Minstrel Technologies
    We develop and change the world of platforms
    Our projects
    Platforms in Tourism & Culture
    We have launched the major storytelling platform in tourism and culture – izi.TRAVEL. It serves millions of users around the globe with stories, developed by locals.
    Now we are developing it to the next level, which will provide the complete travel experience at a fraction of usual costs and efforts.
    The Post-Platforms Project
    Platforms are a great invention. They changed our world and simplified a lot of things. But it came at a price: they gained too much power and became a problem.
    We have started the Post-Platforms project with the ambition to reshape the world of platforms.
    Who We Are
    • Alex Tourski
      Founder

      Based in Amsterdam. Alex has a wide range of experience in different industries:

      • culture & tourism (founded izi.TRAVEL)
      • high-speed trains (managed HSR-1)
      • road safety/standards (NGO)
      • car navigation (company was sold to TomTom)
      • cryptography and internet security
      • business consulting and education
      • space research programs

      Alex has degrees in computer sci (Moscow PhysTech) and an MBA from Open University (UK)

    • Egor Yakovlev
      Co-founder
      Based in Moscow. Egor has been involved in innovative IT-businesses for almost 20 years. He was involved in projects like 3D cartography (before Google Earth), mobile car navigation (before smartphones emerged) and many other projects related to location-based services. In izi.TRAVEL Egor brought to the company the biggest content providers, world famous museums and publishing houses as well as partners, like Samsung, Panasonic, etc. Egor has am advanced degree in physics, mathematics and business management
    • Dmitry Chernyshev
      Creative director
      Based in Moscow. Popular blogger. Writer, author of the books "How people think" and "How people see". Developed a course on creative thinking for the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). He taught at the HSE and the Institute of Business and Design. Lecturer on the "Direct speech" platform. Dmitry has dozens of prizes of various international festivals.
    Post-Platforms Project
    We will reshape the world of platforms, keep all their benefits and introduce competition which will put the end to their monopolies
    Imagine a world where you write a social network message and your friends can read it at any app of their choice. Likewise, when you switch from facebook to linkedin, you will still see all your friends, posts, likes, groups. In this new world you will send a message to a colleague without even thinking which messenger he or she would use to read it. In this new world you will keep your resume at your own computer and at the moment when you indicate it as "active", all HR platforms immediately publish it. As platforms will not "own" people any more, tough competition between platforms will force them to respect our content and to develop the most advanced technologies to aggregate and present it. Strong cryptography will make it safe and free us from remembering hundreds of passwords, from spam etc.

    We call this new pattern the Post-Platforms. And it is not just a dream or just another aggregator of platforms. Its a new way of building internet, a set of free and open protocols and standards which will make it happen.

    With a help of private investor we started this project in August 2021 and we are quite serious about changing the world of platforms forever.
    Please see the details of the project at postplatforms.org.
    Platforms for Tourism and Culture
    In 2011 our team launched izi.TRAVEL – the leading Storytelling platform. Now we are developing the next generation of platforms for tourism
    The izi.TRAVEL is a success: 50000 content providers have published half a million location-based stories for cities and for 3000 museums. It grows 80% per year.
    Car manufacturers, maps, navigators and OTAs start using our stories to entertain their clients. Please have a look at all our stories on the map below.
    And now we go to the next level. Indeed a traveler needs a complete service:
    1. An itinerary for the whole vacation, which provides a clear plan for every day
    2. Storytelling at each stage of the itinerary and at every destination (from our izi.TRAVEL and other sources)
    3. Human touch, when a local and knowledgeable person is available via chat/call, and this person will answer any local-specific questions or change your itineraries on the fly.
    4. Hotel reservation which will be done according to your itinerary
    5. All tickets (or car rentals) provided according to your itinerary
    We are developing a new platform which will cover and automate it all. It will provide the complete journey experience almost for free, and all the content will be provided by locals, with our help.

    Investors and partners are welcomed.

    Projects of such magnitude require creative power.

    We are open to new ideas, partners, team members and investors.
    Please contact us via
    info@minstreltech.com
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