Every great website has an even better story behind it, and Exploroo is no different. How did Exploroo start? Who are the main people who helped develop it? Where did this idea come from? Let’s begin…
(If you don’t know what Exploroo is, head over to this page and find out.)
On January 1st, 2004, Frank Guerra was diagnosed with Tinitus, a rare condition that causes an unbearable ringing that frank had in both ears. You could just imagine how much stress this would cause, and due to Frank being unable to work effectively for over 2 years, he lost the small fortune he had previously amassed.
Hungry for ideas to pass the time when he could not sleep at night, Frank consulted friend and fellow Exploroo shareholder Michael Prichard (http://www.michaelprichard.com). Michael suggested Frank consider investing in domain names. Due to the lack of quality domain names available and the poor market at the time, this caused Frank even more stress.
One of the first domains Frank registered was www.nonamehotel.com, which he still owns today. Frank has always had a desire to run a successful travel website, so after some planning, he eventually developed www.hotelbackpacker.com. While this satisfied some of his desires, he was not totally happy with the effectiveness of this website. He knew he needed something bigger, and a more brandable domain name that people would easily remember.
After brainstorming over 500 different names, most of which were unavailable, Frank made a breakthrough. He took the name explore, removed the re off the end, and added roo from the word kangaroo, thus creating Exploroo. Being Australian, Frank knew the worldwide popularity of the word kangaroo and the symbolism of unbashful exploration it represented.
He quickly rushed over to his favorite domain registrar and checked to see if it was available. All this at 3 Am on the 7 -5-2008 To his delight, it was! He fumbled around, looking for a credit card that would work. Finally, he found one, and Exploroo, as well as over 30 related domains, were his.
Over the next 6 months, Frank assembled a top quality team of like minded people who saw the same vision that Frank did. One of these people, Andrew Macgregor, introduced Frank to a business associate of his: Daniel Lew. After a few weeks of friendly back and fourth conversation, Frank divulged his big plans for Exploroo. Daniel saw the need for a powerful travel related social networking site and was instantly captivated. Daniels strong work ethic and belief in the original concept has been a major asset in the development of Exploroo. This strong bond continues to this day, and everybody is excited about the future prospects of Exploroo! Frank has even brought on board his two sons, Evan (22) and Daniel (18), whose primary role will be helping youth travellers, while having active input on the operation of the site.
The Exploroo team strongly believes they have the next big thing, a great social network which will allow travelers from everywhere in the world to share their exciting travel experiences!