Lured by the exciting opportunity to advance our careers, we said goodbye to our hometown of Salt Lake City, and embarked on a new adventure in the “hidden gem of California,” the coastal town of Dana Point.

That’s where our journey began.

First amidst the sun-kissed shores of SoCal. Then across the southern United States in our 411-Day Mega Roadtrip. Before starting to unfold in magical ways in the beautiful Avenues of SLC—this is the place to start a movement!

When we landed in Cali . . .

Tosh took the reins of Chief Operating Officer for what would become one of the fastest growing private held tech companies in the nation.

While Kaysie took their sales floor by storm 🌪️

Together with our badass team, we propelled the company into the INC 5000 list at #228, thanks to our 1939.75% growth rate. 

Yet, despite our professional victories . . .

We found ourselves California dreamin’ in California!

Tbh, we were yearning for community—our tribe ✊

We wanted to live life to the fullest outside our office walls.

But week after week, finding something fun to do for locals was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Not to mention, work had this annoying habit of getting in the way of our shenanigans. 

That’s when Kaysie scoured the depths of the interwebs 🤓 and created our first Adventure Jar filled with 200+ ideas of “unique things to do near me.”

This treasure chest was color-coded with spontaneous ideas to draw from no matter our vibe. But unfortunately, most of the ideas panned out to be tourist traps—missing the authenticity and local connections we were seeking.

Then, as if the universe had sounded a wake-up call, the madness of 2020 gave us 20/20 . . .

And it was clear: LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR BORING 😱

After countless late-night strolls, we unearthed a profound truth:

It is meaningful experiences and connections that truly enrich our lives.

However, our Adventure Jar illuminated the reality that these authentic, off-the-beaten path experiences are hard to find, hidden beneath the shadows of commercialized brands, subject to the mercy of word-of-mouth.

It was then in June of 2020 that we knew it was time to forge a new trail.

So, we headed down to the courthouse to register our new local experience business, EXPLORINGNOTBORING (now a Utah-based benefit company).

Overnight “exploringnotboring” became a noun, verb, and adjective used amongst our friends and teams to describe their weekend plans, spontaneous ideas, and personalities.

It was beyond exciting to see our friends fall in love with our call-to-action for more living, less boring. But the path wasn’t yet clear on how to make it easy for anyone to enjoy uniquely local experiences . . . yet!

November 2020 marked a turning point.

We severed ties with our increasingly toxic workplace, plunging headfirst into our vision for the future. This new chapter required us to sell our belongings and set off on a journey to pursue a life full of community, self-growth, and endless possibilities.

It was about 4 months later that we learned the ideal platform to unite Creators and Seekers of unique experiences is called a double-sided community marketplace. Ever heard of that?? Neither had we.

Armed with our WHY and now equipped with our HOW, we were poised for the mission ahead. 

But instantly we hit a snag . . .

Boxed solutions can’t support out-of-the-box ideas!

Existing marketplace solutions were binary, limited to either services or products—we need both to achieve our mission with boundless creativity.

These “solutions” forced us into a mold and cookie-cutter User Experience, stifling our vision for what exploringnotboring.com could be. And let’s not talk about the limitations and complexities of booking functionality on the market.

So, following 9 months of intensive research and 48 interviews with booking system executives, we made a bold choice that demanded we swallow our fears—our path forward required us to build from scratch, limitless & unique.

Fast forward almost 2 years . . .

April 20, 2023–the day we launched beta.exploringnotboring.com giving early access to our Kickstarter backers and a select group of people.

This milestone followed our 411-Day Mega Roadtrip to connect with the Creators we’ve partnered with across the United States.

On this trip, we learned about the challenges our Partners face, their unwavering passion for their craft, and the pressing need to elevate local experiences to the forefront in every major city.

Our vision:

Reinvent the way that people create and share rich, memorable experiences by connecting local communities across the globe.

Together, we can shape a happier world through shared, meaningful experiences that empower our collective happiness with an inevitable stretching of our individual skills, knowledge & achievements.

And we’re starting here in our hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah ✨

Join the movement!

Sign up now on exploringnotboring.com—Discover unique things to do inspired by locals near you, anytime, anywhere!