7 ms·

Lifetramp: Be someone else for a day

146 points by ashwin_kumar 12y ago

mholt 12y ago
Can I just say, I wish I thought of this first? Here's a startup that focuses on connecting people with what they love to do. Of course people will be willing to pay for the opportunity. The business model relies on fundamental human passions and cultivating meaningful relationships. This is what "the daily grind" really should be about: doing what you love with those who believe what you believe. (Simon Sinek, anyone?) Anyway, I hope it sees more global availability soon. If Lifetramp is really all about doing good for people, I expect it will be quite successful. My only concerns are that A) the price may be inhibitive, and B) the quality of the mentors may be low. Solve those two problems, then integrate with mobile, and I bet it'd be well on its way.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Lifetramp co-founder here. First of all, thanks for the kind words and feedback. We just did a small launch in Poland with mentors that we could easily reach to validate the idea, but we're currently doing what we can with our limited resources (it's a bootstrapped startup) to grow our mentor database as much as possible. Watch this space.
DustinCalim 12y ago
This is a great idea. Similar to mholt's comment, I think it needs a foothold in the sf bay area to really take off.
- mholt 12y ago
  And Utah Valley, the other most fertile ground for tech startups in the US.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  The plan is to be global, so SF Bay Area is definitely on our radar.
lemming 12y ago
Nice idea, but I can't figure out how to see everyone in a particular place. I'd like to look up interesting people near me, regardless of what they do.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  That's some great feedback, we'll make sure to incorporate it. Thanks!
  - beefman 12y ago
    Looks like there's no State field for the US. So there's "Denver, United States" and "Asheville, North Carolina".
bemmu 12y ago
This is going to be huge. This is basically AirBnB for activities, while managing to not make people feel like they are merely booking a tour.
jaysonelliot 12y ago
Boy, I was so excited when that search box appeared with the words "If you had a chance to experience another lifestyle…" With no hesitation at all, I typed TRUCK DRIVER, and hit "search." All my life, I've said at one time or another, "if I could just take a couple years off and learn to drive a big rig, I'd love to see what life would be like." I've gone so far as to inquire with various trucking schools, but never more than that. It's just too different, too wildly far away from who I am and what I do now. How would anyone understand that I left a high-paying tech career with "no heavy lifting," as they say, to become an over the road driver? Would I be happy? I wish I could know. So of course I typed TRUCK DRIVER and hit search. And in a split second, anticipation turned into unsurprised disappointment. Of course it said "Whoops. Looks like we couldn't find any mentors matching your search." Dead end. Sure, there's a place to enter a suggestion, which naturally just results in an empty-sounding "you're awesome" and a vague promise to "try and get someone," but no CTA beyond that, or opportunity for further engagement. Digging around a bit more, there's a sidebar that can be expanded to show some locations. Clicking on various cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, etc., the minuscule number of mentors that do exist on the site are web designers, UX specialists, and the like. I'd wager that most of the people looking at the site already do things like that. Not much lifetramping to be had there. A concept like this could be amazing, if it had a wide network of mentors in all walks of life. The ones that are there now, though, seem to be variants of "hip tech worker" or "hip artisanal ex-tech worker." I hope the creators can get a lot more variety, and most importantly, a lot of mentors. I'll be watching with my fingers crossed. Still wish I could ride along with a truck driver for a week.
- gk1 12y ago
  I know someone who quit a well-paying management consulting job to become a truck driver. He bought a Peterbilt and did routes throughout the Southwest and California. After a while (I think about a year), he came to Brooklyn and opened a cafe, which is now doing quite well. From what he told me about his truck-driving days, it sounded like he had a great time. I guess what I'm trying to say is... You can do it.
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
Monkeyget 12y ago
It would be great for children who have a narrow view of their career possibilities.
lessnonymous 12y ago
I always wanted to be a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. The Giant Redwood. The Larch. The Fir! The mighty Scots Pine! But they can't find any mentors matching my search. :(
- Tjodalv 12y ago
  He sleeps all night and works all day!
weewooweewoo 12y ago
I got way too excited about this just to find out that you actually need an invite to book a day.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Do you need one? Just hit me up with your profile name, I'll get you in.
ekianjo 12y ago
Interesting concept, kind of like what we see on TV (I have seen a couple of programs which use the exact same idea before, so the concept per se is not new). I guess one of the key issue is when you have too many mentors on the platform, it will be very hard to get visibility if you want to be one among the most popular categories. I have seen some unfortunate descriptions (someone describing themselves as "growth hacker", omg...), I hope they exercise some curation in there.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Every mentor is being screened during the interview, but if someone wants to call himself a growth hacker, we are not going to decline him just based on that.
btrombley 12y ago
Funny, my friends built this company two years ago (and called it lifeswap). It was well received, but the challenge was high turnover amongst mentors due to the work involved--it's much harder to mentor someone than just rent your spare room on airbnb, and probably pays worse. In the end they discovered that the only way it would work is as a headhunting firm for tech companies, and decided to build a new company instead.
sz4kerto 12y ago
I find it quite interesting that most hacker-type people would like to try out a life without computers and/or with much more physical activity. Someone here said truck driver, someone else said lumberjack -- I searched for 'bicycle messenger', my geek friends usually followed similar patterns.
- VLM 12y ago
  The grass is always greener... There is also the stereotypical "startup culture" ageism. Being a military reserves soldier sounded like an adventure when I was 17, but in my 20s it turned into a PITA and I didn't re-enlist. There's a lifestyle difference between "Bye Mom see ya after the deployment" vs "OMG I got a (real) job and house and car and bills and a dog WTF am I going to do now". Aside from attitude, lumberjack sounds physically like fun when you're young and invincible, not so fun in your later years after you've actually cut down some trees. I've wielded a +1 chainsaw of storm recovery a couple times and its not so much fun after the first 12 hours on the job.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  We do have a blacksmith!
- rckclmbr 12y ago
  I searched for welder, and didn't find anyone :(
- SyncTheory13 12y ago
  Data Analyst now, Firefighter in the future? I'll eventually look into volunteer efforts though...
- gensym 12y ago
  I searched for police officer and brewmaster. Got no results, but it did suggest a "brand editor".
  - dotmariusz 12y ago
    Try looking for brewer rather than brewmaster. You'll find Marcin. And yes, we know suggestions need some improving.
madaxe_again 12y ago
I put in astronaut. :(
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  These are probably not easy to come by as mentors, unless we can get Elon Musk and his SpaceX program in.
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    Have you thought about getting Mirosław Hermaszewski, the first and only polish cosmonaut, on board?
dyadic 12y ago
I've always wanted to do something like this, and I'm going to be in Poland (where most of the mentors are) for the next couple of months, so I'm a little bit excited already. edit: Or maybe not, you need to be invited before being able to contact a mentor. edit 2: I have been invited, thank you Lifetramp
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Hit us up on team@lifetramp.com or on Twitter and we'll get you sorted out.
- Tjodalv 12y ago
  Sent! Check your e-mail mate!
MadManE 12y ago
This kind of thing just makes me happy. I hope it takes off, and wish the best to the founders.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Thanks!
wheaties 12y ago
Evidently porn star didn't have mentors either. Have to admit, if you're going to put this up on the web, most every 18-21 year old guy I know is going to put that in. Perhaps you need to put in a few "keep dreaming" on certain terms.
- collyw 12y ago
  I am double the average of your age range and that was still my first suggestion.
- facepalm 12y ago
  Why would you want to be a porn star?
  - blueskin_ 12y ago
    Money, I'd guess. While women make far, far, far more than men, men are still well paid.
Thriptic 12y ago
Awesome idea! but you didn't have any mentors who are fighter pilots or painters yet ;p Unfortunately I'm not sure how well this concept will work for non-freelance occupations. I doubt employers would want randoms coming in to shadow their employees and risk potential exposure of IP / confidential information, but I could be wrong. If that issue can be resolved though, it could be a fantastic way to covertly job search or look for schools.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  We don't have a painter, but we do have a muralist in Poland. You might check it out. As for non-freelance occupations, Developer Relations Manager in Google Poland is a mentor, so at least some cool companies don't mind.
zxlk21e 12y ago
I think a larger focus needs to be placed on location based navigation. I get that it's primarily poland right now, but the drill down options for location are abysmal: http://lifetramp.com/search?place=Chicago-Miami http://lifetramp.com/search?place=Chicago-Miami I would be MUCH more willing to hook up in my state than other countries, etc.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  That's definitely on our improvements list.
dueprocess 12y ago
I'm working on a similar idea which I hope to launch in a week of so. It's not the same, but dang, it's in the ballpark.
joebo 12y ago
I am surprised by the name. The word tramp has a negative connotation for me. I would be somewhat concerned about it being blocked at firewalls or showing up in my address history.
pgt 12y ago
Great idea. Terrible name. Awesome execution graphically. Will play around some more later. Keep iterating!
btbuildem 12y ago
> Agriculture is the most important job on the island. Every person is taught it and must live in the countryside, farming for two years at a time, with women doing the same work as men. Parallel to this, every citizen must learn at least one of the other essential trades: weaving (mainly done by the women), carpentry, metalsmithing and masonry. There is deliberate simplicity about these trades; for instance, all people wear the same types of simple clothes and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel. All able-bodied citizens must work; thus unemployment is eradicated, and the length of the working day can be minimised: the people only have to work six hours a day (although many willingly work for longer). More does allow scholars in his society to become the ruling officials or priests, people picked during their primary education for their ability to learn. All other citizens are however encouraged to apply themselves to learning in their leisure time. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book))
normloman 12y ago
Something rubs me the wrong way about that site. How come all these jobs are all artsy / techy. Where are all the thankless blue collar jobs? I see game designer, guitar luthier, and something called "coffee evangelist" but no janitors. The whole thing seems like something on Portlandia.
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Most of the jobs right now are artsy / techy because those people are easiest to reach from our personal networks and that's where we started signing up mentors. Feel free to throw a janitor in a suggestion box, we'll try to sign one up.
  - normloman 12y ago
    I don't know any janitors in poland. But think of the possibilities. You could offer a "Janitor's day in the life" to entitled tech workers. The tagline could be "Step outside your bubble and see how the rest of the world lives."
timjahn 12y ago
I've long had the idea for a web series called "What Do You Do?" that would be similar to this. Each episode would feature the host doing the job/becoming the person of a new occupation (like Dirty Jobs but not just for dirty jobs). Personally, I'm fascinated by this. I would love to experience the jobs of others, just to learn about them and their story.
marincounty 12y ago
I've thought about this over the years, and if I could experience another guy's life/job for a day; It always comes down to Hugh Heffner--when he was younger, before AIDS.
blueskin_ 12y ago
I know what I'd do. Billionaire.

146 points by ashwin_kumar 12y ago

mholt 12y ago

Can I just say, I wish I thought of this first? Here's a startup that focuses on connecting people with what they love to do. Of course people will be willing to pay for the opportunity. The business model relies on fundamental human passions and cultivating meaningful relationships. This is what "the daily grind" really should be about: doing what you love with those who believe what you believe. (Simon Sinek, anyone?) Anyway, I hope it sees more global availability soon. If Lifetramp is really all about doing good for people, I expect it will be quite successful. My only concerns are that A) the price may be inhibitive, and B) the quality of the mentors may be low. Solve those two problems, then integrate with mobile, and I bet it'd be well on its way.

dotmariusz 12y ago
Lifetramp co-founder here. First of all, thanks for the kind words and feedback. We just did a small launch in Poland with mentors that we could easily reach to validate the idea, but we're currently doing what we can with our limited resources (it's a bootstrapped startup) to grow our mentor database as much as possible. Watch this space.

DustinCalim 12y ago

This is a great idea. Similar to mholt's comment, I think it needs a foothold in the sf bay area to really take off.

mholt 12y ago
And Utah Valley, the other most fertile ground for tech startups in the US.
dotmariusz 12y ago
The plan is to be global, so SF Bay Area is definitely on our radar.

lemming 12y ago

Nice idea, but I can't figure out how to see everyone in a particular place. I'd like to look up interesting people near me, regardless of what they do.

dotmariusz 12y ago
That's some great feedback, we'll make sure to incorporate it. Thanks!
- beefman 12y ago
  Looks like there's no State field for the US. So there's "Denver, United States" and "Asheville, North Carolina".

bemmu 12y ago

This is going to be huge. This is basically AirBnB for activities, while managing to not make people feel like they are merely booking a tour.

jaysonelliot 12y ago

Boy, I was so excited when that search box appeared with the words "If you had a chance to experience another lifestyle…" With no hesitation at all, I typed TRUCK DRIVER, and hit "search." All my life, I've said at one time or another, "if I could just take a couple years off and learn to drive a big rig, I'd love to see what life would be like." I've gone so far as to inquire with various trucking schools, but never more than that. It's just too different, too wildly far away from who I am and what I do now. How would anyone understand that I left a high-paying tech career with "no heavy lifting," as they say, to become an over the road driver? Would I be happy? I wish I could know. So of course I typed TRUCK DRIVER and hit search. And in a split second, anticipation turned into unsurprised disappointment. Of course it said "Whoops. Looks like we couldn't find any mentors matching your search." Dead end. Sure, there's a place to enter a suggestion, which naturally just results in an empty-sounding "you're awesome" and a vague promise to "try and get someone," but no CTA beyond that, or opportunity for further engagement. Digging around a bit more, there's a sidebar that can be expanded to show some locations. Clicking on various cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, etc., the minuscule number of mentors that do exist on the site are web designers, UX specialists, and the like. I'd wager that most of the people looking at the site already do things like that. Not much lifetramping to be had there. A concept like this could be amazing, if it had a wide network of mentors in all walks of life. The ones that are there now, though, seem to be variants of "hip tech worker" or "hip artisanal ex-tech worker." I hope the creators can get a lot more variety, and most importantly, a lot of mentors. I'll be watching with my fingers crossed. Still wish I could ride along with a truck driver for a week.

gk1 12y ago
I know someone who quit a well-paying management consulting job to become a truck driver. He bought a Peterbilt and did routes throughout the Southwest and California. After a while (I think about a year), he came to Brooklyn and opened a cafe, which is now doing quite well. From what he told me about his truck-driving days, it sounded like he had a great time. I guess what I'm trying to say is... You can do it.
- ForHackernews 12y ago

Monkeyget 12y ago

It would be great for children who have a narrow view of their career possibilities.

lessnonymous 12y ago

I always wanted to be a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. The Giant Redwood. The Larch. The Fir! The mighty Scots Pine! But they can't find any mentors matching my search. :(

Tjodalv 12y ago
He sleeps all night and works all day!

weewooweewoo 12y ago

I got way too excited about this just to find out that you actually need an invite to book a day.

dotmariusz 12y ago
Do you need one? Just hit me up with your profile name, I'll get you in.

ekianjo 12y ago

Interesting concept, kind of like what we see on TV (I have seen a couple of programs which use the exact same idea before, so the concept per se is not new). I guess one of the key issue is when you have too many mentors on the platform, it will be very hard to get visibility if you want to be one among the most popular categories. I have seen some unfortunate descriptions (someone describing themselves as "growth hacker", omg...), I hope they exercise some curation in there.

dotmariusz 12y ago
Every mentor is being screened during the interview, but if someone wants to call himself a growth hacker, we are not going to decline him just based on that.

btrombley 12y ago

Funny, my friends built this company two years ago (and called it lifeswap). It was well received, but the challenge was high turnover amongst mentors due to the work involved--it's much harder to mentor someone than just rent your spare room on airbnb, and probably pays worse. In the end they discovered that the only way it would work is as a headhunting firm for tech companies, and decided to build a new company instead.

sz4kerto 12y ago

I find it quite interesting that most hacker-type people would like to try out a life without computers and/or with much more physical activity. Someone here said truck driver, someone else said lumberjack -- I searched for 'bicycle messenger', my geek friends usually followed similar patterns.

VLM 12y ago
The grass is always greener... There is also the stereotypical "startup culture" ageism. Being a military reserves soldier sounded like an adventure when I was 17, but in my 20s it turned into a PITA and I didn't re-enlist. There's a lifestyle difference between "Bye Mom see ya after the deployment" vs "OMG I got a (real) job and house and car and bills and a dog WTF am I going to do now". Aside from attitude, lumberjack sounds physically like fun when you're young and invincible, not so fun in your later years after you've actually cut down some trees. I've wielded a +1 chainsaw of storm recovery a couple times and its not so much fun after the first 12 hours on the job.
dotmariusz 12y ago
We do have a blacksmith!
rckclmbr 12y ago
I searched for welder, and didn't find anyone :(
SyncTheory13 12y ago
Data Analyst now, Firefighter in the future? I'll eventually look into volunteer efforts though...
gensym 12y ago
I searched for police officer and brewmaster. Got no results, but it did suggest a "brand editor".
- dotmariusz 12y ago
  Try looking for brewer rather than brewmaster. You'll find Marcin. And yes, we know suggestions need some improving.

madaxe_again 12y ago

I put in astronaut. :(

dotmariusz 12y ago
These are probably not easy to come by as mentors, unless we can get Elon Musk and his SpaceX program in.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Have you thought about getting Mirosław Hermaszewski, the first and only polish cosmonaut, on board?

dyadic 12y ago

I've always wanted to do something like this, and I'm going to be in Poland (where most of the mentors are) for the next couple of months, so I'm a little bit excited already. edit: Or maybe not, you need to be invited before being able to contact a mentor. edit 2: I have been invited, thank you Lifetramp

dotmariusz 12y ago
Hit us up on team@lifetramp.com or on Twitter and we'll get you sorted out.
Tjodalv 12y ago
Sent! Check your e-mail mate!

MadManE 12y ago

This kind of thing just makes me happy. I hope it takes off, and wish the best to the founders.

dotmariusz 12y ago
Thanks!

wheaties 12y ago

Evidently porn star didn't have mentors either. Have to admit, if you're going to put this up on the web, most every 18-21 year old guy I know is going to put that in. Perhaps you need to put in a few "keep dreaming" on certain terms.

collyw 12y ago
I am double the average of your age range and that was still my first suggestion.
facepalm 12y ago
Why would you want to be a porn star?
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Money, I'd guess. While women make far, far, far more than men, men are still well paid.

Thriptic 12y ago

Awesome idea! but you didn't have any mentors who are fighter pilots or painters yet ;p Unfortunately I'm not sure how well this concept will work for non-freelance occupations. I doubt employers would want randoms coming in to shadow their employees and risk potential exposure of IP / confidential information, but I could be wrong. If that issue can be resolved though, it could be a fantastic way to covertly job search or look for schools.

dotmariusz 12y ago
We don't have a painter, but we do have a muralist in Poland. You might check it out. As for non-freelance occupations, Developer Relations Manager in Google Poland is a mentor, so at least some cool companies don't mind.

zxlk21e 12y ago

I think a larger focus needs to be placed on location based navigation. I get that it's primarily poland right now, but the drill down options for location are abysmal: http://lifetramp.com/search?place=Chicago-Miami http://lifetramp.com/search?place=Chicago-Miami I would be MUCH more willing to hook up in my state than other countries, etc.

dotmariusz 12y ago
That's definitely on our improvements list.

dueprocess 12y ago

I'm working on a similar idea which I hope to launch in a week of so. It's not the same, but dang, it's in the ballpark.

joebo 12y ago

I am surprised by the name. The word tramp has a negative connotation for me. I would be somewhat concerned about it being blocked at firewalls or showing up in my address history.

pgt 12y ago

Great idea. Terrible name. Awesome execution graphically. Will play around some more later. Keep iterating!

btbuildem 12y ago

> Agriculture is the most important job on the island. Every person is taught it and must live in the countryside, farming for two years at a time, with women doing the same work as men. Parallel to this, every citizen must learn at least one of the other essential trades: weaving (mainly done by the women), carpentry, metalsmithing and masonry. There is deliberate simplicity about these trades; for instance, all people wear the same types of simple clothes and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel. All able-bodied citizens must work; thus unemployment is eradicated, and the length of the working day can be minimised: the people only have to work six hours a day (although many willingly work for longer). More does allow scholars in his society to become the ruling officials or priests, people picked during their primary education for their ability to learn. All other citizens are however encouraged to apply themselves to learning in their leisure time. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book))

normloman 12y ago

Something rubs me the wrong way about that site. How come all these jobs are all artsy / techy. Where are all the thankless blue collar jobs? I see game designer, guitar luthier, and something called "coffee evangelist" but no janitors. The whole thing seems like something on Portlandia.

dotmariusz 12y ago
Most of the jobs right now are artsy / techy because those people are easiest to reach from our personal networks and that's where we started signing up mentors. Feel free to throw a janitor in a suggestion box, we'll try to sign one up.
- normloman 12y ago
  I don't know any janitors in poland. But think of the possibilities. You could offer a "Janitor's day in the life" to entitled tech workers. The tagline could be "Step outside your bubble and see how the rest of the world lives."

timjahn 12y ago

I've long had the idea for a web series called "What Do You Do?" that would be similar to this. Each episode would feature the host doing the job/becoming the person of a new occupation (like Dirty Jobs but not just for dirty jobs). Personally, I'm fascinated by this. I would love to experience the jobs of others, just to learn about them and their story.

marincounty 12y ago

I've thought about this over the years, and if I could experience another guy's life/job for a day; It always comes down to Hugh Heffner--when he was younger, before AIDS.

blueskin_ 12y ago

I know what I'd do. Billionaire.