"Yelp" for historic manors in Scandinavia, from concept to product - starting with 744 manors in Denmark < Back to Projects | Next project >
"Herregaard" is the Scandinavian word for manor. In Denmark there are 744 manor houses alone. Most of them are privately owned, some are open to the public, some are not. The ones that are open to the public tries in different ways to create business by attracting visitors. "Herregaardene.dk" wanted to make a business by helping visitors find the manor houses that are open to the public, or have attractions on their grounds. Background The goal was to create an online service - not unlike Yelp - with lists of attractions to see, places to eat and sleep and things too do while visiting the manor houses in Denmark. Research had shown that people like to visit several manor houses over the course of a day or two - unlike what manor owners think, which should encourage the manor houses to collaborate instead of competing. "Herregardene" should be the platform for this. Concept I got the idea, wrote the business plan, did the research, defined the concept and made the initial prototype. I then generated the content, defined all the features and formed the legal entity, designed the whole service and got it made by a team of developers, while setting up the business with the Association of Estate Owners and Visit Denmark. The outcome was a fully functional online service - complete with marketing strategy and sales organization. The Big Mistake The concept was defined in 2010, so mobil had been taken into account and the website was prepared to go "adaptable" for the purpose. But it wasn't made "Mobile first" and an application should have been made instead of a website adaptable to mobil. This was a setback for the project which ran out of money before launch. OUTCOME: Lots of experience running all parts of an entire online business. Proof of concept for a viable product. SKILLS IN ACTION:
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