STARTUP STAGE: Guide121 wants to bring a "playlist" mentality to travel

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Guide121 is an intelligent platform that proposes to revolutionize the tourism industry and the way people travel and explore this world, allowing customized itineraries and assistance in real time. Our solution is an online, intelligent platform that is aligned with the global trend of empowering the user to make more assertive decisions.

The travelers can put the dates of the trip, their preferences, make their own itineraries or just follow our suggestions. They can as well see information about attractions and events, receive notifications and start a chat with us.

What inspired you to create this company?

Many things: travel frustrations and a desire to discover a new way to travel, to help travelers make the most of their trip according to their interests and to help businesses and cities to know more about their visitors.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths: Strong team, robust information, technology support, real-time assistant, intelligence for business, consumer behavior trends.
• Weaknesses: Brand awareness in B2C, validating product market fit, bootstrapping model.
• Opportunities: Open new destinations, start new sectors such as events, cruise, etc., go deeper in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things integration.
• Threats: Big companies acting in tourism, lack of destination technology infrastructure.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

Pain points: travel frustration due to superficial or no travel planning; travelers that don't know what to do in the destination and feel lost; travelers who feel unsafe traveling alone.

We are working to solve the low assertiveness of information to plan trips in a personalized way and also to make decisions during the trip.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

We are currently offering free access for B2C users to plan their trips. Soon they will be able to purchase extra services and contract directly through the app, such as real‐time support.

In relation to B2B (resorts, hotels, events, travel operators), we can get their leads, so with one B2B customer we can reach a lot of people to consume our platform and the digital concierge.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

We were selected to participate in an accelerator process in the most relevant ecosystem of the Campinas region in Brazil in 2017. During the program we changed the business according to the travel pain discovered with design thinking and empathy interviews.

In 2018 from a pilot project with Aviva Group in Rio Quente Resorts, we validated the model using real travelers, helping them to plan their trip and answering their travel questions.

If we analyze tourism as a socio‐economic lever that represents 10% of global GDP and employs millions of people, we can explore Guide121 in all tourist destinations, even in big centers that concentrate a lot of people, and they can use it as a "smart city" solution.

How and when will you make money?

B2C users can plan for free their trip, and soon they will be able to purchase extra services and contract directly through the app, such as digital concierge. For B2B, we have three important pillars to monetize: drawing experiences in parks, hotels, resorts, cruises and events; playlists - our term for curated guides - sponsored by brands, such as Redbull; and real‐time assistance as a premium service (for hotels and mainly events).

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team, and why do you have what it takes to succeed with this business?

Co-founder and CEO Clarissa Santiago has a background in engineering and experience as an innovation manager. She is responsible for overall business and strategy, as well as activities that have to do with creating, communicating and delivering offerings that have value for travelers or business partners.

Co-founder Ana Ribeiro is trained in logistics and business management and has worked several years for Azul Airlines. She is responsible for overall operations, implementing plans and policies, ensuring the successful management of the business and setting future strategy.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Trying to change the way tourism has been done for years to promote a new way of traveling.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact ‐ so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

We are focused on creating a great strategy, and we work hard for exceptional execution. It is the consequence of accomplishing a great job in an industry that is outdated. This generates value to the travelers through a certain trip and it provides intelligence to the businesses.