TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring France-based social trip planning service Travellution.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
We are five friends (Giacomo, Sigbjørn, Yannick, Nicola, Gabriele) who are passionate for travelling and discovering destinations around the world.
- Giacomo Bastianelli has a PhD in bioinformatics and business studies at Stanford and after working in a venture capital I am also currently CEO of a venture-backed biotech company.
- Sigbjørn is a graduate of Norwegian University of Technology and telecommunication development engineer with expertise in computer networks, signal processing and telematics.
- Yannick is a graduate of French National Institute of Telecommunication with expertise on SWIFT and programming in JAVA, JEE2, JS.
- Nicola is a graduate of the Polytechnic University of Milan and web graphic specialized in corporate identity and communication design.
- Gabriele is a graduate of the University of Bologna and system administrator at the University of Perugia.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?Well, initially start-ups start with the 3Fs: family, friends and fools. We started just with the last F: us. Jokes aside, we auto-financed the development so far, but we are looking to raise from the other 2Fs + private investors such business angels and/or venture capital funds.
What problem are you trying to solve?
When you travel, the best advice you find comes from the interaction with people. Most of time, it is the way you interact with them that makes the difference.
Travellution is a website that empowers the social interaction in travel planning at the maximum level. You organize your trip with the right people, find the best solutions for your needs and interact with users who are go or dream to go to the same destination at the same time.
Every trip you create is a social network that takes place - like having a small Facebook each of your trip. This will also give you a control on your privacy (by trip) that no other travel social network is able to offer.
Describe the business, core products and services?
We are building our own advertisement platform based on one simple concept: the win-win situation. Our users will look for solutions and our business partners offer some - we think we can make a perfect match.
Travellution will be a “social” social network and our business model reflects this.
The business model we are implementing is a hybrid one: partly profit, partly non-profit. People travel because they are attracted by the diversity of the nature and of cultures.
Travellution will also donate some profits to NGOs and social businesses that are involved in preserving diversity of cultures and nature in our planet.
We believe business has to change in order to give to the future generations a better world. This is our responsibility and this is why we strongly believe that if successful, Travellution can really make a difference in the society.
We are trying to make the bridge between the current way business is done with the one that is oriented towards social objectives.
We believe that we need actors to make this bridge and we bet that Travellution will be able to do it.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
Key customers are all people who travel and are comfortable in using social networking sites and internet to plan their trips.
We will initially focus on Erasmus students because we think they fully share our mission and values and can easily spread the voice among their friends (Sigbjørn and I are ex-Erasmus students).
We would like that all users that join Travellution endorse our mission and values and apply them in their travel experiences - this is the only thing that we ask our users when they join.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
We were the first customers - we created Travellution because we strongly believe in the values and in the social mission.
I have lived in many countries and since the time the initial idea was in my head (2004), I have had the opportunity to test the concept all over the world. I might be wrong (or maybe just statistically wrong) but the feedback we always got was very positive and, therefore, are convinced that that Travellution could be very useful to improve travel experiences.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
We are creating our own advertisement platform. We are still trying to complete the puzzle but I can say that we have integrated and differentiated revenues streams. Social media has a lot to offer and it is still unexploited in full.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
- Passionate people, strong/emotional brand and a unique social platform.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of funding to implement at full our business model.
Opportunites:
- Travel online industry is an interesting market with great opportunities.
Threaths:
- There are many threats, but we keep our eyes open and our programming hands are fast enough.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?Because nobody understands your vision in full and you have to believe in it. When I was turned down, I always think about critics thoroughly but I always follow my gut. This is why we are here now.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
Reach a critical mass of users, find some seed money, implement our business model and start to revolutionize the way people think about their travel experience.
NB: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.