Every fisherman checks Windfinder before going in a fishing trip. We use it here at Fishfishme.com all the time. We wanted to know more about the company and the app and how everything started. So we got in touch with Windfinder team and we were lucky enough to reach one of the co-founders Oliver Konig. Oliver was kind enough to do an interview with us and answers some of our questions and we are excited to share it with you.
1- How did Windfinder started? and when?
We started Windfinder in 1999 because we are all sailors, windsurfers or kiteboarders and we wanted to create a weather service which allows people to check the weather anytime and anywhere (on their cellphone).
2- Who’s the team behind it?
There are two owners, Jonas Kaufmann, 33 years old and passionate kitesurfer and me, Oliver, 40 years old, passionate kitesurfer and a 4 time German champion in sailboat racing, we have two full-time employees and a couple of others that works on project bases.
3- How does Windfinder works? How are you able to cover the whole world?
We started very small and added more and more locations and features. In the beginning we only provided wind observations from weather stations in Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Later we added forecasts and many other countries. A few years ago we introduced Apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.
4- What is the most common purpose for using Windfinder? and where is the most searched location? why?
The majority of Windfinder’s users are sailors, windsurfers and kiteboarders which want to check the wind. But many people also check waves, tides, weather. A unique feature of Windfinder is that we provide the live weather from more than 17000 weather stations worldwide. The most frequented locations are changing constantly. Currently Luqa in Malta is #1, followed by Kiel in Germany and Podersdorf in Austria.
5- How do most people use Windfinder? (iphone, desktop..etc)
Usage of website and apps is about the same but the mobile traffic
is growing fast.
is growing fast.
6- How accurate is the data in Windfinder? and how often does the data get updated?
The forecasts are updated 4 times (every 6 hours) per day. the weather stations have different measurement frequencies. some weather stations report every 5 minutes, other report every hour. If you go to this link you’ll find more information about the accuracy of the data and how the data is being collected.
7- How does Windfinder makes money?
We are a small privately owned company mainly generating revenue from advertising. You can find more information about our marketing packages here.
I would like to thank Oliver again for doing this interview, and I encourage everyone that didn’t use the App before to download it now and starts using it. We will do another post soon to cover how as a fisherman you can use Windfinder properly.
