MyGuidie helps travelers experience new destinations by linking them together with the local guides and today it launches a new version of its website. Travelers can select a variety of things to do, from wine-tasting to classes on how to bake muffins, to a shopping trip with a personal stylist.
The idea is a neat one, and should work well for single travelers, but also for anyone who is looking for a more authentic experience than a typical sight-seeing and souvenir-shopping tour, which has become rather standard. The only unfortunate element of the current service proposition is approach to payment. MyGuidie will accept a prepayment of 15 per cent for the provision of the service, leaving the rest to the parties. Considering that the whole motivation behind becoming a local guide or hiring one has a nice social feel to it, exchanging cash may feel rather awkward.
The young company from Poland was created by Ola Sitarska, Paulina Wardega and Kasia Mrozek in May 2011 at the Startup Weekend in Poland. 19-year-old Ola Sitarska is a serial entrepreneur, who has already sold her first Internet company. MyGuidie has become a finalist of the Europe Startup Weekend Battle, and will be pitching at HackFwd Pitch in Berlin this coming weekend.