PeaTiX AlphaTaku Harada

CEO, Orinoco• • •

AND SO IT WAS MARCH 11. LIFE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL, AS ALWAYS. THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS WERE

GOING TO COME SOON.

That's when it hit. Everything since then seems like a blur. 20,000 of us up north were washed away in a matter of minutes (it's a Japanese thing - it's about "we" and "us"). A nuclear plant some 200 kilometers up north had broken down, and the stuff that's supposed to be seen only in movies was creeping into the realm of reality. Scenes of devastation on the TV 24/7, fear of increased radiation on rainy days, and my oh my all those aftershocks... bewilderment, despair, sparse amounts of peaceful sleep, frustration with our government, with the occasional glimpse of positive humility with people reaching out to each other. This will go on for a very long time. Hell, it might even get worse. But right now there's no other place that I'd rather be.

I've been thinking a lot about ways to give back to and help out those in need in Tohoku. Also about how we could help out in reviving an economy that should be following a thorny path for many

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Meet PeaTiX

MINJA TOENIGES is our UX designer. She’s from Germany and we love the way she pronounces “Twitter” - like ‘Twitt-ah.’

FUMIAKI YOSHIMATSU is one of our software engineers. He’ll get really angry if he finds you without a helmet whilst riding a bike.

NATHANIEL HEINRICHS is another one of our software engineers. We’ve never seen anyone down so many beers in one sitting. It’s downright fucking amazing.

ANNOUNCEMENT MAY 9, 2011

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT ORINOCO

So here's PeaTiX. You've probably seen a similar model or two in the U.S. and elsewhere. It's a simple but brilliant idea - anybody can come to the site, set up events, and also create and sell e-tickets for the events. On the day of the event, the tickets can be scanned with an iPhone app, or you can also check-in attendees through PeaTiX from a PC. Ticket sales will be paid out to you right after the event is concluded (less some very small fees). That's it. Very simple. PeaTiX can be used for the usual suspects like concerts, club events and seminars, but we hope it'll be used also for stuff like dinners and parties.

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years to come. Our company is still very young and small. We don't have a lot of money or resources. Although we have two healthy and growing business lines (operating e-commerce sites for major brands and musical artists, and also representing a number of U.S.-based online businesses in Japan), we need to try harder, become bigger. We need to create some wealth that we can give back to our community and comrades in Japan. So we're going to add a third business to what we already have. Something that we hope will grow over time beyond our expectations.

If you're reading this right now, you're one of a small number of people we've invited to preview PeaTiX, before we announce it to a wider audience. We'll call it "alpha" for now, although the service is fully functional. We already have a long list of functionalities that we'll get to work on, but we also want to get some good (i.e. "critical") feedback from you guys, so we can continue to improve the service. So please, please use PeaTiX and tell us what you think, however harsh it may be. As our good friend David McClure of 500 Startups likes to say, negative feedback is much better than having no feedback at all. Soon we'll be adding more features like invitation-only events, an Android app, alternative payment methods, improved integration with Facebook (have you seen those latest Facebook Japan figures?!), etc. And I'll say it right here: we also want to launch PeaTiX in other countries. Launching the first version of PeaTiX in Japanese and English is a first step in that direction.

We really look forward to hearing what you think. If you have any questions, or if you need any help in setting up an event, please contact us at info@peatix.com.

Last but not least, I’d like to highlight our wonderful and intelligent team members at Orinoco who have worked hard on this project:

Minja Toeniges Our talented UX designer who will not back down an inch when it comes to optimizing customer experience. It's almost scary. Minja, I don't know why but I feel like apologizing to you: you're right, always.

Fumiaki YoshimatsuThe kingpin of software engineering. Everything you throw his way seems to get done in 20 minutes. Fumiaki, please take a bathroom break once in a while.

Nate HeinrichsSoft-spoken software engineer, possesses willpower made of iron. He gets it done, period. Just watch out with that beer tab (there's a reason he has a German surname).

Peter JacbosHe's the guy who made the iPhone app for us. He also knows the words to "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" so he's cool. If you need any app help, contact him at pjacobs@megurosystems.com

Daisuke “Dice” HorieWhere would we be without this guy, who wrote up the blueprint for it all. Also, if you're a Mariners fan/Yankee hater, he wants to take you out to dinner.

Emi TakemuraOur beautiful CMO. Middle name is "Perfection" but she doesn't print that on her business cards for some reason. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and yell out "Oh Emi, what have we done to deserve you??!!"

Mayu IwashitaProfessional marketer who lightens up the room whenever she walks in. Brings us tasteful treats like cookies as well so it's a double whammy.

Naofumi IwaiOur COO and my right hand man. Our birthdays are one week apart. He's great at putting together detailed business plans and finding the next big ramen joint. But you can't have him, he's ours. Sorry.

Hiroshi KimuraThe Professor. Chock full of knowledge. Puts any QA plan out there to shame.

I'd also like to thank Yuji Fujita, Ryohei Fujita, David Wasserman, Atsushi Ichinari and Seina Sakaue, who will be contributing to development, sales and marketing for PeaTiX going forward.

That's it for now. We'll introduce new features to PeaTiX soon, and we also might feature some cool events that you might be interested in attending.

We hope you enjoy using PeaTiX!

Cheers,Taku

... negative feedback is much better than having no feedback at all.

... and say hi to Peachan