Five Questions With: Travis Rowley

"We have always received positive feedback from our site visitors, which makes sense because we really have provided a good product and filled a void in the marketplace. "

Travis Rowley, co-founder of GoingOut Inc., talks about the company’s new GoingOut iPhone app, which focuses on dining and nightlife in Rhode Island and Boston, with Providence Business News. The Providence company, which debuted its iPhone app two months ago, already has received more than 1,000 downloads. The app will be available for Android users this month. Rowley, 35, runs the company with his older brother Kyle, 36, and younger brother, Tyler, 33. The brothers grew up in Narragansett, and graduated from Brown University.

PBN: Tell me how Goingout.com got started and how you got the idea for the app. Is it free? Is this your first app?

ROWLEY: Sitting around a Providence apartment several years ago, we realized that dining and nightlife websites were a dime-a-dozen. None of them had the ability to collect and distribute a satisfactory amount of information for the public. They certainly weren’t very useful to us. And that included Yelp and TripAdvisor. We set out to create a superior local site – a site that starts off by giving local venues a voice, rather than the consumers. You’ll notice that, on GoingOut, the content is primarily venue-driven. Not review-driven or blog-driven. We actually work very closely with our clients, coaching them on how to quickly promote their businesses on GoingOut. From there, the traffic follows the content. In other words: We built it, and they came.
Then the world went mobile. So we organized all of GoingOut’s content to fit onto your iPhone screen (Androids in August!). And, yes, GoingOut’s first app is free (What? You think we’re in this for the money?)

PBN: Do you plan on offering it anywhere else besides Rhode Island and Boston?

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ROWLEY: Absolutely. However, we establish very close relationships with the venues, so we don’t want to move too quickly and undermine that part of the business. Baby steps. Because, basically, we’re still children.

PBN: Do you have any other apps that you will be unveiling soon?

ROWLEY: Baby steps.

PBN: Are you surprised at all by the reception it has received?
ROWLEY:
I wouldn’t say “surprised.” But it always feels good when people tell you how much they love you. We have always received positive feedback from our site visitors, which makes sense because we really have provided a good product and filled a void in the marketplace. But also because patronizing bars and restaurants is such an enormous part of everyone’s lives. Dining and nightlife information is perpetually in high demand because “going out” is one of those things that never ends. Albeit, as people get older, they slide into different dining/nightlife scenes – which is exactly why GoingOut features all sorts of venues, including fine dining restaurants, comedy clubs, sports bars, live music joints, etc.
PBN: 1,000 downloads in two months is quite a bit – is it catching on more in Rhode Island or in Boston?
ROWLEY:
Pretty much right down the middle. While GoingOut has been in Rhode Island for almost four years, we brought GoingOut to Boston just over a year ago. We’re still introducing ourselves to everyone up there. However, because Boston is such a bigger market, we are already matching our Rhode Island numbers. Boston has been a huge challenge for us, but we’re well on our way to establishing GoingOut as the best dining/nightlife site in the city.

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