Xpeeria app is a marketplace for experiences

The Xpeeria launch event in Gatineau, Sep. 29, 2016

Want to learn how to be a stuntman?

There’s an app for that.

An Ottawa start-up has launched a new app designed for people looking for new experiences and hobbies.

Called Xpeeria, it’s a platform that connects people with expertise in a particular field with anyone interested in learning more about it.

"The premise is everybody's good at something,” says founder, Joelle Parenteau. “We've all got passions and hobbies that we can share. So the app makes it very easy for anybody to create this experience and launch your own side-gig. So you just tell us what you love to do, set a time and a price and your availability and, boom, you've got a business."

The app is free. Xpeeria takes a percentage of any transactions between experts and their students.

At the official launch at La Shoppe at ZIBI in Gatineau Thursday night, demonstrators showed how to do a variety of hobbies and activities, including stunt work, sword fighting, playing better poker, making sushi, playing the ukulele, DJ-ing, flying a drone, and more.

Parenteau says she got the idea for the app on a trip to California when she was looking for someone to teach her how to surf.