Have you ever wanted to climb an old-growth tree, throw an axe, or build an igloo in the Mt. Seymour backcountry?
Or perhaps your taste in recreation is less extreme and you’d rather hike to Norvan Falls, stand-up paddleboard at Granville Island, or tour Stanley Park.
Whatever the required skill level, all the activities offered on Guiides.com are created with the same goal: to increase access to outdoor adventure. Founded by Capilano University business administration student Daniel Dubois, a BCBusiness Top 30 Under 30 recipient, the website officially launched last week. It lets people search for and book paid activities led by local outdoor enthusiasts or certified guides, depending on the risk factor involved.
“We really feel like there’s a trend toward adventure travel and also wanting to experience new areas as if you’re a local,” Dubois says.
An alternative to big bus tours and travel packages, each of the activities on Guiides.com is designed to be “a true local experience,” Dubois says – hence the unique spelling of the website.
“The whole reason we have two ‘i’s is to represent two people getting outside for an authentic adventure.”
Guiides.com takes 15 per cent of each booking fee and the rest goes to the trip leader. The website is affiliated with Dubois’ outdoor equipment sharing company, ShareShed, which is “like Airbnb, but for outdoor adventure gear,” he explains. Those who may feel discouraged from trying a new activity because they don’t own a kayak, mountain bike or crampons, for example, can rent the equipment through ShareShed.
Dubois began organizing stand-up paddleboarding events at Spanish Banks a while back to get a sense of demand. The “just show up” model, where people arrive empty-handed and can rent gear on site, proved popular.
“What we realized was people weren’t necessarily coming out because they had easy access to boards, but because we built a community and there was a sense of belonging there,” he says.
Wanting to take things further, Dubois started testing business models for guided outdoor adventures that would remove the barriers to getting outside.
Wanting to take things further, Dubois started testing business models for guided outdoor adventures that would remove the barriers to getting outside.
“Doesn’t matter if you don’t have friends that are going out and doing it, or if you don’t have gear, or the right skill set.”
He trialled a snowshoe excursion at Joffre Lakes, with a goal of getting 15 people to register for the paid trip. “A week before the event, we had 55 sign up and pay,” he says. Evidently, the demand was there.
Dubois is currently an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Next Big Thing, a foundation launched by Hootsuite to mentor young business leaders. In May, he’s heading to Thailand to represent Canada at the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards.
With Guiides.com now up and running in the Lower Mainland, the company aims to expand into Calgary and the Canadian Rockies by this summer.
“We feel like people will be more likely to care about our environment once they felt a relationship with nature,” Dubois says.
