGoWeGo Team

Get weekly event listings

2009-09-20T23:24:00.005-04:00

We're trying something new. We're pushing weekly event listings out each week at http://wegowego.wordpress.com/. We think you might find this to be a helpful starting point, or just a nice reminder.

You can subscribe and get an events list emailed to you each week, or you can use an rss reader.

If you'd like your events to appear in the posting, all you have to do is add your events to WeGoWeGo. Please give us one week in advance. If you have mulitple events to add, contact support at wegowego.com and we'll help.

Fuze Toronto

2009-09-10T23:36:00.003-04:00

Last night we had the privilege of presenting at Fuze Toronto, a marketing and advertising meetup for professionals interested in new technologies. We didn't win the competition, but won a few more dedicated fans of WeGoWeGo. The event was held at Skylounge, which is the patio area behind Proof The Vodka Bar at the Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor. It's a swanky little joint. Watch out for the $10 pints though. As the waitress said, "you gotta love hotel bar prices."

We've gotten pretty comfortable talking with designers and developers through all the tech meetups we've been to, but this was our first opportunity to take WeGoWeGo to a marketing and advertising crowd. There are some interesting differences!

We gathered some helpful feedback, met a lot of cool people, won some new members for the WeGoWeGo community, and practiced our pitch. All in a good night's work.

Rails Pub Night - small projects for equity

2009-08-16T13:35:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow is the third Monday of the month, and that means Rails Pub Night at the Rhino on Queen St W. We'll be getting up on chairs again as we did about a year and a half ago. Last time we stood up to pitch the idea of WeGoWeGo. This time we're happy to say that the site is up and running. We're looking for a designer and a developer who are interested in helping us build out a few more key features.

Since we still have our day jobs and we're bootstrapping (read: not funded) we're not expecting you to jump all-in and join us full time for equity alone. That would be pretty cool, of course, but we've all got bills to pay. Sustainability is one of our prime directives: that means working toward success in a way that can be sustained for as long as it takes.

We have several features planned, each of which could make up a small development module/design project. If you or someone you know is interested in a small dev/design project for equity, consider working on one of our projects. We'll be explaining a little more at Rails Pub, or drop us an email at partners at WeGoWeGo dot com. Twitter works, too, of course (usually :p).

DCT21 and StartUp Drinks - shaking hands and trading ideas

2009-07-31T08:52:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy week! DemoCamp Toronto #21 on Wednesday was a great success. At first it didn't seem right to be in a lecture hall instead of a dingy pub (the usual venue), but this was the first democamp where I could actually hear all of the presentations and read what was on the screen. Pretty good things to be able to do at a demo, it turns out! The lack of beer was more than made up for later in the evening when we decended on the nearby unsuspecting Fion McCools.

Thursday night was StartUp Drinks at Pogue Mahone on College and Bay. We had a chance to talk to all sorts of interesting people in the Toronto startup community. We were trying to make as many connections in hopes that someone could help us advance WeGoWeGo further. We're looking for a UI designer/front-end coder/usability expert and a rails dev or two to join our team. We're also looking for funding as we've bootstrapped ourselves to this point. There are still some important features that we'd like to add to our site as soon as possible to make it the powerful offering that we've envisioned.

One step at a time, as they say.

Official WeGoWeGo T-shirts

2009-07-25T21:35:00.003-04:00

Who says you can't have your own swag? Look at us, we are just starting and we have our own T-shirts and dancing shoes!

That's right, anyone can now be a proud owner of an official WeGoWeGo T-shirt. Check it out below.
What's really cool, is that you can customize each shirt to make it your own...

BTW, we have little choice in terms of the cost and would love to hand them out for FREE, but not just yet.

We can however give out a couple.

For the first two people who comment on this post, will get a T-Shirt each! Be quick!

DemoCamp Toronto 21

2009-07-21T13:19:00.003-04:00

Now that our site is fully launched, we're ready to present WeGoWeGo at

DemoCamp Tororonto 21 @ The Velma Rogers Theatre
July 28, 2009 - 6:00pm-9:00pm
333 Bloor St E., Toronto, ON

Our purpose is to help spread the word that our site is live and to have a good time networking with other like-minded techie/entrepreneur/business types. We're hoping to gather some helpful feedback and suggestions for future feature development, design optimization and growth strategies.

We're also hoping to find designers and developers who share our passion for urban adventure and would like to join our team.

DemoCamp Guelph July 15 - We're back!

2009-07-14T09:35:00.003-04:00

It's been exactly a year since our last visit to Guelph DemoCamp. We've learned a lot since then and we revamped WeGoWeGo.com user experience to be much more intuitive and fun.

We are happy to come back to Guelph DemoCamp 10 (Info @bit.ly/dcg10 ) to give an update on our progress.

See you then!

How big things start

2009-07-01T21:16:00.008-04:00

I love this video for many reasons but one thing stands out: at 2:52 you can hear someone saying "How did he do that? How did he do that?"

It usually starts off slowly. One or two people with an idea they believe in. Eventually another person catches on to what they're doing. Then another and another.

The thing is, he didn't do it. He started it, sure, but big things happen because of each person that jumps in and makes it easier for that next person to join. At some point it just feels good to be part of something cool, and even better if you helped make it happen. And everyone dancing helped make it happen!

It's scary to start something, but like the song in the video says, "I got to be un-stoppable." If you believe in what you're doing, or are just having too much fun to care, amazing things can happen.

In WeGoWeGo.com, we've built a platform that you can use to start your own big things. Add the events that you believe in to WeGoWeGo. And then tag them up with the descriptions in your own words. Share the event page, link to it, send the word out. Others whom you don't even know will find the tags you've added in our search engine. Then soon people will be asking, "How did you do it?"

There are no review committees, or editorial boards, or really any rules other than 'tell it like it is' and 'you are your own expert in matters of taste'.

Join our Private Beta!

2009-06-26T10:25:00.008-04:00

Last night at DemoCamp 1 Mississauga we happily announced that the private beta of WeGoWeGo.com is finally here! We're still squashing a few remaining bugs but are up and running and inviting you to join as beta members.

Thanks to Trevor Dean for doing an amazing job setting up the first of hopefully many fine Mississauga DemoCamps. He has raised the bar in many ways, especially the food!

The Cock and Pheasant proved to be a great venue. At first we weren't sure since there was a large group of school teachers celebrating their year's end. So many drunk teachers dancing like no one's watching, long before sundown. They were not using their indoor voices. It was probably the most entertaining intro to a democamp I've seen, no disrespect to Joey deVilla :)

Once the teachers' "recess" was over and they went back home (single file, keep your hands to yourself) democamp got going. We enjoyed a wide range of presentations (GuestListApp.com, mPos blackberry tracking app, camaradeie.ca co-working space in TO, bigtime RADAR) and had the opportunity to showcase our site.

You can give it a test-drive by emailing me, beta at WeGoWeGo dot com and I'll send you the password. See you there!

WeGoWeGo - the city is yours

DemoCamp Mississauga 1

2009-06-02T22:38:00.002-04:00

For anyone in the area who is interested in seeing our latest work, we'll be presenting at the first ever Mississauga DemoCamp on Thursday June 25, 2009.

You can find more details at the democamp wiki. The free early bird tickets are all spoken for now, but tickets are only a few dollars to cover the cost of appetizers and incidentals. You can see how it all came together on the DemoCamp Mississauga blog.

Hope to see you there!

Cock and Pheasant Pub
63 Queen St S
Mississauga
Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Happy New Year, 2009!

2009-01-01T21:20:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

We have big plans for 2009. We are marching towards our first release in the next couple of months. It has taken us a long time to get here, but we're proud of what we have so far and are going to be showing it off soon!

All the best to you and yours,
WeGoMan and his team

New Design

2008-12-06T20:27:00.002-05:00

Hi folks, we're still working away. We've got a whole new design in the works to make WeGoWeGo.com the fastest, easiest way to find the info you want so you can get out on the town.
Thanks for keeping track of us. It's been a long haul, but we're still making progress and hope to have something out early 2009. Cheers!

Thank you, DemoCamp Guelph

2008-07-11T10:49:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Brydon and the Guelph DemoCamp team for their work in organizing another successful DemoCamp. We had the opportunity to show off our alpha version to an audience of 40 or 50 people who then engaged us in many good questions and suggestions, and clamored enthusiastically over our t-shirt souvenirs. Perhaps we did a great job of designing and modeling the shirts, or people are pretty keen on being an early part of the WeGoWeGo experience!

This was the first time that WeGoWeGo.com was publicly demonstrated, and we came away with some valuable feedback, excitement, and a good list of people interested in helping us beta-test. Thanks to everyone for their participation, advice, and witty banter. If you'd like to get in on the beta-test as well, or have other comments, drop us a line in the "reach out and touch me" box on the right.

Development continues to move forward and we're really excited about doing another demo, hopefully in the late summer or early autumn. It's hard to squeeze all the cool stuff that WeGoWeGo has to offer into a five minute slot, but we're eagerly anticipating letting you explore it for yourselves.

DemoCamp Guelph July 9th

2008-06-15T00:44:00.003-04:00

We have registered for DemoCamp in Guelph for July 9th! We'll be presenting a live demo followed by a question-answer period, and of course enjoying savvy conversation over pints. Please join us. Contact Guelph DemoCamp for details.
See you then!

Finding What You're Looking For

2008-04-03T00:03:00.000-04:00

That's the name of the game these days. Information is everywhere and it's all about being able to tune in to the information we're looking for. It's a signal vs. noise problem. Tons of info, no easy way to sort through it all.

As much as Google is a revolutionary miracle, it doesn't solve the problem of finding relevant information, specifically related to local events, restaurants, and parties. We wanted to be able to turn on the computer, punch in the kind of restaurant, bar, or event we wanted and get answers and make decisions, not skim through Google and then click through a pile of odd reviews and advertisements at the various sites that popped up. What if there was an easy way to find a place or event and jump to its website for further trusted info?

Where to go for dinner? What club to tell your friends to meet you at? Where to take that hot date you've got lined up? How to not miss the best parties, bands, and DJ's? We suffered from all of these problems too and finally said "Enough! Something must be done!"

That's where WeGoWeGo.com comes in. It's on its way, we're still working...

Development is underway

2008-01-25T11:02:00.001-05:00

Well it's been a busy time since our last post. Our UI has improved by leaps and bounds, and we've refined our functionality quite a lot. For a while there we were starting to get a bit of feature creep, but our offering now is sleek and powerful. We've teamed up with a very talented development team, and are building it all out!
We're super excited about releasing a private beta in March! If you'd like to be a part of it, please let us know. We've got a cool system of tools and techniques that we think will be helpful and useful and maybe even good enough to change the world of nightlife and event promotion for the better.

Have a look at what blogTO.com has to say about the current state of Toronto's resto and events web scene. True, there is much to be desired. blogto.com has come a long way in solving the problem of being in the know. And we'd like to pick up where they leave off.

Rails Pub Nite

2007-11-20T21:53:00.001-05:00

Last night we had the pleasure of joining the Toronto Ruby on Rails Pub Nite at The Rhino on West Queen West. We met a lot of interesting and cool people, made some good connections, learned a few things, and of course shared a few good beers.

Our reasons for going (aside from the killer beer selection at Rhino) were to share our ideas and find some like minds who may be interested in helping us take our project to the next level. For anyone who missed us, we're looking for developers to join our team in some key equity roles.

At first it seemed a bit daunting to get up on chairs and pitch to a dark room full of strangers, but we ended up feeling quite welcome and had a blast! There are so many fascinating projects being built in this city, I'm looking forward to seeing them launch and grow over the next little while.

Thanks TorRor for having us. It's great to see such a passionate and talented group working hard and playing hard, just the way we like it. There's definitely a good thing going on here in the Toronto rails space.

Cheers! and we look forward to future gatherings.
Dan and Martin

Our new logo!

2007-11-07T00:51:00.000-05:00

Check it out, there he is: WeGoMan!

Who is WeGoMan?

He's the guide, the hook-up. He's the one who keeps you in-the-know about all your favourite spots in town. He knows the scene and he's not afraid to show it. He's the connector, the news-ovator, the make-it-what-you-want-and-take-it man!

WeGoMan has all the dirt on your local scene. New to town? No worries, my friend. WeGoMan will get you up to speed in a hurry. And if you're local, WeGoWeGo will help you find that hometown sweet-spot that you wish you'd know about all these years.

Remember the time you were visiting back home just before christmas and your buddy hooked you up with tickets to the club and a killer time with his 20 closest friends? That was a WeGoMan.

And remember when you were wandering the streets of a new strange town and you met this super-cool local who showed you the sights, even the best little bar down some weird alley? That was a WeGoMan.

How about the time you came to the big city and your long-lost pal took you out for martinis, a supa-fine dj, and introduced you to the girl of you dreams? That was a WeGoMan!

And who can forget when you went out for dinner and ended up stuck in line in the rain? That friendly stranger who told you about an even better spot around the block? Saved your date, didn't it? Yup, WeGoMan.

We are planning, coding, mashing, mixing, scheming, and devising. But WeGoMan doesn't operate alone. Nope, he's way too social for that. Like any good dinner or all fine parties, it's all about the people. You people, us people... WePeople. And where we go.

WeGoWeGo

Development Blog

2007-11-06T23:34:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the WeGoWeGo development blog. We are knee-deep in building what we hope to be the most truly kick-ass nightlife and events promotion website in the world. We are bringing it to life soon, first in the form of a private alpha tester. If you'd like to be part of the process comment here and we'll get in touch with you.

Cheers for now,
the WeGoWeGo Team