TLabs Showcase focus on startups featuring US-based, global trip planning and accommodation-sharing service Tripping.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
Tripping is a hospitality network where travelers meet locals for travel tips, shared cups of coffee and even home stays. Our members believe that cultural exchange makes the world a better place and they use Tripping to connect with each other around the world.
Tripping was founded by Jen O’Neal and Nate Weisiger, who were among the first employees at Stubhub (an online marketplace acquired by eBay in 2007 for $307M). We launched the site launched in January and already have thousands of members from over 90 countries.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
Our founders had equity in StubHub and so – thanks to that eBay acquisition – they’ve been able to bootstrap Tripping from Day 1.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Hospitality-based organizations have existed for over 50 years, though few have been successful at migrating online and providing safe, technologically advanced platforms for travelers.
The largest hospitality site, CouchSurfing, has 2 million users and has shown that there is high international demand for this type of network, but its users seem to be increasingly frustrated with its outdated interface and lack of safety mechanisms.
Tripping is a better, safer and more user-friendly network for travelers. We’re building advanced travel tools, innovative mobile apps, direct links to travel resources and higher security measures for both travelers and hosts.
Describe the business, core products and services?
Built on a social networking platform, Tripping is an online hospitality exchange for travelers who want to enhance their trips by meeting local people.
For example:
Imagine flying halfway around the world to Paris where you visit the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame before hopping back on a plane. While you probably enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa in all its miniature glory, you completely missed seeing the real Paris.
Now imagine arriving in Paris and being welcomed by a local who shows you around her neighborhood, takes you to her favorite wine bar along the Seine and invites you to share a meal together in her home.
By the time you fly out of Charles de Gaulle Airport, you'll have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the local culture and people.
Tripping is about connecting people and encouraging understanding beyond borders. It's about making travel affordable and accessible to everyone, everywhere. And it's about making the world a better place through cultural exchange.
Travelers can use Tripping to:
- Host travelers and/ or meet locals for coffee, meals and even homestays
- Expand professional and personal networks based on similar interests
- Keep track of travel plans, using our automated calendars
- Send messages and free SMS text messages
- Get tips from other members in our forums
- Travel safely with access to references, anonymous ratings, TripSafe (an emergency hotline available 24/7).
Who are your key customers and users at launch?The majority of our Beta members are hardcore travelers who are already familiar with hospitality exchange. They live in over 90 countries and travel several times a year on average.
With such a loyal and active global user base, our members are particularly eager to provide feedback and so we’re able to constantly tweak and improve the site.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
Yes – in addition to the fact that there are millions of travelers who engage in hospitality exchange every day, we did a ton of market research before launching.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
While Tripping will remain free for members, we have several distinct revenue channels. They’re in development now so we can’t go into much detail, but they’ll involve being a travel affiliate and offering text-based travel alerts, mobile apps and premium memberships.
As a social entrepreneurship company, our revenue will go towards supporting the community, funding safety initiatives and continuously improving our site technology.
We’re also setting up a foundation: supported by a percentage of revenue, we’re going to create study abroad scholarships, fund travel-based volunteer opportunities and find other ways to give back to travelers and the communities they visit.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strength:
- Beyond Tripping’s advanced travel tools and safety mechanisms, our management team has extensive experience building successful startups in the States and internationally. Given that we have a solid understanding of business, technology and travel, we’re poised to disrupt the hospitality industry in a very positive way.
Weakness:
- Our biggest challenge is differentiating ourselves from other hospitality exchange sites.
Opportunities:
- Just as Facebook overtook MySpace by offering a better product, we have a very real opportunity to become the leading hospitality network. That said, our ultimate opportunity is to legitimize hospitality exchange as a standard way to travel, thereby encouraging new levels of cross-cultural awareness that ultimately serve to make the world a better place.
Threats:
- Our biggest threat is that some travelers are afraid to meet strangers offline. By providing more safety tools than any other hospitality site, we are actively working to mitigate this fear and create a safe community for our members.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?The response to Tripping has been overwhelming positive, from both travelers and large organizations combined.
That said, we occasionally encounter resistance from people who work in the travel space, as they misunderstand our mission and believe that we want to compete with online travel agents.
We’re not looking to become the next meta search engine or online booking tool - the online travel world already has hundreds of websites that offer unique tools and features.
Our clear goal is to become a strong global community of travelers seeking to enhance their trips through shared personal experiences and cultural exchange.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
Membership growth! The more members we have, the more we can learn from them and build the tools and features they want most. Our members will always be our top priority and we read and respond to every email and phone call we receive.
TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.