Looking at Business Opportunities Through Cafe Nomad
This article was originally drafted around 2016 and finished in 2020.
Around 2016 (I don’t recall the exact timing), a website called cafe nomad caught my attention.
The website’s concept was simple: it gathered cafes across different regions of Taiwan and rated them based on specific criteria such as seating availability, quietness, time limits, power outlets, and Wi-Fi stability. Subsequent iterations also introduced user comments and photo-sharing features.
Why are there so many cafes? Beyond opening one being a small dream for many people, there has always been a steady demand from people searching for quality cafes.
Typical blog posts or Google Maps reviews don’t specifically rate places based on the criteria mentioned above, or you have to dig through the review sections just to find one or two relevant mentions.
For remote workers and freelancers, these criteria are often crucial considerations—especially for engineers, for whom Wi-Fi and power outlets are top priorities.
Looking at the Web Archive, the UI back then was very bare-bones—just thrown together with Bootstrap and launched. From a functionality standpoint, it probably wasn’t difficult for an experienced developer to build.
https://web.archive.org/web/20161117083952/http://cafenomad.tw/
Ever since its release, the site resonated across various online communities. I think the main reason was that it directly solved the pain points people faced when looking for a cafe.
Through this cafe map website, users could quickly find cafes that suited their preferences, and even leave comments, reviews, and star ratings. You gradually realize that information transparency is often a great entry point. Details like Wi-Fi, outlets, minimum spend, atmosphere, and service quality could usually only be found through word of mouth or by searching for blog posts online. But this website offered a collaborative platform where anyone could freely add photos and rate each metric. Within a few months, what initially started with just the Taipei area gradually expanded to the whole of Taiwan.
At the time, some Google ads were added (I’m not entirely sure, feel free to correct me if you remember). I guess the growing traffic made the developer sense a business opportunity, using ads to help offset server costs.
Fast-forward to today: the website now has a solid user base, and the information on it has grown richer and richer! While it isn’t some fairytale story of striking it rich overnight, sustaining it this far is genuinely impressive.
Business Models and Opportunities
Looking at Cafe Nomad, I noticed a few key takeaways:
- As long as the UI is clean, clear, and functional enough, it doesn’t need to be polished to perfection before launch.
- Information transparency is often a great entry point. This site digested raw information and presented it in a clear, accessible way, saving people time. Could this same model be applied elsewhere? For example, in more specialized niches like law firm directories or real estate agency comparisons—where the target audience is specific, making it easier to pinpoint user needs.
- Partnering with businesses for promotions.
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