Almost nobody sets out to become a host. It starts because a friend of a friend is coming to town, you offer to show them around for an afternoon, and it goes better than either of you expected.

In Lisbon that afternoon usually looks the same. Not the tram, not the queue at the viewpoint. A walk that starts in Graca, drops down through Mouraria, and stops for something to eat where the tables are outside and nobody is checking a map.

The part that makes it work is not the route. It is that the person walking with you lives there. They can tell you which bar has a crowd that will make you feel welcome on a Tuesday, and which one is fine at ten and unpleasant at two.

Then somebody says you should charge for this, and it becomes a real question. Is it a job? Can it be one, without turning into a script?

We think it can, if the host keeps control of it. Their route, their group size, their price, their week. That is the whole model, and this first version of the site is us finding the people it fits.

If that sounds like you, and you live in Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, Lisbon, Berlin or Amsterdam, we would like to hear from you.