I love reviewing the Tnooz TLabs Showcase submissions and, perhaps rather morbidly, the subsequent 12-month follow-up TLabs Reprise, where we discover what went wrong (or right).
The problem, unfortunately, is that so many of the errors mentioned in the follow-up Reprise articles are so preventable.
For example, why do travel startup entrepreneurs think they have the golden key to unlock a significant consumer problem that travellers have, when so many have failed when addressing the same problem before?
However wrong an entrepreneur subsequently realises they are, it is perhaps worth asking why did they start down the road in the first place? Why did they start a process that for many ultimately ends in pure pain and failure.
There are several drivers. Do any of these match your mindset?
1. Innovation
Oh for goodness sake, can travel industry conferences stop judging everything by how innovative something is. Really, entrepreneurs tend not to be wired to think about innovation.
Innovation as a term seems to be something a big corporate board says to a developer: "Oh go and build something that makes our brand look cool and innovative."
Rubbish. Sooner we stop thinking about innovation the better. New/Untried/Different != Better for consumers.
2. Disruption
Personally, I am a fan of disruption. But disruption means exactly that: creating chaos to the existing travel industry business models.
Perhaps that is why we do not hear much about disruptive travel companies in the travel business press as they take their advertising from, you guessed it, existing companies. Disruption can mean being seen as a travel industry outsider.
As an entrepreneur, disruption is an unlikely driver. You tend not to think about disruption - you think about problems. You don't go out of your way to be disruptive but to deliver a solution in the way you think best. It that doesn't match with how the existing industry works, so be it.
Me. I am not driven by disruption. It's not a very positive thought. Lets discount this as a key entrepreneur driver.
3. Enjoyable
Yes, running a travel startup is enjoyable. Your inbox is crammed with invites to speaking slots at global travel industry conferences and people follow you on Twitter because you are a travel industry celebrity. Who wouldn't enjoy that?
Complete fallacy of course.
I have spent many Saturday nights at 10 pm when coding a solution to some edge case or replying to an email for someone who is upset with the service offered. If you think that is fun and enjoyable you really need to get out more.
Trust me, for most, running a travel startup is not enjoyable. Let's discount this one!
4. Profit
There are some entrepreneurs who are quite happy just making money (yes, just that!)
Many of my clients are entrepreneurs and they setup perfectly sensible businesses selling travel services. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and, frankly, if you didn't have people investing into independent hotels, new airline startups, setting up as tour operators, the industry would be a much greyer place.
Sadly though, most of these entrepreneurs are overlooked by ego-fuellers (trade press/travel industry conferences), hence building a business that makes money but doesn't change the world is not seen as a valuable exercise.
Yes, making money is a sensible outcome for most entrepreneurs. Can everyone stop ignoring entrepreneurs who create valuable businesses just because they are not interesting enough.
5. This friggin sucks - fix it
I care very little about what other direct competitor companies are doing. The biggest challenge is solving a problem in the best way possible for the clients we currently have.
Simple.
These are the entrepreneurs we should value. These are the entrepreneurs who are looking to leave the world in a better place than before their input.
This is one reason when someone pitches a travel startup to me I don't care too much about their solution but I get very interested in the problem they are looking to solve.
Focus on the problem.
Conclusion
Running a travel startup is an all embracing, immersive experience. If you are just striving for greed, profit or ego you are less likely to pull those 10pm evenings on a Saturday evening to solve your clients problems.
Would be great if the leading travel industry conferences would move away from innovation to a focus on what improves the industry or what makes a consumers life easier.
That would be a much more sustainable and healthy future for all entrepreneurs.