Hello! And welcome to coldspring.town.
My name’s C. Travis Webb. I live here in Nelsonville, just on Main Street, a few grateful steps away from Homestyle Creamery. I run a little software company called Yo-Do Software Corp. Yo-Do is a portmanteau and it means “the way of being here.” That company has built something we call Xenia, which lives here at coldspring.town.
Xenia was the sacred Greek commitment between guest and host. Its symbol was the crossroads—hence the “X” as our logo. Xenia was an agreement to trade stories instead of sword blows, to exchange goods and services instead of an eye for an eye. I chose that name because that’s what we’re building here, a digital crossroads that everyone in the community can benefit from.
What Xenia Will Do For Locals
To Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, Philipstown and its businesses are inventory and our community is just users. So even though locals experience and love this place, their place, their experience of it online is a thousand disconnected silos.
But that’s not our only option anymore. Coldspring.town brings everything together under one online destination so you can spend less time searching and more time offline. Ask Xen, our local search, for a contractor, cleaning service, or lawyer and you’ll get answers drawn from Philipstown.
First and foremost we’re a service to the residents and the neighbors of Philipstown—the people who live here, work here, or who visit here all the time. Everything below is free for businesses and residents:
- A comprehensive community calendar
- A web page for every business
- Hyper-local search focused on Philipstown
- A voice in how Xenia develops and changes over time
What Xenia Will Do For Visitors and Merchants
A natural tension exists between guests and hosts in a tourist town. Visitors, “tourists!” crowd the sidewalks, cross the street insanely, and have never seen a trashcan they can’t stuff one more cup into. But they’re also curious, and amazed that people get to live here, and grateful that places like this exist.
And they’re also the reason we have French bistros, Argentine and Uruguayan inspired lunches, world class pubs and pastries, and the best tea this side of the Atlantic. Maybe you don’t care about any of that. Maybe you miss the hardware store, or affordable groceries (I certainly do!). But I want to share something you may not know.
Running a business in a tourist town is very, very hard. Like, super hard. The margins are rough, staffing is a challenge, and after the frenetic seasonal rush passes, most of the shop owners are fretting about what they can do to connect with locals.
And that’s what we’re here for. We’re building tools to:
- Drive traffic to the village when it’s not the second weekend in October.
- Help businesses collaborate on events and bundles.
- Reward locals for wandering Main Street on a Wednesday and picking up something snazzy or thoughtful when the occasion calls for it.
For visitors, we want to make the visit more scrutable. Help them book a kayak rental the day they show up, schedule a hike with a tour guide, find a bathroom, and learn a little bit more about the place.
What Xenia Will Do for the Town
We commit to reinvesting 10 cents of every dollar we earn back into Philipstown. This is new territory, so we don’t know yet exactly how the economics will shakeout. But regardless, the town will benefit. If we hit a home run, the town wins big. If we hit a single, the town still wins—just not as big.
What’s Next and How to Get Started
What you’re looking at is what we call the minimum viable product (MVP). It’s already more than a business directory, but it’s also not done incubating. Coming soon will be a townwide gift card program, and a way for neighbors to set up small gigs for themselves, like dog walking and snow shoveling.
Getting started is easy:
- Create a free account with Google, Apple, or your own email. That gives you access to the Resident and Guest dashboard, and to Xen.
- If you’re a business and want to update your free listing, let us know. If you’re curious about our additional business features, I’m happy to answer questions.
- Feedback, suggestions, questions, or complaints you can email or call me personally: c.travis.webb@yo-do.com, or (845) 472-6754.
Look forward to seeing what we can build together!