What is the mission of Groundspeak?

[+cheech gang]

Here is the mission statement posted on Groundspeak's home page. How do you think they are doing?

 

Mission

 

Since Groundspeak launched in 2000, we've been inspiring discovery, exploration and adventure. We do this by providing tools for the creation and sharing of story-worthy moments. Our goal is to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.

 

[+cerberus1]

I stopped thinking about it after, "The Lanquage of Location".

[+Manville Possum]

I'm still using this site and the Waymarking site to plan my weekends and vacations. We visited several sites in North Carolina last weekend that I would not have known about if not for geocaching.

[+nikcap]

Mission

 

Since Groundspeak launched in 2000, we've been inspiring discovery, exploration and adventure. We do this by providing tools for the creation and sharing of story-worthy moments. Our goal is to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.

 

 

I think they are hitting the nail squarely on the head.

 

As a company and website, and through their users, they do inspire discovery, exploration and adventure. They provide the best tools in the geocaching business to bring this adventure to novice and power users equally. It's clearly states that they want to make everyone an explorer. From what I can see, they do an excellent job at promoting their brand and getting individuals that wouldn't even consider venturing into the woods ... or looking under a lamp skirt ... for a secret treasure.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2015 by nikcap

[+ArtieD]

They seem to be spot on.

[+K13]

Here is the mission statement posted on Groundspeak's home page. How do you think they are doing?

 

Mission

 

Since Groundspeak launched in 2000, we've been inspiring discovery, exploration and adventure. We do this by providing tools for the creation and sharing of story-worthy moments. Our goal is to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.

 

 

With the broadness mission statement, I agree that they are meeting that goal. However, they are not the only website/company that is striving for these same goals; travel guides do this, as do other GPS related games, among many other activities. Some may even say twitter or facebook does these same things.

 

How well Groundspeak does the things to accomplish this mission is debatable. Some would say they are lacking in many areas.

[+The Rat]

Since Groundspeak is a for-profit company, its sole responsibility, i.e. mission, is to maximize value (i.e. profit and share value) for its shareholders. To do otherwise would be a breach of fiduciary duty by the directors and officers. This is equally true for both privately and publicly held corporations. I'm not suggesting there is anything nefarious about this. All for profit corporations are under this same obligation. Public mission statements like the above are basically nothing more than marketing efforts designed to appeal to a certain customer base. That being said, Groundspeak provides good value for the money spent by its customers. Certainly I've gotten years of enjoyment from a very modest investment. I just don't buy the mission statement.

[+geodarts]

Our goal is to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.

 

 

I suppose it is debatable whether a lampost in a parking lot is an "adventure," but it is definitely an "every location." On the other hand, there are "adventures" in locations that are not amenable to this game (at least without virtuals), but it is possible that people who waymark might be able to do something. So my rating is 50%.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Our goal is to make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location.

How does this explain their enthusiastic support of power trails?

[+gpsblake]

Since Groundspeak is a for-profit company, its sole responsibility, i.e. mission, is to maximize value (i.e. profit and share value) for its shareholders.

 

That's a fair statement and there's nothing wrong in it at all. I hope Groundspeak is making a good profit for themselves and their investors. They are the ones who put up the capital, website and devotion to building the geocaching website. But in all fairness to Groundspeak, it's not all about the money because they haven't raised premium membership fees since they were first started 13 years ago. Hard to find another company that can say the same.

 

But I also do believe they honestly try to hold to their mission statement.

 

Groundspeak, a good company in my opinion. 30 bucks a year for so much enjoyment and the 30 dollars is optional.

[+Ambrosia]

Since Groundspeak is a for-profit company, its sole responsibility, i.e. mission, is to maximize value (i.e. profit and share value) for its shareholders. To do otherwise would be a breach of fiduciary duty by the directors and officers. This is equally true for both privately and publicly held corporations. I'm not suggesting there is anything nefarious about this. All for profit corporations are under this same obligation. Public mission statements like the above are basically nothing more than marketing efforts designed to appeal to a certain customer base. That being said, Groundspeak provides good value for the money spent by its customers. Certainly I've gotten years of enjoyment from a very modest investment. I just don't buy the mission statement.

I understand being a bit jaded by the world of business. I also understand that there is always multiple motivations for everything, and not all of them can be pure. But I've spent a fair amount of time around the people at Groundspeak, and have had quite a few discussions with Jeremy and Bryan over the years. One of the reasons that I like geocaching so much and volunteer so much of my time with the company is because I have a lot of respect for them. To be upfront, I don't agree with all of their decisions, but I think that they have good motives.

 

The motivation right from the beginning was for geocaching to be used to get people out from behind their computers and out into nature. That is still a very important ideal for Groundspeak. Jeremy, Bryan and Elias had the good fortune to have a company that did well enough finacially to finally make it so that they could quit their jobs and take on Groundspeak full time. Of course they want to make money as a business. But they always keep their goals in the forefront of their thinking: to get people out into the outside world, exploring and adventuring. I have seen it in their eyes and their body language and the excitement that they exude when they talk about geocaching and the plans they have for the company.

[+frinklabs]

I think that they have good motives.

 

(bolding mine)

 

We can't know for sure the nature of motives if they don't more effectively communicate them to a wider range of participants.

 

I have seen it in their eyes and their body language and the excitement that they exude when they talk about geocaching and the plans they have for the company.

 

I'd like to see them attempt to communicate that more, here or even in the newsletter.

 

Wouldn't it be fair to say that there are threads here that would have benefited from even a quick note from TPTB regarding their intent? Before they went off the rails?

[+JL_HSTRE]

"The motivation right from the beginning was for geocaching to be used to get people out from behind their computers and out into nature."

 

Now the computers are mobile and much of the caching is not out in nature.