Telluride Venture Accelerator: The Dyrt

31 May Telluride Venture Accelerator: The Dyrt

Here’s the dirt on dirt.

Or Dyrt.

Goose Lake Camgpround, WA

Dirt (or soil) isn’t just a mix of clay, sand, and humus that lies over bedrock.

It isn’t simply dust, grime, or filth either.

For archaeologists, dirt—or the layers of sediment they call “stratigraphy”— is often a blanket covering thousands of years of history.

But “dirt” with a “y” is making history on the ground now.

Picture a summer evening at a campground: cold beer, burning burgers over a campfire, s’mores, kids chasing fireflies winking at each other. It’s a big, messy, uplifting Norman Rockwell scene.

John Day River near Cottonwood Canyon State Park, OR

And The Dyrt is making this all-American diorama much more accessible.

Founded in 2013 by avid veteran camper and CEO Sarah Smith and husband Kevin, The Dyrt (thedyrt.com) provides a modern approach to the camping experience, enabling users to efficiently and elegantly review and find campsites across the county.

Information on The Dyrt site includes where the best camping experiences in an area are located, including details about amenities, what of interest is on the grounds or nearby (bathroom? stream? shade?), and other insider tips. In short order, The Dyrt takes the pain out of looking for campgrounds online through ground-level crowdsourcing videos, photos, and reviews from fellow campers.

Sarah Smith, Co-founder of The Dyrt

Think “The Yelp of Campgrounds.”

To grow its existing database of 15,000 + campsites – car camping and touring, not backpacking –  The Dyrt allows users who send in reviews of campgrounds to earn points and track their positions on the dyrt.com. On the last days of June, July, and August, The Dyrt users in the top 10 positions of the leaderboard will each receive $100 Marmot gift cards.

 “This leaderboard is meant to encourage all campers to get involved, reward users for reviewing campgrounds, and in the end, make finding campsites on-line easier for all of us. As an avid camper, I was frustrated with the experience of finding a campsite online. I can easily find reviews and photos of restaurants using Yelp, and hotels on Travelocity. Why shouldn’t the same be true for campgrounds?,” explained Smith, who encourages outdoor enthusiasts to participate in the campsite review process and win.

Kevin Long, Co-founder of The Dyrt

Earlier this year, The Dyrt team became one of five companies participating in 2015 Telluride Venture Accelerator program for early-stage ventures.Now in its third year, the Telluride Venture Accelerator, an initiative of the Telluride Foundation, is modeled after the most successful accelerators in the world. TVA invests $25k in seed funding to participating companies who relocate to Telluride for five months, where they are provided shared office space at the Peaks Resort and access to mentors to cultivate and support their business endeavors, including successful entrepreneurs-in-residence and Telluride’s angel investment community. A full member of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN), TVA boasts over 80 world-class mentors and an impressive track record in fundraising – over $8 million for its first two accelerator classes.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to my conversation with Sarah Smith of The Dyrt.