Building a company from scratch is difficult – but less so when you have a devoted fanbase of customers eager to give you feedback and help you develop your products! Virginia Duran, founder of Architectour, talks about how she turned her architecture training and travelling passion into a beautiful series of city guides and books, with a little help from 2,000 avid supporters and a kickstarter account…
Hi Virginia! Tell us all about your products! What makes Architectour so different to other city guides? What gap does it fill for your customers?
Hi! Well, Architectour started life originally designed as an iPad app. Then, when we realised there wasn’t any money in an app, we created a book, and were lucky enough to do so together with 2,000 people who were giving us constant feedback. We wanted to make the book really high-quality, something you can use again and again and show off to friends. So you have all the tips you would get from a friend who knows the city really well, but alongside beautiful illustrations.
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How did you initially have the idea?
I was constantly asking people questions about when they go travelling, and they were telling me their favourite approach to travelling was when they experienced unexpected ‘disappointment’. It’s different visiting between November, when it’s raining in London, and the expectation you might have from seeing sunny summertime Instagram photos. But people still want to enjoy a city in the rain.
When I was living in Chicago, I loved going out and finding new places and new buildings. I used to put pins on a personal Google Maps, and share it with friends who were visiting, and they’d use it to look around town while I was working. It got a bit further than just friends – passed around to other people I didn’t even know. People would come up to me at parties looking for ‘Virginia with the Maps’. It even had the best hairdressers and restaurants on it. I started getting feedback – positive and ‘constructive criticism! – and building better maps. They were always open and free, and people kept telling me more about how to do things better, and it just grew and grew.
Is it mainly for architecture lovers?
Not really! It came more from people travelling than from architecture. It’s more about what’s happening that day in each cities – what are the amazing things you can go and see. Things like where you can get a free afternoon tea, what the dress code is to get into the fanciest places, how you can sneak into off-limits buildings. We want people to get thinking more widely about what they can do when they are exploring a city. That’s why we focus more on proximity than other travel and architecture books – you can see for each featured building a section saying how long it takes to walk to another close amazing building, and we make recommendations like ‘if you liked this building, you will like other buildings’. People like walking around when they visit a city, not just getting the bus or the underground from tourist spot to tourist spot.
How did you discuss with 2000 people?
Because I opened maps for free to the public, then people started coming towards my blog – thousands of them, offering more advice and feedback. I learnt that you don’t want to launch any products without knowing your exact niche! I’ve now had over 1 million downloads of my 40+city guides directly from the website.
In September 2017 I moved to London and launched a Kickstarter campaign. We made the money that we needed for the project in one day! The potential customer community put their money behind us and validated the product.
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What has been the most exciting, and the most surprising, part of Architectour so far?
The most exciting thing has been to share the progress of the campaign with everyone. I get messages from people I don’t know in person, but are travel or architecture bloggers – amazing people from all around the world! When I travel, I try to meet them in person.
A surprising part has been seeing how much you can get done in two years. Through not getting distracted, persisting, being driven and not stopping, and giving your best every day – you can publish a book, launch a business – whatever your plans are.
How did you stay motivated?
I tried, and still try, to take a long term vision. My mantra is: I am going to be here, and this will work! Towards the end of the book creation process it got very stressful – the designer had to go into hospital, and I really thought the whole thing would fall apart. But my friends and family are really supportive. If I’m down I will go to my sister and she always helps me see the bright side.
How is this different to when you had a ‘day job’ as a consultant?
The freedom of owning your own time, and the quality of having a job that you ‘make’ for yourself. I don’t know if it’s a necessity, but for me it feels like you have to give your best all the time. Other jobs, 100% is probably ok, but when you’re working for yourself and on a new project, you have to give it more than everything, all the time.
And women aren’t very confident sometimes. We underestimate what we can do. When you’re alone, suddenly you need to level up all your skills, and to be realistic about where you are at. ‘I was really bad at doing this – and now I’m not amazing, but I’m also not that bad – maybe there’s hope.’ Women need to participate more – we can add as much value as any man or anyone else on the team.
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What is your favourite building in London/the world? Why?
My favourite building is the Lloyds building. It’s emotional for me. When I am standing outside the building, I am just thinking – life is good! It was an innovative design, it didn’t’ want to please anyone, and it became an icon. When you want to do something different you have to go all in. Richard Rogers is the architect, and he also designed the Leadenhall building nearby, so he gets to see the Lloyds building every day.
Who are architects that we should investigate, if we know nothing about architecture?
Foster + Partners – they are the most prolific architects at the moment – they have built more buildings than Christopher Wren. Zaha Hadid – her work is underestimated, despite how famous she was, and most of it is public. We think of her work as really formal – but actually it is schools, museums, public buildings. Go to the Aquatics Centre in Stratford, London, to see what I mean. I feel like it is a building which is really respectful towards people.
How do buildings create value for the public?
A building is not an individual part of the city – it is an embedded part of the city. When the proposal came through to demolish Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar, a council housing estate built in the 1970s, it didn’t take into account how embedded this building was in the local community – it isn’t just about the immediate purpose of the house. The rate of change means that there is a lot of value in studying all the buildings that are no longer with us.
What are your next steps for Architectour?
More blogging, writing and exploring. I’m planning that every one or two years there will be a new book. Travelling, of course! I also want to think more deeply about comparing different cities and the reasons behind how they have developed. There is lots of value in knowing which elements make cities walkable, or successful in general. I am looking forward to sharing with even more people, and building a global community of people who appreciate cities and architecture.
You can read all of Virginia’s guides at https://virginia-duran.com/, and learn more about the Architectour London Book at https://architectourguide.com/.
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