Hi Anders, thanks for being on YHP today, how are you?
Hey Rishi. Thanks for asking – I’m excited about being here and telling you about Startuptravels. For all of you who haven’t heard about Startuptravels, it is a network that allows you to meet local entrepreneurs and business professionals while traveling. We have been working with Startuptravels for quiet some time now and it has been an exciting journey so far. In less than 20 days we have signed up entrepreneurs and business professionals from more than 90 countries. We have talked to interesting lead users from all around the world and made some interesting contacts. It has been great. By now,we are looking forward to launch the first version within too long.
Can you give me a bit of background to the team?
Sure. Startuptravels consists of 3 founding members: Anders (CEO), Rasmus (CFO) and Henrik (CTO). All three founding members are still students studying business development, finance and software engineering. We have been working together before on several start-ups, which is a great advantage since we know how to work together and how to create the best results. Rasmus is a former management consultant in PwC, Henrik runs his own software development company and I have been involved in several start-ups before. Together we have a unique set of skills that can help us grow Startuptravels to become a valuable resource to other entrepreneurs: A worldwide network for entrepreneurs and business professionals.
What gave you the idea for Startup Travels?
I have personally been traveling a lot and still travel to the UK every second week. What I realized while I was traveling was, that I needed some place to go where I could see interesting likeminded people in the country I was traveling to. It is easy to become a stranger in a new country. Imagine if you had a website where the entire entrepreneurial landscape was mapped for you and people was suggested to you based on the skills you were looking for. When I realized there was no such solution out there, I decided to assemble the team and make it happen.
What stage are you at now?
We have collected sign-ups from interested entrepreneurs and professionals for the past 20 days and expect to have a first version of the website within the next 2 months. We have spent a lot of time doing research about our users and tweaked the platform several times in order to be able to solve the pain our users are facing.
What has been the hardest part of getting the business to where it is today?
Getting Startuptravels to where it is today has been a lot of hard work. We have been working 20 hours a day and had a laser sharp focus on building this business. That being said, I’d like to emphasize that it has been a brilliant experience so far. We have met a lot of interesting people and received great feedback. It has been surprisingly easy to communicate the value proposition to other entrepreneurs and it seems like most people understand and support what we are doing. One challenge we have faced was the decision on where to begin since there are 400 million entrepreneurs out there and even more professionals.
How are you funding your startup journey?
As I indicated before the team has been working together on several start-ups before. We are investing money in Startuptravels we have generated earlier ventures. We want to remain self-funded until it makes sense to look for outside cash.
What is the mission for Startup travels?
In short, our mission is to connect entrepreneurs and business professionals from all around the world. It should not be difficult to meet other like minded people, when travelling abroad. We know how important it is to have a good global network, and at the same time how much more fun it is travelling, when you get to meet some great people that can teach you valuable stuff as well.
What do you feel will make you better than other options out there?
In our research it was indicated that people use LinkedIn, Facebook and their personal network to find likeminded people while traveling today. On our platform all relevant people are divided into geographical areas and you are able to connect with them even though you do not know them. It is easy to see that people wish to connect because otherwise they would not use the platform.
Thanks Anders, look forward to catching up in the future to see your progress!
Sound interesting? Sign up now: www.startuptravels.com
