One of mankind’s earliest tools was that of the primitive fishhook. A small piece of wood, bone, or stone approximately one inch in length allowed coastal populations to thrive, seafaring families to flourish, and entire communities to gain access to the abundant resources of rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Fishing today is about more than just survival. It’s an experience— a ritual shared by millions that allows practitioners to reconnect to nature, explore all over the world, and discover their roots.
At the forefront of facilitating that experience is Fisherguiding, a platform designed to bring one of humanity’s oldest traditions into the 21st century by connecting fishing enthusiasts to fishing guides, providing them both everything they need to go on their next adventure.
We asked Co-Founders Edward Hill and Luke Cambell about their experience bringing the sharing economy to the fishing industry.
Q. How would you define Fisherguiding in one phrase or sentence?
A. The modern platform for booking fishing trips.
Q. What are your current product offerings?
A. We provide a simplified way for people to search for, compare, and book fishing trips with fishing guides, charters, and even lodges around the world.
Q. When and how did your journey begin? What is your origin story?
A. In 2016, Edward Hill, Co-founder and CEO, was looking to book a fishing guide in the Everglades, a place he’d never fished before. He found a few different guides through their personal websites online, but it was information overload. Even after Edward contacted multiple guides through different ways online and over the phone, nothing was working out and as the process kept dragging on, it got more discouraging and he didn’t end up doing any fishing.
From that experience, and based on his time working at a fly fishing shop in college, Edward realized that there should be a simpler way for booking trips within the fishing industry and started working on establishing Fisher Guiding to fill the need. He recruited Luke Campbell, a close friend from high school, to join him as a co-founder in March 2017, which was also the month that FisherGuiding.com launched and has since been growing from.
Q. What are some of the hurdles the company faced and overcame to reach where it stands right now?
A. Getting the first 100 guides and charter partners to list on our website was a challenge because we had to establish trust. We established enough of a personal relationship with many and have been fortunate to earn their commitment and patience while we grow. We’ve tried to provide value by spreading more awareness of the guides listed with us in any way we can since launch. That’s helped us maintain commitment from guides even during the early stages this year when we’ve still been building our user base and attracting clients to book trips.
Since our two co-founders have business, marketing and strategy backgrounds but only a little exposure to web development, another big challenge early on was finding the right person to come on board and take over web development from the agency that built the launch version of FisherGuiding.com. Since launch, we’ve identified a lot of ways to improve usability but have had to be patient to get to implementing improvements after fixing the initial website bugs that come with a new launch.
“We’ve identified a lot of ways to improve usability.”
Luke Cambell
Co-Founder, Fisherguiding
Q. What are your company’s core values? What drives you to do what you do?
A. We were founded from a passion for fishing, a sport and activity that provides enjoyment and relaxation to so many people. We know anglers can enjoy it more often and more people can learn where and how to fish in new locations and with new techniques, if it’s easier to coordinate trips with guides in areas where an angler hasn’t fished before. Another reason we’re motivated to grow people’s love for fishing is because it helps everyone appreciate nature at a higher level, which usually leads to recognizing the value and need for conservation.
Q. What problem(s) is Fisherguiding solving? How are you contributing to a larger social good?
A. We’re simplifying the fragmented and sometimes complicated process of finding, booking, and paying a fishing guide. By making it easier for both customers and guides, we’re helping people get out to fish more often and it makes us proud to connect people for enjoyable fishing experiences.
We are also business members of 1% For The Planet (a network of businesses that donate 1% of sales to non-profits that give back to the environment), Trout Unlimited (a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of freshwater streams, rivers, and associated upland habitats), and Fly Fishers International (a non-profit focused on conservation, education, and supporting a sense of community within fly fishing).
Q. What’s the most memorable and/or funny story that’s happened in your company?
A. One of the most surprising and memorable moments happened when The Chainsmokers read a blog post we wrote while they were on Facebook Live answering questions for a Reddit AMA.
Our post imagined that lyrics to some of their most popular songs were inspired by fishing, and we asked them if they like to fish with a link to what we wrote.
It was awesome seeing them laugh and have fun talking about something we messed around with, and we learned they love to fish!
Q. What stage of investment is your company in? Are you currently seeking investment? If so, what kind of investment are you looking for?
A. We’ll soon be seeking our second round of investment. We raised an initial seed round
and we’ll be opening up the opportunity to invest to more sources in 2018.
Q. Are you currently hiring? If so, what positions? What’s your company culture? What do you look for in new hires?
A. We’ll make our next hiring decisions after our next round of fundraising. Our company culture is to treat each other well, like we treat our customers, and to embrace the excitement and needs of growing a business by being flexible, hardworking, and collaborative.
Q. What is your long-term vision of the company? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? 10 years?
A. We’re focused right now on applying what we’ve learned in our first season to 2018 and growing with more guides, charters, and lodges listed, and more trips we can help people book all around the world. We’ll be continuing to work on ways to make it easier to find, compare, and book guides. In 5 years and in 10 years, we’ll still need to be adapting to the new ways technology make that process easier for both customers and guides.