How I Got Here, episode 3 - Polina Raygorodskaya of Wanderu

Polina Raygorodskaya, Co-founder and CEO

How I Got Here is a weekly podcast from PhocusWire and Mozio, getting the inside stories behind innovation and startups in travel and transportation.

For the third episode, PhocusWire's Kevin May and David Litwak from Mozio chat with Polina Raygorodskaya, co-founder and CEO at Wanderu.

Polina Raygorodskaya formed Wanderu seven years ago with her co-founder Igor Bratnikov.

The idea for the business was to build a platform for travelers to book bus tickets in North America - a vision that has evolved over time to include rail.

Not content with building a network of partnerships in its domestic markets, Wanderu expanded to Europe in 2017.

The growth of the business has been achieved through fairly modest levels of funding (single-million-digit range) for today's venture-backed online travel startup community.

Raygorodskaya's experience as a female entrepreneur in the sector has been soured somewhat with disappointing reactions from the male-dominated world of VCs over the years.

But that hasn't diminished both her drive (the opposite, in fact) and achievements to date.

These issues and many details about the formation and evolution of the company are discussed in this episode of the podcast.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

It's hosted by our editor in chief, Kevin May, and Mozio co-founder and CEO David Litwak.

A full transcript and additional analysis in 5+ languages is available on Mozio.com/move.

You can also tune in via this version from PhocusWire's YouTube channel: