Whether you’re giving or receiving, there’s nothing better than a unique, well thought out gift. Gift cards have a reputation for being the antithesis of that. But let’s be honest, it’s often better to be able to buy what you want than to be in a situation where you’re repeating the name of the gift just given to you (Seinfeld pointed this out, and it’s so true). GiftRocket is a San Francisco, CA based company that has made the gift card more flexible while also making it more personal. I know that seems impossible, but here’s how it works. When you buy someone a gift on GiftRocket, you can choose from a massive number of merchants. You can pick a specific one like your favorite neighborhood pizza joint, or you can leave it up to your recipient to choose where he or she wants to spend the money.

Rock It at GiftRocket

The best part about GiftRocket is that there are no gift cards. You don’t need to actually go somewhere to buy one or wait to have it shipped to you. Everything happens online. It’s the ultimate tool for the last-minute gift give–and even then you can still show a lot of thought. What’s even better is that there’s no risk of expiration or having a partial gift card that’s hard to spend after an initial purchase. How is that? GiftRocket gift certificates aren’t really gift certificates. When the recipient redeems them, they get real money to spend via bank transfer, PayPal, or a check. It’s a little weird, but it’s really not any weirder than a gift certificate when you think about it. Right now it seems the only value that GiftRocket adds is the delivery mechanism. They charge $1 plus 5% of the gift amount for that, and it’s basically just an online notification and the money transfer. PayPal alone can do that a lot cheaper, but GiftRocket makes the idea of essentially giving cash a bit more palatable. If you’re interested in how GiftRocket’s business model is going to continue to evolve, you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Community Manager–it’s a great opportunity for a new or recent grad, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• GiftRocket.com
• Jobs at GiftRocket
• About GiftRocket
• GiftRocket FAQs
• How GiftRocket Works
• GiftRocket in the News
• GiftRocket’s Blog

Would you try GiftRocket?

There’s a good chance that you’re going to spend some time traveling after you graduate. It’s a pretty common thing to do, especially when the job market isn’t completely rocking. (Just remember not to brag about it in your interviews–the guy who spends half of his 14 vacation days visiting his in-laws in Florida isn’t going to be too psyched about hearing every detail of your 3-month trek through Central America.) One of the best parts about traveling is planning: figuring out where to go, what to do, whom to see, and more. Many people rely on friends for recommendations, while many others scour the Internet for travel review sites. Gogobot is a Menlo Park, CA based company that is bringing those together. The people at Gogobot “believe passionately that planning your trips and sharing your travel experiences should be fun, easy and social.” I completely agree. My only issue is that I don’t like coming off as a braggart. Gogobot seems like the kind of place where it’s ok to show off a little when it comes to travel.

Gogo Get a Job

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has called Gogobot “Yelp for travel” and “one of [his] favorite startups of 2010.” That’s pretty strong praise coming from someone whose job it is to critique startups. Until you actually start searching for travel reviews and information on destinations, you don’t realize how bad the websites that serve those purposes are. You never know if the review that you’re reading was written by the owner of the hotel or someone with totally poor taste. Gogobot is all about sharing experiences with your friends and other people who have built up trust by consistently posting quality content. No need to be skeptical of what you read online (unless you don’t trust a friend’s taste.) As Gogobot works to pull in data from other social networks like Facebook and Foursquare, their product is only to get more and more compelling. Gogobot already has done a great job developing a high quality user experience, and they’ve picked a market that is pretty easy to monetize. Now it’s all about growing and getting more and more people to participate on the site.

If you want to go along for the ride, check out Gogobot’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few senior level software development positions, and a paid Travel Writing and Editorial Internship. Neither is exactly what most new grads are looking for, but they’re still worth a look (especially the Internship since it’s $15/hour). You can also reach out them at jobs@gogobot.com and let them know where you think you’d be able to add something, even if there isn’t a relevant job posted. They’re still pretty early stage, so it’s well worth trying. (And don’t worry about going into great detail about your latest vacation if you do land an interview.)

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Gogobot.com
• Jobs at Gogobot
• About Gogobot
• Gogobot’s Team
• Gogobot in the News
• Gogobot’s Blog

Where have you gone lately?