travel startups challenges and opportunities
TRANSCRIPT
Travel Startups Challenges and Opportunities
Valentin Dombrovsky for Software Engineering Conference, Kiev03.09.2016
These companies have already signed up
- 2 keynotes from representatives of leading Russian OTAs;- Panel discussion on Russian travel market with representatives of leading
internet companies;- Keynote from representative of European advertising system;- Keynote from representative of leading global corporate travel
agency;- Keynote from a startup which managed to start working with one
of major hotel chains;- 2 prizes for winners of pitch competition.
Apply for the chance to present your company in pitch competition
http://bit.ly/TTCR-Startup-Application
My Story…
1. Online travel landscape - find your niche. 2. You've got an idea, now what? (Or why you shouldn't do a travel startup) 3. B2C and B2B startups - where's the biggest potential? 4. Disrupting the market - understanding key opportunities.
http://www.tnooz.com/article/the-online-travel-ecosystem-infographic/
But in fact there’s no such clear path• Booking websites might become source of inspiration• Meta-search websites enable booking• Travelers read reviews to do their research and planning• Lots of activity happens offline (we think about travels all the time )• Major players tend to build (or acquire) solutions for all parts of the
trip planning process• Etc.
Traveler
f
Airlines, Hotels, Cruises, Tours & Activities, Transfers, Airport Parking, Car Rentals and Insurance
OTAs
SearchCorporate Travel &
Traditional AgenciesHotel Search Engines
GDS
Distribution, Loyalty & Ancillary Platforms
Metasearch
PMS
Cruises
Channel Management
Traveler
Airport Transfers
Multimodal
Tours and Activities
Car Rentals
Peer Markets
Insurance
Travel Inspiration
Airport Parking
Travel Media/Marketing
Travel Itinerary/Planning
Are you doing b2b or b2c (or b2b2c)?Are you doing it for leisure travel or for corporate travel?Are you doing it for specific niche?
Things to take into account on travel market
• The product costs are high• There’s high sensitivity to the product price• There’s high sensitivity to company brand• Travel periodicity varies
“The barrier for entry is low – the barrier for disruption is high” (Tnooz)
Build for the market – not for yourselfDo customer developmentUnderstand your nicheDo the things that do not scale
vs.
Starting B2C Travel Startup: Start with sales (tour agency)Start with content Focus on specific destinations/target audiences“Social”, trip planning, inspiration usually don’t workThink about “adding value” to other travel companies
Why b2c travel planning doesn’t work?
Let’s assume your product/R&D execution was perfect. You nailed it. You built the ultimate travel planner/travel content site for a sizable audience.• Now all you need to do is:• Get a lot of people who travel to hear about it, just as they are getting ready to plan a trip• Quickly get them up-to-speed on your product so they realize their investment in learning
your workflow will pay off, so they actually use it to plan their trip• Make sure they use it for the actual hotel bookings etc. so you get the affiliate fees• Invest the affiliate fees you got for those bookings to acquire the next customers (bidding
against the company who paid you those fees)• Done!
https://www.tnooz.com/article/why-you-should-never-consider-a-travel-planning-startup/
http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-startups-cling-to-inspiration-sector-yet-massively-out-of-sync-with-investment/
http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-startups-cling-to-inspiration-sector-yet-massively-out-of-sync-with-investment/
B2B Travel StartupsLong sales cyclesProduct should solve business problems and do it wellYou need trust + salesforce for tractionYour offering needs to be really compelling for business even to start analyzing itStill, if you’re doing B2C, think about B2B2C
Where’s disruption?
Disruption
• Right technologies at right time• Something “truly new or 10 times better” • Compelling offer – truly simple solutions from customer POV• Understand your potential but start small
Trends• Big Data• Machine Learning• Personalization• Mobile• New markets• New audienceshttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/travel-tech-trends-2016-valentin-dombrovsky
This could be useful:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/travel.startups.russia/ - Travel Startups Communityhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/travel.startups.intl/ - Travel Startups Intl. Community
Online travel eco-system:http://www.tnooz.com/article/online-travel/ http://www.tnooz.com/article/the-online-travel-ecosystem-infographic/
Travel Startup Lessons: http://gillian.im/2014/08/hitchhikers-guide-travel-startups.html http://www.tnooz.com/article/why-you-should-never-consider-a-travel-planning-startup/#comment-4202129http://www.tnooz.com/article/10-lessons-learned-building-travel-startup/ http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-startups-cling-to-inspiration-sector-yet-massively-out-of-sync-with-investment/ http://www.tnooz.com/article/startups-barriers-low-disrupt-high/ http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-startup-lessons-from-exit/ https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/the-user-is-always-right-eab73c620e7d#.fhyisxxcxhttp://www.travelstartups.co/5-techniques-to-create-the-next-hot-travel-startup/
B2B Travel Startups:http://skift.com/2015/10/05/startups-stories-series-the-pivot-to-b2b-is-not-the-promised-land/ http://www.tnooz.com/article/travel-startup-airline-partnership/
General Startups Wisdom:http://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536 http://paulgraham.com/ds.html
Growth Hacking and Viral Marketing: http://www.slideshare.net/mattangriffel/growth-hacking http://www.slideshare.net/DavidSkok/the-science-behind-viral-marketing https://growthhackers.com/growth-studies/http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-examples/viral-marketing-examples/
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