Milo Timbol has used 360-degree visual tours in different applications like real estate, travel and tourism, and now weddings

At e27, we like to consider the ecosystem as our product, with our platform being a place for founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and just about anyone from the startup community to connect.

Which is why it’s good to hear about success stories in which we have been a part of — from co-founders getting introduced through our platform, to companies getting funded or exiting with our implicit help. Even in small ways, I think that being able to be the catalyst for connections can play a big part in lifting the state of the region’s startup ecosystem.

Just this morning, I got a private message from a Filipino entrepreneur saying that one of my articles from 2013 helped him land work on ZipMatch, a leading real-estate startup in the Philippines. It was a blast from the past — I didn’t realise I made an impact on other people’s lives and careers during my first stint with e27.

I first got to interview Milo Timbol, who back then started a 360-degree virtual tour startup, which then got noticed by ZipMatch.

Also read: 360-degree virtual tours a boon for the regional real estate and rental industry

After more than two years with the company, Timbol has again set on his own to further leverage 360-degree tour technologies in yet another venture — this time involving a wedding marketplace in the Philippines, Brideworthy. It seems Timbol saw the potential of 360-degree visual tours even before the idea became mainstream. Now, with this tech being more accessible via Google Maps and through smartphones, it’s a matter of finding the right application and the right methodologies for delivering excellent content.

Now, warm and fuzzy feelings aside, I did a short interview to catch up with Milo about his latest ventures. Here are some edited excerpts:

Tell us about yourself, Milo. Before joining ZipMatch, what kind of projects or enterprises were you into?

Before Zipmatch, I worked as a Software Engineer (Java developer) building enterprise software. I found the work was repetitive and didn’t require much creativity.

To compensate for that, I studied web design and development on the side and accepted projects from friends and family. That’s when I stumbled upon Google Street View. I was blown away by the technology used to create it.

I got hooked into 360 photography and saw its potential. During that time I was also studying how to earn online, startups weren’t a thing yet back then, at least in the Philippines.

So I was looking into earning via Google Adsense and affiliate marketing. I built a few sites to test the waters (most of the sites are dead now). I built a blog with 360 photos and virtual tours called 360philippines.com.

The Mango Farm on BrideWorthy.com

I found that I wouldn’t live on AdSense alone — the Philippine market was too small so I looked into affiliate marketing that’s when I built boracay360.com, a hotel listing site with 360 tours and planned on earning from booking commissions.

What I learned was I couldn’t compete with the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies like Agoda and Tripadvisor) in terms of SEO. After that I thought I’d get into real estate so I built 360homes.ph. It was a real-estate listing site with 360 tours. What I learned was I wasn’t a good real estate agent, and having a website wasn’t enough.

What lasted through all those failures was my 360 virtual tour business called ExSight 360 Media Productions. it’s still running up to this day. I provide 360-degree photos / virtual tours / videos to hotel, resorts, real estate companies, etc. Selling the photography service became easier with FaceBook, Youtube, and Vimeo supporting 360 technology.

You mentioned that e27 helped you get involved in the local startup community. How did this go about?

The ZipMatch guys read the article you wrote about 360homes.ph back in 2013.

So when we they saw me at a Startup event, the founders John Dang and Chow Paredes talked to me and said they were interested in getting 360 virtual tours to their platform. We did a few test projects and eventually they hired me.

What kind of engagement did you have with Zipmatch? Did they acquire the 360-view technology from you? Was this developed from scratch by you, by the way?

The technology to create 360 virtual tours already existed then, I didn’t invent anything new; What I developed was my own workflow. Like how I shoot. I bracketed my shots to produce HDR (high dynamic range) and we used custom software so that the tours would load fast even on mobile. Since I had a technical background, it was easy to integrate this to the ZipMatch platform.

Also read: These 3 simple technologies are making proptech more accessible

I started as a 360 photographer for ZipMatch, moved to marketing, and then engineering (UI/UX), and then to product management.

It was one of the best learning experiences in my life. I spent 7 years in corporate prior to joining ZipMatch and I feel like I learned so much more in the 2.5 years I spent working for them [ZipMatch].

You told me you have since left ZipMatch. What projects are you doing today, and are these still related to the 360-view technology you developed with/for them?

I left ZipMatch last year to work on a wedding marketplace called BrideWorthy with my partner Mark, who used to work for ZipMatch as well. The idea for the site came from a pain point of ours while organizing our own weddings. The website doesn’t have a lot of features yet but we started with our strengths which is SEO and 360 virtual tours. Our site ranks well in search engines
and we have a really nice collection of 360 photos of churches and wedding reception venues. We currently list wedding venues on our site but soon we’ll open it up to all the other wedding supplier types.

I still consult ZipMatch on the 360 virtual tours.

Anything we can look forward to, in terms of your tech?

BrideWorthy is far from where we want it to be. Eventually we want it to be a one-stop-shop for weddings. From planning, inspiration, collaboration tools, reviews, the works.

What do you think of the local startup scene? What are our strengths as a community? And what do you think can be improved further?

Compared to several years ago, a lot has improved. There are now regular meetups, pitch events, and an active community in social media sites like Facebook, Quora, and Reddit. When I built the sites I mentioned above, I was a one man team and rarely did I go out to meet people. But I realize now that you really have to reach out to like minded individuals, because they will be the ones to help you out. It may be just as simple as giving opinions on your product, validation, ideas, or connecting you to the right people. We need more successful startups like ZipMatch because companies like them develop people and will breed more entrepreneurs in the future.

—-

Featured Image Copyright: dikushin / 123RF Stock Photo

The post From real estate tours to wedding organisation, this entrepreneur leverages 360-degree tech to showcase locations and venues appeared first on e27.