Loogic English

Restalo is a restaurant guide and reservation service started by two entrepreneurs with the support of Barcelona Activa.

I asked the founders of Restalo to explain to me the differential aspects of the site, and to speak the truth, I am really impressed.  All entrepreneurs should be able to explain in a few words the fundamental idea of their project and get others excited by their idea.

Here are two aspects of the site that have made a very good impression on me:

It’s a site thought for the users, as much in it’s usability aspects as in its purpose. What stands out the most is that part of the revenues earned by the site are destined to the users in the form of dinner invitations through points accumulated by participating on the site. Can you imagine a travel or hotel site gifting flights or hotel stays just for commenting and participating? In Restalo, they are doing exactly that by inviting their most active users to dine out.

It’s a useful site that only accounts for restaurants that are really worth a visit. Not all - only those that stand out for something. Apart from that, the reservation service doesn’t cost anything and one can get discounts of upto 50% in some restaurants.

I would very much like to see projects that are so well thought out as Restalo. I am sure that at some point of time, we will stop thinking that we are at the tail-end as far as internet businesses are concerned.

I wasn’t expecting this movement from the founders of Ebuga (and Eburra), who also previously founded Coches.net but the truth is that it makes a lot of sense to make the most of the synergies with a social network of automobile aficionados and start a website of classifieds for the sale and purchase of secondhand cars.

The website is called PocosKm (literally, FewKm), the typical phrase used when one wants to sell a car (”it has few kilometres”), and follows quite well the style of Ebuga which I so much like, very clear information and with an appropriate structure for navigation (my congratulations to the designer).

PocosKm launches with GoogleMaps integration, a control center for professionals and alerts of vehicles to notify potential buyers when a vehicle of their desired specifications goes on sale.

Just today, Christian Chena announced that he had sold Carros.com and wanted to sell Coches.com, which is another sign that the world of automobiles on the internet is very active lately, as we commented the other day while talking about enCooche.

For quite some time Lanetro was a portal of reference in Spain, an example to follow for many internet entrepreneurs. Their founders wanted to take it public and then it was acquired by Planeta.

Now Lanetro is going through a profound renewal and it wants to turn itself into a social network based on entertainment in which the users share their experiences and opinions about the places they visit.

In the new Lanetro we will be able to see content generated by an editorial team coexist with user generated content. As in all social networks that are springing up, users can create their profiles, connect with their friends, and express their opinion on the places or events they have been to.

Another important aspect of Lanetro used to be its street map. In this new version of the site, the street map accounts for the records of all the places that are mentioned in the entertainment guide, something that will be of great utility as a complement to the contents of the site.

Lastly, the design of the web is worth a mention, very cool in my opinion and also the profiles of the users that reflect very well the activity of the user within the community. Salir.com and Gentereal.com will have an important competitor in the new Lanetro.

Let’s take the example of UnAplauso (literally “AnApplause”) to guage the evolution of the directories of Grupo Intercom. What began as a simple database or directory of professionals for the entertainment industry has now become a portal with multiple functions.

The principal mission of UnAplauso is to find artists to hire for acting in a show, but as we can observe now, it is much more than just that. Apart from the information on artists, they have now added the possibility for the artists to upload videos and audio, which has strongly boosted the total amount of content on the site.

Besides, they have created a blog dedicated to the business of entertainment shows, which is bound to attract people interested in the sector. Also an important point to take into account is the presence of the portal in more than 10 countries in Europe and Latin America.

I think it’s a very good evolution for a directory and as mentioned before, they are doing it for other GI sites as well. Surely we will see this evolution in other projects like Jefe de Compras (Chief of Purchasing) and Mi Constructor (My Builder).