Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
Two years ago, while planning a trip to India, I started doing research on the internet to find interesting places to visit, accommodations, etc. But I was overloaded with huge amounts of badly organized information and was lost among many nondescript sources. So I ended up resorting to a good old print travel guide.
It was the first trip I took by myself and the best advice I received actually came to me on the road by meeting other travelers and checking out their photos. I would scribble their tips on napkins and the back of my hand.
That's how iwannagothere.com was born. It is a site where independent travelers can share up-to-date information and recommendations with other independent travelers. The site is organized in a practical way to help plan trips and discover new destinations.
Iwannagothere started as a personal project. We began working on it in our spare time. And now, less than a year later, we've got investments from three companies (from Sweden, Chicago and Spain), so we are just getting started.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
In the beginning, we used our own resources (money and time). Right now, iwannagothere.com is financed by the three companies: The Cocktail, InUse and Manifest Digital.
What problem are you trying to solve?
We’re trying to create an alternative to the excessive amount of unreliable and disorganized travel information available on the internet.
Describe the business, core products and services?
Our content is our key feature. It is really cool and original, and is uploaded by those travelers trying to find a unique experience on their trips.
Our best value are unusual destinations and insider tips from local editors.
We also work hard to offer a clean and simple user experience that makes the content easy to use and share. And users can even build their own guide using their favorite content! ;)
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
Our target customers are what we call “coolpackers”– people who used to be backpackers, but are now ten years older and have more disposable income.
They don’t want to sleep in a hostel anymore, but they don’t want to go to the same places that everyone else goes either. They want to travel differently, find special places. They are interested in the stories behind each place.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
We got lots of feedback from users. We are always trying to get as much feedback as we can. The tougher the feedback, the more it’s going to help you improve the site.
We also do a lot of A/B testing to improve the website’s optimization, we are always working to keep improving the user experience.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
Our strategy is to get high quality, useful and valuable content. With this clear proposition we can start monetizing that content:
Extend the shopping experience on travel search engines with quality content (selling that content to third part companies)
Exploring new ways of doing marketing, keeping the independence of the website but contributing content with high value to the advertisers
Defining specific and innovate social media actions for travel advertisers
In the coming months, we will launch an iPhone app with some pro contents available for purchase via micro payments.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
We’ve got the best content and offer the best user experience of any comparable site.
Weaknesses:
The travel industry is very competitive, and we are not travel industry natives. But I think that this could serve as either a weakness or strength, depending on your perspective.
Opportunities:
People use the internet more and more each day to plan their trips. And since lots of people don’t like to go where everyone else is going (they want to feel special) and they use the internet to search for unique destinations, we have a natural opportunity to fill that need!
Threats:
The online business has too much competition. It’s difficult to make our website stand out from the rest of the websites out there.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?
Well, not many people really discouraged us. We had a lot of people asking “Why are you doing another travel website?” But we are sure our website is not like any other site out there, that’s why we keep working on it.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
We will be successful if we come closer to break-even and we will be on top 10 travel online guides in the world.
We’ve got an API that some services are starting to use which shows our content on their websites and we hope that the iPhone app we’ve developed is going to give us a big push.
We are working a lot on the social aspect of trip planning: see where your friends went, share destinations with them, share the content on facebook, etc.
We would like to be a reference for active, alternative travelers trying to find a unique experience when they travel, those that feel that a classic travel guide is not enough.
We hope to offer everything they need: a mobile version of our content, quick tips, guides, recently updated information, friend’s tips, etc.
TLabs focus on startups featuring
IWannaGoThere from the UK.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
Maria Martinez, chief executive of IWannagothere plus interaction designer and frontend coder.
Two years ago, while planning a trip to India, I started doing research on the internet to find interesting places to visit, accommodations, etc. But I was overloaded with huge amounts of badly organized information and was lost among many nondescript sources. So I ended up resorting to a good old print travel guide.
It was the first trip I took by myself and the best advice I received actually came to me on the road by meeting other travelers and checking out their photos. I would scribble their tips on napkins and the back of my hand.
That's how iwannagothere.com was born. It is a site where independent travelers can share up-to-date information and recommendations with other independent travelers. The site is organized in a practical way to help plan trips and discover new destinations.
Iwannagothere started as a personal project. We began working on it in our spare time. And now, less than a year later, we've got investments from three companies (from Sweden, Chicago and Spain), so we are just getting started.
Also on the team are Fernando Blat (one of the best Ruby on Rails coders in Spain) and Manuel Muñoz Solera (designer, frontend coder, backend coder and musician).
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
In the beginning, we used our own resources (money and time). Right now, iwannagothere.com is financed by the three companies: The Cocktail, InUse and Manifest Digital.
What problem are you trying to solve?
We’re trying to create an alternative to the excessive amount of unreliable and disorganized travel information available on the internet.
Describe the business, core products and services?
Our content is our key feature. It is really cool and original, and is uploaded by those travelers trying to find a unique experience on their trips.
Our best value are unusual destinations and insider tips from local editors.
We also work hard to offer a clean and simple user experience that makes the content easy to use and share. And users can even build their own guide using their favorite content! ;)
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
Our target customers are what we call “coolpackers”– people who used to be backpackers, but are now ten years older and have more disposable income.
They don’t want to sleep in a hostel anymore, but they don’t want to go to the same places that everyone else goes either. They want to travel differently, find special places. They are interested in the stories behind each place.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
We got lots of feedback from users. We are always trying to get as much feedback as we can. The tougher the feedback, the more it’s going to help you improve the site.
We also do a lot of A/B testing to improve the website’s optimization, we are always working to keep improving the user experience.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
Our strategy is to get high quality, useful and valuable content. With this clear proposition we can start monetizing that content:
- Extend the shopping experience on travel search engines with quality content (selling that content to third part companies)
- Exploring new ways of doing marketing, keeping the independence of the website but contributing content with high value to the advertisers
- Defining specific and innovate social media actions for travel advertisers
In the coming months, we will launch an iPhone app with some pro contents available for purchase via micro payments.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
- We’ve got the best content and offer the best user experience of any comparable site.
Weaknesses:
- The travel industry is very competitive, and we are not travel industry natives. But I think that this could serve as either a weakness or strength, depending on your perspective.
Opportunities:
- People use the internet more and more each day to plan their trips. And since lots of people don’t like to go where everyone else is going (they want to feel special) and they use the internet to search for unique destinations, we have a natural opportunity to fill that need!
Threats:
- The online business has too much competition. It’s difficult to make our website stand out from the rest of the websites out there.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?Well, not many people really discouraged us. We had a lot of people asking: “Why are you doing another travel website?” But we are sure our website is not like any other site out there, that’s why we keep working on it.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
We will be successful if we come closer to break-even and we will be on top 10 travel online guides in the world.
We’ve got an API that some services are starting to use which shows our content on their websites and we hope that the iPhone app we’ve developed is going to give us a big push.
We are working a lot on the social aspect of trip planning: see where your friends went, share destinations with them, share the content on facebook, etc.
We would like to be a reference for active, alternative travelers trying to find a unique experience when they travel, those that feel that a classic travel guide is not enough.
We hope to offer everything they need: a mobile version of our content, quick tips, guides, recently updated information, friend’s tips, etc.