Raising Capital & Building an App to Reinvent Travel with Michael DeLucca, Founder & CEO of Otsy
In this episode of Exploring Growth, our host Lee Murray chats with Michael DeLuca, founder and CEO of Otsy. Michael reveals how Otsy combines social media with travel booking to connect users with local communities and authentic experiences. He discusses the app’s development and the challenges of the travel industry. The conversation also covers Michael’s journey in raising capital and his vision for Otsy's future.
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And what it sits at right now is
it's social travel for experiences.
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So we have hundreds of thousands
of experiences in 168 countries.
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Um, and you can book directly
from video content.
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Every single video that's uploaded
to artsy gets connected to the
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specific experience feeding the
live booking data, which we're
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following a design patent on that.
So every video has a live price.
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It has exactly where it is.
If you click the price, it takes
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you straight to the venue page.
You book it. All right.
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Welcome back to Exploring Growth.
Today we have the opportunity to
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hear from Michael DeLuca,
founder and CEO of Aussie.
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Aussie is a social travel app
that blends the best aspects of
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social media with the
functionality of booking travel.
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Welcome to the show, Michael.
Hey, how are you?
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Thanks for having me on. Yeah.
No problem.
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Um, you know, uh, doing good.
I think before we get into our
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conversation, I wanted to just
say to the listeners,
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if you're listening to this, um,
you know, ozone is a cool app.
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I've kind of downloaded and played
around with it a little bit before
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this, so I had some context to it.
If you're if you're on your
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phone listening on your phone,
go over to your app store,
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download the app and see it in
its full effect, like as you're
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listening to this discussion.
Because I think what we're about
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to get into is probably going to
be more interesting if you're
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looking at the app.
Uh, so with that said,
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I want to talk about the app.
I want to, um, to, to dig into,
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you know, what's this app?
And why did how did you get here?
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But I also want to talk about
the process you're going through
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right now, raising capital.
I think you're in a seed round.
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So. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Talk about that.
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The business behind the app.
Of course. Getting there.
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Uh, so bring us up to speed.
Like, what did you do before this?
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And how?
How did you land on this idea? Yeah.
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So, um, I got into the, um, sort
of the experiential travel space,
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uh, about 15 years ago with a
company called Red carpet VIP.
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Um, it's travel red carpet.
Com and, uh, we're in Miami and we're
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in Vegas, but we, uh, we basically
are a concierge independent of,
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like, casinos and hotels,
and we handle a lot of corporate
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travel, birthday parties.
You know, anytime large groups
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are getting together,
we need to do room blocks.
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We need space that's dedicated.
Um, and I do that from high net
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worth all the way down to,
you know, um, you know, uh,
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25 year olds wedding party.
That's, uh,
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something small with a party bus.
Um,
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so we kind of everything in between.
I've done some crazy things for
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clients in Vegas.
Uh, that'll be a whole nother show.
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Maybe, uh, where we can talk
about some of those. Um.
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I've built zoos and hotel rooms.
Um,
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so there's some exciting stuff there.
And, uh, kind of as I grew and,
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uh, over the years and I have a
marketing background and I do
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digital marketing specifically,
I also buy a lot of outdoor.
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And I've worked with brands from
Virgin Atlantic to win encore
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and MGM international.
And, um, over the years,
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I kind of really dialed in that
that cost to acquire a customer to
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the lifetime value of a customer.
Um, specifically, specifically in,
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uh, experiential travel.
And so it allowed me to sort of
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like rinse and repeat, um, and get
to the point where you're pouring
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gasoline on a fire, um, where the
math is sort of math massing on that,
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which is not always easy to do.
But when you have 15 years of data,
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you're able to really dial it,
dial it in.
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And we were able to get up to
about 25 million in RR, um,
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in just one city of Las Vegas.
Uh, doing this, uh, we took a little
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bit of a step backwards after Covid,
um, and then sort of reorganized
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who our target customer was.
Again, um, as we as the world
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reopened and obviously travel
came back with a vengeance.
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But, uh, we chose then to sort
of focus more on corporate high
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net net worth individuals, um,
which we drove more profit to the
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bottom line with doing about 5 to
$7 million less on the top line.
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So, um, I've always been
fascinated by technology, and I'm
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an early adopter of everything.
I'm already as heavy into the
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Vision Pro as you can be.
Um, Artisan Vision Pro.
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It's not a fully immersed app on
Vision Pro, but you can absolutely
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use it and look at videos all over
the world and full checkout process.
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So, uh, it was no surprise, uh,
when I came into red carpet,
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I didn't start it.
I purchased it in 2017,
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and I had a smaller, uh, competitor
called VIP in Vegas at the time.
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And when I made that transition in,
the first thing was like,
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oh man, they have no CRM system.
They're using Google Sheets.
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And this company is doing eight,
nine, $10 million with Google Sheets.
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And I was like,
how are you visualizing data?
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How are you reaching back out to
your your previous customers?
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And they weren't never reached
out to one previous customer
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doing $8 million a year.
Just new business just wasn't bad,
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right? No.
So you're it's kind of like, I'm sure
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you would be just as excited for the
balance sheet and the PNL as I was.
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And I'm like, man, this thing is,
is analog as it comes. Right?
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So I came in there and I'm like,
wow, I wonder what will happen if
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I build some sales funnels here.
Um, run some really targeted ROI
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ads and then drop that into a CRM,
then run even data points on
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each individual.
We had 27 sales guys at the time
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and running each individual, uh,
you know, creating plans for each one
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and, and following really which not
only of which, you know, because
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we're in the lead business. Right?
So it's like leads are great,
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but if you're not visualizing
what you're closing, you know,
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even though a lead may actually or an
ad may create a lot of leads, it may
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not be something that we're closing.
So it's kind of like that aspect was
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really broken of, hey, this stuff's
generating a lot of action and people
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are making phone calls, but like
it wasn't creating sales. Yeah.
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And that seems like the easiest
problem to fix because if you're
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getting attention now,
it's just converting it. It is.
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So we built a massive Salesforce
system.
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It was a two year undertaking of
tracking every sort of data metric
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that you can come out with.
And that made me fall in love
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with technology.
And then naturally, it's you start
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to look at it and you're like,
well, how do I do $100 million?
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And I sort of hit this glass ceiling
and I couldn't figure it out.
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And I reached out to a few of
our clients and I said,
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you love our company.
Um, you know, you guys are in tech.
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What are your thoughts?
And they're, like, not scalable.
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Uh, your business requires you
to know everybody on the ground
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because your client comes to you.
They want a dinner reservation
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at Carbone. It sold out.
You got to call the GM. You got to.
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So you have to know the people.
You can't really make money while you
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sleep. And I took that to heart.
This is in 2019.
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And so, um, I was like, okay, well,
I'm going to build something,
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I don't know exactly what to build.
And I went out and hired my
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first sort of three developers
in February of 2020.
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Um, so I, I mean, yeah,
so I gave them a job and, um,
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and, uh, immediately march.
The world is closing. I'm in travel.
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We got hit the hardest and so
I'm laying off staff.
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But I decided, you know what?
Let me keep the developers and
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let me work remotely with them
and let me see what I can build,
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because I'm sure the world is
going to reopen at some point,
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and maybe I can get ahead of the
game for, for once.
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So we really started
workshopping a lot.
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And when there's nothing to do
but be on the internet when the
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world is shut down, um,
I ended up spending way more hours
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on social media that I than I'd
like to share with you right now,
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because it's embarrassing.
But, uh, what ended up happening was
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I'm getting served all this beautiful
travel content, and it's like,
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imagine waking up here and it's
like the overwater bungalow.
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People are diving into the water,
and I'm kind of like, man, I need a
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vacation myself. We're in lockdown.
And I then started to bookmark
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and save all this stuff.
So as we come out of sort of Covid
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in the world starts to reopen, I,
I go back to all my bookmark social
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posts and now I'm like becoming
this detective of like, well,
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where is that? What does that cost?
And then I'm like reading in the
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comments and then I'm googling.
There's got to be. An easy answer.
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And I just was like,
this is ridiculous that every
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trip is still coming from the
perspective that we're so unique
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ourselves that 5000 people,
100,000 people didn't take the exact
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same trip, maybe plus or minus a
couple of things a la carte did.
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So I set out on this path of of
creating something to connect
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people and bridge the gap of all
this content that's sitting on
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social media.
And in fact, I went down the
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rabbit hole on the research,
and it was something like 84% of
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of millennials and Gen Z's are
using social media for that first
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step of inspiration of travel.
Um, 700 at the time of making
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the deck 711 million posts just
for the hashtag travel on um,
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on Instagram. Not bookable. Right?
So I mean, like, that's a miss.
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Yeah, I can I can speak to that
because, you know, I, I'm planning
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trips with my family and we're
planning a trip to London at the
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moment, you know, and I kind of
planned it over time where I like
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to spend some time on Instagram,
spend some time at TripAdvisor.
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I spent time on different
platforms when I have the time,
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and I kind of put everything
together in a spreadsheet.
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You know,
here are the top places for food.
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Here are the top places to stay
or whatever.
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And I've sort of found that as well.
Like it works for my process because
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I'm very, uh, I don't know, in depth.
Like I want to go in depth and
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see everything, you know,
see everything that's available
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and kind of choose the best ones.
Um, and then figure out strategically
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how to make that trip come to life.
But to your point, like if I'm
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on Instagram and I see, uh,
this amazing bakery that is, well,
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we have to go there because because
the things that they're showing me,
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like, I have to be there, but then I
have to do all the work going from
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that post to try to figure out,
okay, well, where is this bakery?
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Oh, now I'm on their page and
now I gotta click on their bio.
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I've got to go through all these
steps just to figure out where are
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they and how do I get to them.
So it's a whole it's a whole process.
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Yeah.
And as you know,
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as a digital marketer, um,
think about what happens to that,
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uh, conversion rate every time
you take someone off one platform
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onto another platform, onto
another platform. Yeah, it drops.
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And so I think travel sits in
one of the worst industrywide,
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um, uh, conversion rates,
something like a 1.3 to 1.8%.
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Um, and it's so bad because
we've been conditioned to have
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to go do all this research.
So we're fragmenting it all out,
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and it's a necessary fragment,
right? Frankly.
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Um, I want to read reviews,
I like reviews, I, um,
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I want to, uh, I want to be
inspired before I even search.
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So now I'm going over here to social
media. I'm getting inspired now.
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I'm like, okay,
let me start googling some things.
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Then I start reading the reviews.
Um, but but what?
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I really think artsy.
So so there's what artsy sits at
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as today and what we're sort of
develop developing for the future.
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Um, and what it sits at right now is
it's social travel for experiences.
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So we have hundreds of thousands of
experiences within 168 countries.
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Um, and you can book directly from
video content every single video
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that's uploaded to artsy gets
connected to the specific experience
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feeding the live booking data,
which we're following a design
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patent on that.
So every video has a live price.
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It has exactly where it is.
If you click the price, it takes
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you straight to the venue page,
you book it.
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So we are the social platform
and we are the OTA, the online
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travel agency. So we are Expedia.
Um, and we pull Expedia, we pull
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Viator, we pull get your guide.
And with the ability of creating
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your own experiences on platform.
So we have everything and we run
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algorithms on the lowest price.
So we make sure we have the lowest
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price being being offered on the
internet and the ability to then
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connect you with people like you.
So um, interestingly enough,
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which was so serendipitous
because I literally use this to
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describe the app and now it's
going to resonate with you.
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So I tell everyone we're not in
dining yet,
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but but we actually have a API
partnership with Yelp rolling out.
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So we'll be pulling dining into the
app very shortly over the summer.
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But I always say to everyone,
to understand the app is to
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understand how to connect with
people in communities.
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And when you do that,
it becomes less of a review and
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more of a referral, right? Yeah.
So we talked about pizza.
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I love pizza, right.
But I love a very specific type
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of pizza that came from a place
that you just visited.
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It's called New Haven, Connecticut,
and it's its New haven of beats.
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And I love Sally's and I love Pepe's,
I love modern,
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I love I love all the pizza there.
So when I look at pizza reviews
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all over the the world, right,
it becomes this issue of let's
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pretend reviews aren't manipulated.
Let's pretend that they're not, you
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know, um, run by Karens, you know?
So let's pretend that they're
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they're purist.
Um, there's a relevancy issue.
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How do I know who in the reviews
is most like me?
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So when I look at a pizza review,
I'd like to not see a pizza
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review from everybody.
I'd like to see only pizza
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reviews from people that think
New Haven style pizza is the
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best pizza in the United States.
And now it starts to filter and
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learn.
And now we get into this deep
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machine learning and using AI to
build these predictability models.
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And, um, and so that's what
we're doing at OSI.
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It was we're connecting you on over
100, you know, over 100,000 data
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points right now. But that's growing.
That'll be millions of data points
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in the future to connect you to
people like you and sort of reduce
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that decision fatigue. Yeah.
So that that resonates with me
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because, um, so when I'm zooming out,
looking at the app,
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I'm thinking that everything is
made on the user experience just
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as it is with TikTok or,
you know, YouTube or whatever.
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However, engaging with this app,
it's all about the experience
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we're having and the content
that's being put in front of us,
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how we're engaging that content.
So to me, I feel like that is how
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you're going to really win new
people over is to get them engaged.
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Um, you know, in a way that they're
used to engaging with apps like this.
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But the, the piece that I think
that you're hitting on that
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really resonates with me as a
marketer and as I look out kind
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of in the marketing sphere,
is this idea of connection in
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community. And I can't remember.
I was just watching an interview
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with someone the other day talking
about this specifically on YouTube.
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But, you know,
you have a lot of influencers
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across different platforms,
but specifically on YouTube, that
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they build followings that become
communities and these communities
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become private communities.
You know, Patreon is a big thing,
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but YouTube is building this
into their platform as well.
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And this is all current day kind
of iteration in integration into
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seeing what people want and are doing
and accepting it onto the platform.
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And I really do think that that's
where everything is headed.
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They're already stats saying that
attention is coming off of social
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media at large and going going
towards these private communities
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because it's been enough time now
where you've got enough, um, genres
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and, uh, vertical or niches across,
you know, everything you can think
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of from woodworking to baking to
dancing to whatever it is. Right?
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There are these influencers that
have risen to the top in each one
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of those, and people are starting
to follow them and get, you know,
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cut out a lot of the noise.
So I think that what you're doing
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here is super interesting, because
if you can tailor, like you said,
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to the New Haven type of pizza,
you know, that's the kind that
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I've sort of either, right,
you know, subconsciously done or
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consciously tick the box to say,
this is what I'm looking for,
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then it's going to start tailoring
me to really to influencers that
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serve me best. Right.
And that is you're exactly right.
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I mean,
you're hitting the nail on the head,
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but it's also like stepping back one
step in and saying, um, you know,
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it's not just influencers, right?
It's just making everybody the the
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ability to share, create and connect.
So, um, and I look at it like,
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what does success look like?
And it looks a lot like a subreddit,
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almost. Okay.
That like the app becomes these
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subcommunities of connecting
with people.
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Um, and that seems to be the
most important, uh, when we pull
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users and we ask them, you know,
they want to meet people and actually
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want to take trips with them.
So that's sort of like an iteration
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that we're looking into, like,
I'm connecting you with the type
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of trips you should take.
But I'll give you an example.
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Um, you know,
say you're really in the anime and
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you want to take a Japan trip.
You and I might take a Japan trip,
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but that might not be our genre.
We might just go there just for the
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sights or the food or whatever that
perspective is of of why we're there.
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But it's most interesting when
you can kind of find your, uh,
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we call it your tribe. Right?
So to connect with your tribe
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and people like yourself and,
and I have not seen this as,
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as a millennial myself.
On the older side, I've not seen
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so much solo travel get, you know,
sort of boom in the last few years.
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I have individual people that
work for me that like just take a
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trip to Japan all by themselves.
So the ability to sort of blend
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that subreddit community with then
like the aspects of meetup. Yeah.
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And then wrap that into a social
travel experience where you're
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making meaningful connections,
finding the right things based on
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things that you like at price point,
retention rate of your videos and,
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and then finding your tribe of
that community.
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And I feel like if I'm able to
do that, then we're looking at a
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unicorn type product.
I agree 100%, and I think that the,
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you know, the digital nomads of
the world who work remotely 100%,
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they're constantly traveling is
one lifestyle.
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But the person you just mentioned who
doesn't travel 100% of the time,
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but wants to sort of tap into
that lifestyle, you know,
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a few weekends out of the quarter or,
you know, whatever.
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They're kind of getting a taste of
what they're seeing on Instagram.
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And that's the perfect, I think,
starting point for making this work.
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00:18:24,460 --> 00:18:26,140
Yeah.
And we actually share 50% of the
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booking commissions.
So we have a whole creator portal.
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00:18:28,990 --> 00:18:31,480
Yeah.
You go right through and it's
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not gated.
Anyone can be as long as you
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fill out the W9 and connect your
PayPal account.
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Um, anyone can become a creator
in the app,
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00:18:40,010 --> 00:18:43,130
so it's not specific to having
hundreds of thousands of followers.
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You can have 100 of your family
members following you. You.
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You go to Disney World and you
want to post your trip and they
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want to click through.
It doesn't make it any more
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expensive to the individual.
And you're going to start
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receiving commissions.
And I'm hoping to get into a point
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where you're sort of like between
loyalty rewards and commissions,
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sort of yielding another free trip,
um, you know,
317
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,700
and creating this infinite trip
loop for yourselves. Um, yeah.
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Because taking a vacation is
expensive,
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especially if you have a family.
Uh, it gets really pricey really
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00:19:12,530 --> 00:19:14,450
quickly. For sure.
Yeah, well,
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this is all very interesting.
And I think, um, it's it's sort
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of hidden, like, at first glance,
it's sort of hidden that the truth
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of what you're building here,
but which I think is the the sort of
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00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,550
unicorn idea behind all of this,
because you're not really
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competing with social media
platforms and you're not really
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competing with booking platforms.
You're sort of creating some new
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thing that I think is where
people are naturally going.
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00:19:39,170 --> 00:19:44,030
So it's like you're building this
place that they want, but they have
329
00:19:44,030 --> 00:19:48,480
yet to know that they want it, and
that's super difficult to do. It is.
330
00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,600
I mean, then you're fighting that
uphill battle of adoption, right?
331
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,050
You're in that educational space
and and most of the time people
332
00:19:55,050 --> 00:19:58,560
don't know really what they want
until you've showed them. Yeah. Hey.
333
00:19:58,650 --> 00:20:02,100
Because the the future of. Yeah.
Because then you get back to
334
00:20:02,100 --> 00:20:04,860
marketing like messaging for
marketing is okay,
335
00:20:04,860 --> 00:20:07,920
let's talk about booking and let's
talk about social media and let's
336
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,530
try to talk about this magical
thing in between that they don't
337
00:20:10,530 --> 00:20:14,190
know that they want really yet.
So you have to kind of get them in on
338
00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:18,450
messaging that they're consciously
aware of, and then have that light
339
00:20:18,450 --> 00:20:21,750
bulb go off for them that, oh,
I can connect to other people that
340
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are like me or other places that
I want to go that are, you know,
341
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kind of tailored to my liking.
Then I think it starts to make sense.
342
00:20:29,490 --> 00:20:33,390
Then I think it starts to catch fire.
Right. So, so sort of the approach.
343
00:20:33,390 --> 00:20:37,320
And so we we launched a beta in
October of last year.
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We invited 10,000 um, allow allowed
lists users into the platform.
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And, uh, you know, they made
bookings, they created content.
346
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Um, and then we sort of shut that
down, launched a telegram community
347
00:20:50,460 --> 00:20:53,730
channel and said, okay, what did
you guys hate? What did you love?
348
00:20:53,730 --> 00:20:56,730
What worked? What didn't work?
Because obviously, I think if you
349
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look at ozone and you download it
yourself and you play with it.
350
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Um, I built a Rolls Royce of an MVP.
Um, this thing is as enterprise
351
00:21:04,630 --> 00:21:07,480
as it comes.
It's, uh, it's almost overbuilt
352
00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,630
to a certain degree.
Um, and that's just having experience
353
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and being a little older in the
industry that you want to put
354
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forth a really fantastic product,
especially when you're handling
355
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people's vacations.
I mean, oh my God, what do you
356
00:21:20,290 --> 00:21:23,650
not want to mess up is yeah,
you took your family all the way up
357
00:21:23,650 --> 00:21:27,850
and I screwed up all the the bookings
and your your QR codes didn't get,
358
00:21:27,850 --> 00:21:32,290
you know, so we took a lot of extra
time and special care into that.
359
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,700
Um, and also sort of like even
against the, the way Airbnb or
360
00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:39,670
Uber launched, you know,
they went city by city, right?
361
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:43,870
Um, and it's a really smart approach.
But and this is kind of that thing
362
00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:48,370
when I say that it's almost what used
to work, um, doesn't always work.
363
00:21:48,370 --> 00:21:52,810
Now competing for space on someone's
hardware device on their cell phone.
364
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,560
Um, there's got to be this large
value add from the beginning.
365
00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:00,760
So had I just built it in Miami or,
like, Las Vegas,
366
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,820
our headquarters, hometowns,
I don't think that would have been
367
00:22:03,820 --> 00:22:06,610
enough to get someone to download
it and put it on their phone.
368
00:22:06,610 --> 00:22:09,490
It's kind of like, hey,
if you're not everywhere,
369
00:22:09,490 --> 00:22:13,240
I'm not really interested to give
you space on my phone. Yeah.
370
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:19,060
So, um, we ended up having to to
launch a 168 countries and digest
371
00:22:19,060 --> 00:22:25,090
over 400,000 experiences and then
sort of run our own lamb and our own,
372
00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:28,510
um, deep machine learning model on
it and visualize all that data.
373
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So we build something very
complex from the very beginning.
374
00:22:32,260 --> 00:22:36,020
But now I think it lends to that
ultimate user experience.
375
00:22:36,020 --> 00:22:40,220
And sort of the first line of defense
right now is just finding people
376
00:22:40,220 --> 00:22:43,880
with travel content that's really
interesting and bringing them on
377
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,810
platform, incentivizing them,
and then sort of once you have all
378
00:22:47,810 --> 00:22:51,680
the content, that's really cool,
then you go after the users and say,
379
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,940
hey, this app has all the travel
content that you want to see.
380
00:22:55,940 --> 00:22:58,310
Why don't you come over and take
a look at it? Yeah.
381
00:22:58,490 --> 00:23:05,120
So those early adopters then,
are people who are all influencers,
382
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,900
but also non influencers that are
naturally traveling and want to, uh,
383
00:23:08,900 --> 00:23:11,690
want to kind of look into sharing
that in a different way and maybe,
384
00:23:11,690 --> 00:23:15,440
maybe get some kind of affiliate
revenue from it. It is. Yeah.
385
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,670
So we have two programs.
One, we pay our affiliates at dollar
386
00:23:19,670 --> 00:23:23,750
download um, into using the app.
And then obviously we give up to
387
00:23:23,750 --> 00:23:27,530
50% of the booking commissions,
uh, in perpetuity on every single,
388
00:23:27,530 --> 00:23:29,900
uh, booking.
And on average, our platform,
389
00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:33,170
we, we take a platform for about
20% of every experience.
390
00:23:33,170 --> 00:23:35,660
So we just split that.
So, um, you know,
391
00:23:35,660 --> 00:23:39,500
there's ability to go into, you know,
now we start to look at, you know,
392
00:23:39,500 --> 00:23:42,170
what is the market look like?
Is is there a recession looming?
393
00:23:42,170 --> 00:23:46,370
Are we in the recession?
Um, and the the one positive thing
394
00:23:46,370 --> 00:23:51,540
is, is that what happens in,
in sort of the a downturned market is
395
00:23:51,540 --> 00:23:55,140
you're going to get an explosion of
the gig economy, the gig economy.
396
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,010
So people are trying to find side
hustles. How do I make extra money?
397
00:23:59,010 --> 00:24:02,100
How do I actually take a trip and
earn some of my cash back on the
398
00:24:02,100 --> 00:24:05,550
trip? That becomes more important.
Someone from a consumer side,
399
00:24:05,550 --> 00:24:09,480
I think we're going to see a large
expansion of the utilization of
400
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:14,670
the app, um, as, um, as travelers
and consumers alike sort of.
401
00:24:14,670 --> 00:24:18,630
See, hey,
I can make 30,000 to $100,000 a year,
402
00:24:19,020 --> 00:24:22,800
um, selling trips on this thing.
And, yeah, it's kind of pays.
403
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,860
For their trips. Right?
And we're building that use case
404
00:24:25,860 --> 00:24:29,190
right now.
Um, and putting that forth in a
405
00:24:29,190 --> 00:24:32,490
lot of our marketing efforts.
But, uh, you know, organically we're
406
00:24:32,490 --> 00:24:35,520
getting about 100 to 200 people a
week. Sign up for the platform.
407
00:24:35,850 --> 00:24:40,800
Um, we went from 2000 users in
February to almost 10,000 right now,
408
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:45,420
and we're now creating this seed
round where we have a we have about
409
00:24:45,420 --> 00:24:49,740
70% of the seed round closed already.
So we have a $5 million seed.
410
00:24:49,740 --> 00:24:53,100
It's a big seed.
Um, and uh, we've brought in
411
00:24:53,100 --> 00:24:57,990
close to four plus 4 million.
So um, and so far so about down to
412
00:24:57,990 --> 00:25:01,920
our last million, uh, of the race.
So it's going really well.
413
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,200
Um, it didn't go as fast as I
thought it would.
414
00:25:04,230 --> 00:25:06,960
I opened that round in April.
I'm, you know, I'm still in it.
415
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:12,000
And in July, um,
I always say as a founder, you almost
416
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,080
do this and you know the numbers.
You, you know that it's an uphill
417
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,860
battle, but you kind of have to say,
well, I think it's going to be
418
00:25:19,860 --> 00:25:23,490
easier for me for whatever
delusional reason you tell yourself
419
00:25:23,490 --> 00:25:25,960
it's going to be here Yeah,
because you wouldn't do it.
420
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,260
It's like it's so hard.
You wouldn't do it if you didn't
421
00:25:29,260 --> 00:25:31,930
believe.
You can cut some corners, but, um, no
422
00:25:31,930 --> 00:25:34,240
corner has had to be cut right now.
Um,
423
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,090
it's a it's a grind out in the field.
Well,
424
00:25:37,090 --> 00:25:40,660
so let's talk about raising capital.
Um, take us through the process of
425
00:25:40,660 --> 00:25:43,600
bringing this idea to investors.
What was your first step?
426
00:25:43,990 --> 00:25:48,430
Uh, how have you done this before?
What does it look like? I have?
427
00:25:48,430 --> 00:25:51,520
so, um.
I've raised capital in the past.
428
00:25:51,550 --> 00:25:55,870
Uh, and, um, with those, uh,
with those type of products,
429
00:25:55,870 --> 00:25:59,530
I sort of raised and, and returned
a certain rate of capital and
430
00:25:59,530 --> 00:26:04,750
then bought partners back out.
This was my first Silicon Valley
431
00:26:04,750 --> 00:26:09,760
startup organization where I was
going to, you know, go in Delaware,
432
00:26:09,790 --> 00:26:13,000
create a corporation.
I was going to file for an entity.
433
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,470
Licenses is where I am.
And then I was going to adopt sort of
434
00:26:17,470 --> 00:26:21,940
the the new approach of capital,
which is these safe agreements,
435
00:26:22,270 --> 00:26:25,450
um, which is a simple agreement
for future equity.
436
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,030
And I didn't understand those at
first.
437
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:32,050
Um, I was like,
so I started with convertible notes.
438
00:26:32,530 --> 00:26:36,880
Uh, because it makes more sense.
This is a loan as 8% its
439
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:41,090
maturity in 24 months.
Um, and then it's sort of like,
440
00:26:41,090 --> 00:26:44,090
oh, I don't really like these
because they, you know,
441
00:26:44,090 --> 00:26:47,150
these projects take a little bit
longer and then you're sort of either
442
00:26:47,150 --> 00:26:51,440
returning money or renegotiating.
So I quickly learned that the safe
443
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:56,060
was the better product and waste
simpler to to move forward with.
444
00:26:56,060 --> 00:27:01,940
But the first challenge was
understanding the value caps and,
445
00:27:02,090 --> 00:27:05,870
um, the dilution schedules and the
management of your cap table and
446
00:27:05,870 --> 00:27:09,170
sort of gaming it out, because you
can make those mistakes right from
447
00:27:09,170 --> 00:27:11,960
the beginning and you're done.
You'll never get to
448
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,020
institutional capital,
because by the time you get there,
449
00:27:15,020 --> 00:27:18,800
you just don't own enough of the
product, or you got 200 people in a
450
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,300
cap table and the VC is like, nah.
And this or even even if you were
451
00:27:23,300 --> 00:27:27,890
really successful and say, your first
round so low and these guys aren't
452
00:27:27,890 --> 00:27:32,870
converting into the qualified round,
which is a 409 evaluation series,
453
00:27:32,870 --> 00:27:37,310
the round, the spread can be so big,
the VC comes back and says, you're
454
00:27:37,310 --> 00:27:40,700
converting people at 2 million.
You're asking us to pay 50. Mhm.
455
00:27:41,420 --> 00:27:43,610
And even though you may even
have that,
456
00:27:43,610 --> 00:27:47,270
that that potential for that value
now they clawed all the way back.
457
00:27:47,780 --> 00:27:51,090
So you know these are these are
sharks.
458
00:27:51,540 --> 00:27:55,650
And when you, uh, when you go from
sort of friends and family into
459
00:27:55,650 --> 00:28:01,020
angels and then you're just like,
thrown into the mix with Harvard
460
00:28:01,020 --> 00:28:06,780
MBAs and a lot of Harvard MBAs.
I got more Harvard MBAs on my
461
00:28:06,780 --> 00:28:09,690
LinkedIn, you know,
profile than there are,
462
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,380
you know, cards in the deck.
So, uh, this is what you'll
463
00:28:13,380 --> 00:28:17,490
start to deal with.
And, uh, it's all analytical. So.
464
00:28:17,490 --> 00:28:20,520
And there cycle to raising
capital 2021.
465
00:28:21,450 --> 00:28:25,020
They were throwing money around.
Um, they were just like what?
466
00:28:25,020 --> 00:28:28,020
You know, whatever.
And then even the AI wave. Right?
467
00:28:28,020 --> 00:28:31,470
Even though it wasn't a great
economy, everybody FOMO.
468
00:28:31,470 --> 00:28:35,400
I mean, listen, institutions,
FOMO, and anybody can FOMO the
469
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,490
smartest investors in the world.
You just feel like I just need a
470
00:28:38,490 --> 00:28:41,610
piece of this market share and you
start throwing cash at projects.
471
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,050
Um, so what we've kind of seen
and so I'll talk about what's
472
00:28:46,050 --> 00:28:49,230
getting funded right now on an
institutional level and then
473
00:28:49,230 --> 00:28:53,370
what you can do to get funded.
So what they're funding now, right.
474
00:28:53,490 --> 00:28:57,390
You know, um, and, you know,
so I look at the Carta data Carta
475
00:28:57,390 --> 00:29:01,500
is a custodial, um, card that
manages cap tables and every startup
476
00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:05,130
founder I suggested use Carter.
The Carter releases some
477
00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:06,870
wonderful data.
You can follow the guys from
478
00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:10,590
Carter on LinkedIn and and every
quarter they'll kind of say
479
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,890
who's getting the funding?
Um, sort of the socioeconomic
480
00:29:13,890 --> 00:29:17,730
breakdown of those people.
Um, and then in what industries
481
00:29:17,730 --> 00:29:20,790
are getting the funding?
And so what it's starting to look at,
482
00:29:20,790 --> 00:29:24,210
like at is multiple time founders,
right.
483
00:29:24,390 --> 00:29:30,910
People with an all 8,080% of all
funding is given from Silicon
484
00:29:30,910 --> 00:29:35,410
Valley to Silicon Valley. Yeah.
So that right there, if you're not
485
00:29:35,410 --> 00:29:38,710
in Silicon Valley, you're already
you're already behind the eight ball,
486
00:29:38,710 --> 00:29:41,950
which I'm I'm behind the eight ball.
I didn't go to an Ivy League school.
487
00:29:41,950 --> 00:29:44,200
Right.
I'm not in the Harvard connection.
488
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:48,130
So I have to fight for every
dollar I raise.
489
00:29:48,130 --> 00:29:53,500
Like probably 99% of Americans would
have to. Yeah, right. So, um. Yeah.
490
00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:55,840
Now you're not part of an
incubator or anything like that,
491
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,640
are you? I am not.
I originally applied to a few.
492
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,000
I thought the equity was a little
too high. Um, so I did not.
493
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,710
I did not join them.
Um, I started off friends and family.
494
00:30:08,830 --> 00:30:11,450
Um.
And I started off with a $10
495
00:30:11,450 --> 00:30:15,130
million value cap. So, um.
And what,
496
00:30:16,180 --> 00:30:18,790
it gets lost in translation.
We can have a whole episode on
497
00:30:18,790 --> 00:30:23,770
sort of value caps and valuations,
but a value cap is, is saying we
498
00:30:23,770 --> 00:30:28,210
don't know the valuation.
You need a 490 to get a valuation.
499
00:30:28,210 --> 00:30:31,930
But we got to start somewhere.
And so what happens in the value
500
00:30:31,930 --> 00:30:35,770
cap is you kind of look at
similar products in the industry.
501
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,320
You look at how much you need to
raise and the fact that you
502
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:43,160
don't want to sell off more than
20% of your company in a round.
503
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,650
Um, if you can sell 10%,
that's even better.
504
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:47,570
You got to be a better product,
stronger team.
505
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,080
And but sort of the worse it gets,
you get up into the 20s.
506
00:30:51,470 --> 00:30:55,670
So so there is metrics like so if I
need to raise $2 million, right.
507
00:30:55,670 --> 00:30:58,820
Like the value cap has to be a
certain value cap to not give up
508
00:30:58,820 --> 00:31:01,640
more than 20%.
So that's sort of where they are.
509
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,610
And you and you benchmark them.
Just like thinking about selling
510
00:31:04,610 --> 00:31:07,220
houses on a street.
Um, if your neighbor sells at
511
00:31:07,220 --> 00:31:10,160
this and you sort of have the
same square footage, it's a comp.
512
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,770
So you're looking at those comps
and how you do that is you go to
513
00:31:12,770 --> 00:31:17,240
Crunchbase and you can look at
all the products being, um,
514
00:31:17,450 --> 00:31:20,990
funded on Crunchbase,
and you can sort of set the comps
515
00:31:20,990 --> 00:31:24,680
and that's how that would work.
So then you sort once you create
516
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,280
that value, that value cap.
And so the value cap is the most
517
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,550
someone's willing to pay.
But it's like it's a ticket to
518
00:31:31,550 --> 00:31:33,680
the party.
That hasn't happened yet, which
519
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,220
is almost a weird concept. Sure.
They're like, well, well, what am I
520
00:31:37,220 --> 00:31:39,920
investing in? What am I getting?
Well, I don't know the strike price
521
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,290
of the shares, so I can't tell you
how many shares you're going to have.
522
00:31:42,530 --> 00:31:46,430
Um, well, every sort of round
where we're adding more shares to
523
00:31:46,430 --> 00:31:50,270
the company and, and so there's
dilution happening there, which is
524
00:31:50,270 --> 00:31:53,250
a company wide against everyone.
Now as you sit in a safe on the
525
00:31:53,250 --> 00:31:55,830
sideline, you have no dilution
because you actually actually have
526
00:31:55,830 --> 00:31:59,460
to own the stock to get diluted.
So I don't know how much percent
527
00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:02,460
ownership you're going to have.
I don't know how many shares
528
00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:06,300
you're going to have, but what I,
what I'm selling you is for this
529
00:32:06,300 --> 00:32:09,840
huge amount of money, which for me
was a $50,000 minimum investment,
530
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,290
is is. A ticket. To a. Party.
That is sometime going to happen.
531
00:32:13,290 --> 00:32:14,910
Yes.
Which is called the series A
532
00:32:14,910 --> 00:32:17,790
Qualified round.
Now some people see somebody, some
533
00:32:17,790 --> 00:32:21,900
people see series their seed rounds.
Um we didn't we decide not to do
534
00:32:21,900 --> 00:32:25,560
that, um, for various reasons.
But so I say, okay, well,
535
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,620
$10 million. What does it mean?
Well, it means when you convert
536
00:32:28,620 --> 00:32:33,270
into stock the most,
your conversion price will be is
537
00:32:33,270 --> 00:32:37,380
the value cap of 10 million.
Now you have sort of two
538
00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:40,980
mechanisms of that You can offer
an investor on the safe side.
539
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:44,880
One, you can say, well,
if the value cap is too high,
540
00:32:44,910 --> 00:32:48,300
you'll just convert at whatever
the series qualified round is.
541
00:32:48,300 --> 00:32:51,300
So whatever the VC comes in at,
you're going to get that price.
542
00:32:51,510 --> 00:32:54,540
So if I'm wrong and the VC comes
in at 10 million, you're going to
543
00:32:54,540 --> 00:32:58,140
come in at the 10 million price.
But if they come in at 100 million,
544
00:32:58,140 --> 00:33:00,030
you're going to come in at 10
million and you're going to have
545
00:33:00,030 --> 00:33:05,280
a ten X factor on the VC, or if
you are not as strong as a team,
546
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:10,500
you then offer a 20% discount,
meaning that if the if the even
547
00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:13,350
if the round ended up at 8
million and you signed a safe at
548
00:33:13,350 --> 00:33:16,200
a value cap of ten,
you're going to actually come in 20%
549
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:21,180
discounted on the 8 million. Yeah.
So it's kind of hard concept to
550
00:33:21,180 --> 00:33:24,990
explain the young founders.
And a lot of the time they just
551
00:33:24,990 --> 00:33:28,240
don't understand it.
So they're not able to articulate it.
552
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,780
And so raising angels that have
never made a tech investment becomes
553
00:33:31,780 --> 00:33:35,950
sort of a complex thing to do.
Sure. That makes no sense.
554
00:33:35,950 --> 00:33:39,490
I mean, you're trying to trying to
sell an idea in a company and the
555
00:33:39,490 --> 00:33:43,480
value of a company that you're really
having trouble putting a value on,
556
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,990
an idea that's probably going to
change once you get funded.
557
00:33:47,860 --> 00:33:52,930
It gets iterated multiple times.
And, uh, but the sexiest your
558
00:33:52,930 --> 00:33:56,230
product will ever be,
unless you're an anomaly,
559
00:33:56,230 --> 00:34:00,070
is when it's that napkin idea.
Yes, because it could be.
560
00:34:00,070 --> 00:34:03,370
It could be everything and anything.
Or it could be, you know,
561
00:34:03,370 --> 00:34:04,990
nothing. Right.
So, um,
562
00:34:04,990 --> 00:34:08,230
but as you start to get metrics,
as you and I start to understand,
563
00:34:08,230 --> 00:34:13,120
once you start working out the,
the cacs and all the other KPIs,
564
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,970
the retention rate, the growth,
then now you're starting to come
565
00:34:15,970 --> 00:34:19,900
into the realm of like, hey, you're
launched, they're going to start
566
00:34:19,900 --> 00:34:24,160
asking you MRR monthly recurring
revenue or annual recurring revenue.
567
00:34:24,310 --> 00:34:27,490
Um, back to LTV, what does it cost to
acquire a customer, and what's the
568
00:34:27,490 --> 00:34:30,520
lifetime value of that customer?
And does that math? Math.
569
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:35,950
So, um, that's where you're sort of
headed into, you know, past post
570
00:34:35,950 --> 00:34:39,550
the seed round to go into series A?
That's a great explanation.
571
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,080
I appreciate you laying that out.
So we only have a few more
572
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,170
minutes here.
I wanted to ask you some questions
573
00:34:45,170 --> 00:34:49,520
that I think investors would
probably ask you, and that those are
574
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:55,070
if you're building this new app,
this company can Meta or Snap or
575
00:34:55,070 --> 00:34:58,910
Airbnb just build this themselves.
And if so, why haven't they done it?
576
00:34:59,450 --> 00:35:01,700
Well, you know,
I would have answered that
577
00:35:01,700 --> 00:35:04,370
differently up until two days ago.
And I just read something on the
578
00:35:04,370 --> 00:35:10,370
internet. Um, so, uh. No.
Uh, so, uh, let's talk about
579
00:35:10,370 --> 00:35:14,870
metaphor, an instance.
Um, I've been trying to get an
580
00:35:14,870 --> 00:35:17,930
issue resolved for the blue check
for our company for two months.
581
00:35:17,930 --> 00:35:21,140
I don't even write back,
so I wouldn't trust them to check me
582
00:35:21,140 --> 00:35:23,720
into my hotel room on the night of.
You know.
583
00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:27,830
So what I do say is, affiliate links
have been around for a very long
584
00:35:27,830 --> 00:35:32,300
time. Mhm. Uh, what does that mean?
The ability to, to connect a
585
00:35:32,300 --> 00:35:36,470
post to an external site.
And you can go book travel there
586
00:35:36,470 --> 00:35:38,930
so you can put up a post of a
video book that.
587
00:35:38,930 --> 00:35:41,150
And that's been around that's
been around for decades.
588
00:35:41,420 --> 00:35:45,050
Um, so it's not really changing
the metric of what we see
589
00:35:45,050 --> 00:35:47,420
because the average user is not
connecting those links.
590
00:35:47,810 --> 00:35:51,620
Um, so I still go to social
media nine times out of ten and
591
00:35:51,620 --> 00:35:53,760
see something, and I'm like,
I don't know how to book this.
592
00:35:53,790 --> 00:35:57,360
So, um, so, so I don't think meta
will join the space because you have
593
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:02,220
to physically become a travel agency.
It's not the same thing as just
594
00:36:02,220 --> 00:36:05,040
linking to travel.
You have to be the travel agency,
595
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:09,180
provide all the customer service.
So I don't see meta, um,
596
00:36:09,180 --> 00:36:14,220
or Mark Zuckerberg based upon what
he's building and his heaviness into
597
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,230
sort of the AR VR space. Yeah, right.
That he's trying to now build a
598
00:36:19,230 --> 00:36:23,430
travel agency.
Um, TikTok, on the other hand, um,
599
00:36:23,430 --> 00:36:27,000
seems to think that they can do every
single thing that exists on the
600
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,990
internet better than everyone else.
So TikTok has built their TikTok
601
00:36:30,990 --> 00:36:33,060
store and they're competing with
Amazon.
602
00:36:33,450 --> 00:36:37,500
Um, TikTok, I heard was building
some analytical software and they're
603
00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:42,150
going to be the new Google search.
Uh, and then I read a, uh, on Skift.
604
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,720
Um, I read something, uh,
two days ago that they,
605
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:49,890
as of March, they're looking
into because they realize it's
606
00:36:49,890 --> 00:36:53,760
an overwhelming amount of people
putting travel content on there.
607
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,450
Um, travel is the 12th most used
hashtag across all blended
608
00:36:57,450 --> 00:37:00,420
across all social platforms,
and there's millions of hashtags. So.
609
00:37:00,420 --> 00:37:03,870
So I saw an article that they
are looking into it.
610
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,090
Um, who knows, maybe they'll get
banned. I don't know, yeah.
611
00:37:06,330 --> 00:37:09,960
Um, they seem to not have the
goodwill of Congress at least.
612
00:37:10,470 --> 00:37:13,170
Um, right.
But, uh, it would be interesting
613
00:37:13,170 --> 00:37:15,930
to see how that turns out.
Um, and I think it's going to
614
00:37:15,930 --> 00:37:20,700
look a lot like just links.
Well, so what it seems like to me is,
615
00:37:20,700 --> 00:37:23,970
uh, your biggest competitor at
scale is Airbnb,
616
00:37:23,970 --> 00:37:29,260
because Airbnb is doing experiences.
Uh, I know when I'm booking travel,
617
00:37:29,260 --> 00:37:32,380
I'll book experiences through
Airbnb because I start with
618
00:37:32,380 --> 00:37:34,750
where are we going to stay?
And then I start thinking about
619
00:37:34,750 --> 00:37:37,420
what are we going to do?
And so I can naturally book a lot of
620
00:37:37,420 --> 00:37:41,410
things on there, but I have to be in
that mode of I'm actively looking for
621
00:37:41,410 --> 00:37:44,770
things where I think what you're
building is much more intuitive,
622
00:37:44,770 --> 00:37:48,940
and it has the community aspect,
which is huge on, I think,
623
00:37:48,940 --> 00:37:52,600
where we're going. Right.
So it makes more sense intuitively to
624
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,170
say, okay, I'm looking for these,
um, I'm sort of being social first,
625
00:37:56,170 --> 00:37:59,230
but then I'm also booking at the
same time. Yeah.
626
00:37:59,230 --> 00:38:02,110
I mean, first of all,
I love Airbnb and, um,
627
00:38:02,110 --> 00:38:05,650
I hope to build a really great
platform and get acquired by them,
628
00:38:05,950 --> 00:38:08,620
you know, 4 to 5 years. Okay.
That was another question.
629
00:38:08,770 --> 00:38:11,110
What's the exit? Yeah.
So that, that that's uh,
630
00:38:11,110 --> 00:38:14,050
that's right there.
So Airbnb without selling one
631
00:38:14,050 --> 00:38:17,410
hotel and one flight has the
second largest market cap in all
632
00:38:17,410 --> 00:38:22,060
of travel at 200 billion.
Um uh Booking.com, which is Priceline
633
00:38:22,060 --> 00:38:26,890
booking there at 219 billion?
I think you can see and I think it's
634
00:38:26,890 --> 00:38:31,120
like 40 or 50 billion for Expedia
Hospitality Group, which was the a
635
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:36,580
large player for a lot of years.
Airbnb is just redefining and
636
00:38:36,580 --> 00:38:39,550
building innovative technology
that is taking over the market.
637
00:38:39,550 --> 00:38:44,030
I think their experience side is
a little bit lacking because it's
638
00:38:44,030 --> 00:38:48,350
only these super custom experiences
and not kind of everything else
639
00:38:48,350 --> 00:38:53,180
that's sort of connected into the
ticketing systems of Disney, of,
640
00:38:53,180 --> 00:38:56,930
you know, the aquariums of the
Vatican if you're doing a Rome tour.
641
00:38:57,170 --> 00:39:00,560
Um, but it's really cool to sort
of like meet a person that's
642
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,350
going to take you out,
like on their sailboat, or they're
643
00:39:03,350 --> 00:39:06,380
just going to take you on a hike.
Um, and we do have the
644
00:39:06,380 --> 00:39:09,650
capabilities in our site to,
to compete against that.
645
00:39:09,890 --> 00:39:12,830
Um, those same people can come
and host those same experiences
646
00:39:12,830 --> 00:39:16,190
on our platform.
Um, but where we're going that's
647
00:39:16,190 --> 00:39:21,980
beyond the Airbnb is I'm trying to.
And I'll sort of end what what I
648
00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:25,460
think about this is I'm trying
to redefine the word travel.
649
00:39:25,580 --> 00:39:28,730
So right now when you think travel,
you think vacation.
650
00:39:28,730 --> 00:39:31,820
I think every time you walk out
of that door behind you,
651
00:39:31,820 --> 00:39:34,910
you're traveling somewhere. Mhm.
Where are you going.
652
00:39:34,910 --> 00:39:41,510
So I want to become the app of
things to do locally in your city.
653
00:39:41,540 --> 00:39:44,900
You want to go on a date night.
I want you to use my app to do that.
654
00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:47,360
You want to go.
You want to take your family out.
655
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,690
You want to know where the best
pumpkin patches to go pumpkin picking
656
00:39:50,690 --> 00:39:53,760
or to see the Christmas lights.
So we have all these innovative
657
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,810
features coming out called spots and
events. Um, and obviously dining.
658
00:39:57,810 --> 00:40:03,150
And so the goal and the
transition of the app is to if I
659
00:40:03,150 --> 00:40:05,940
were to ask you what's going on
in your city tonight, you'd have
660
00:40:05,940 --> 00:40:08,490
to do some research if I came to
visit you right now in person.
661
00:40:09,090 --> 00:40:12,360
And, and I want to build the app
that you say, what's going on in
662
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:16,170
your city tonight? Let me check.
And you hit that explore page.
663
00:40:16,170 --> 00:40:19,860
It's for you.
It renders every category unlike
664
00:40:19,860 --> 00:40:23,430
any other Travel Explorer page.
The actual categories are
665
00:40:23,430 --> 00:40:25,440
spooled up by IE.
They didn't exist until you
666
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,500
clicked them. Literally.
It made it for you. Yeah.
667
00:40:28,500 --> 00:40:32,520
And so that's where I think the
interesting part becomes is if I can
668
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:37,170
become an everyday usage product,
that's not just when you want to
669
00:40:37,170 --> 00:40:40,290
take a vacation.
So that's it's interesting.
670
00:40:40,290 --> 00:40:44,340
And what it makes me think of is
a few episodes ago, we had, um,
671
00:40:44,460 --> 00:40:49,590
a lady on who has a local to Orlando,
uh, venture Outdoor Florida as
672
00:40:49,590 --> 00:40:53,490
the name of her company.
She does, um, kayak kayaking and
673
00:40:53,490 --> 00:40:56,370
hiking tours locally.
And so I did see that.
674
00:40:56,370 --> 00:40:59,070
I saw that that, uh.
So she has two audiences.
675
00:40:59,070 --> 00:41:02,670
One is tourists are coming from
Europe or around the states that
676
00:41:02,670 --> 00:41:06,030
are coming to to Disney mostly,
but they want kind of a natural side
677
00:41:06,030 --> 00:41:09,480
of Florida, you know, in addition to
the theme park type of stuff. Right.
678
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:13,560
And then she has a local people.
And to me, your app would hit
679
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,100
her type of business perfectly
on the head because it will.
680
00:41:17,100 --> 00:41:21,060
It caters to both of those audiences.
It caters to someone going across
681
00:41:21,060 --> 00:41:24,630
the world that wants to connect
with people that live there and
682
00:41:24,630 --> 00:41:28,050
or live in Idaho, that don't
live near them or live here.
683
00:41:28,050 --> 00:41:30,160
But there are all the community
of interest.
684
00:41:30,310 --> 00:41:34,570
Shared interest is the same or
locally to to the point you were
685
00:41:34,570 --> 00:41:36,700
just talking about.
If if I have to go say a friend
686
00:41:36,700 --> 00:41:39,250
comes in town, where do we go eat?
Well, here are my favorite spots,
687
00:41:39,250 --> 00:41:41,440
but let's take a look at Google.
Let's look at Yelp.
688
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:43,330
Let's look at TripAdvisor.
Let's look at all these different
689
00:41:43,330 --> 00:41:46,660
sort of disconnected platforms.
I think what you're doing is
690
00:41:46,660 --> 00:41:50,740
bringing the connection,
the human connection of community
691
00:41:50,740 --> 00:41:55,450
and shared interest with the
intuitive connection about the act,
692
00:41:55,450 --> 00:41:59,770
the experience of, uh, of looking
for wherever you're traveling or
693
00:41:59,770 --> 00:42:03,010
whatever you're trying to do.
Right. And you're exactly right.
694
00:42:03,010 --> 00:42:05,650
And I hope she becomes a vendor
on her platform and, uh, well,
695
00:42:05,650 --> 00:42:08,410
definitely. Yeah, definitely.
We'll help her. Uh, yeah. We'll help.
696
00:42:08,410 --> 00:42:11,470
We'll help her. Uh, sell out her.
So how does it work with vendors,
697
00:42:12,220 --> 00:42:15,100
like. Yeah. So we have.
A vendor portal on the web on
698
00:42:15,100 --> 00:42:17,950
the website.
Um, we send them a link and they
699
00:42:17,950 --> 00:42:21,100
upload their information there,
the availability and their business
700
00:42:21,100 --> 00:42:24,460
licenses, and we whitelist them.
And then they become an experience
701
00:42:24,460 --> 00:42:28,270
inside of our platform.
And then other creators can take the
702
00:42:28,270 --> 00:42:33,280
experience and create a video for it.
And then it's just off to the races
703
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:37,180
sort of from there. But um, yeah.
So, so, you know, but the idea is to
704
00:42:37,180 --> 00:42:40,710
get like really granular, right?
So it's like you may know your 5
705
00:42:40,710 --> 00:42:43,190
or 6 best restaurants,
but if I said, okay, look,
706
00:42:43,190 --> 00:42:46,700
I'm really into jazz music,
where can we see some live jazz
707
00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:50,690
music in your home city tonight?
Who has the best and is it available?
708
00:42:50,750 --> 00:42:53,090
Um, how many times?
And I'm in Vegas right now.
709
00:42:53,090 --> 00:42:54,680
It's like the capital of
entertainment.
710
00:42:54,980 --> 00:42:58,280
I, I,
I really want to see Andrea Bocelli.
711
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,280
I, I have he has come every December,
every year.
712
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:05,120
I've missed them every single
time because I'm not checking
713
00:43:05,150 --> 00:43:09,770
Ticketmaster. Yes, I need I need.
Something that's feeding me.
714
00:43:09,770 --> 00:43:14,720
Yes, for me. Right? Yes.
I get the emails from Ticketmaster
715
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:17,960
and the local venues in Saint
Augustine, at Ponte Vedra Hall
716
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:19,940
or whatever, where I've gone to
see a concert before.
717
00:43:19,940 --> 00:43:23,810
And it's like you kind of get these,
but it's all disconnected.
718
00:43:23,810 --> 00:43:26,660
It's all a lot of work,
actually, to go and find the
719
00:43:26,660 --> 00:43:29,660
right thing or have it find you,
and then it and it gets on your
720
00:43:29,660 --> 00:43:34,010
calendar and it's booked.
That's a lot of steps. It is.
721
00:43:34,010 --> 00:43:36,650
And so that's sort of what we're
trying to do is we're trying to
722
00:43:36,650 --> 00:43:41,390
make lives enriched and easier
and be very local and authentic.
723
00:43:41,390 --> 00:43:45,230
I want you to think of my app as
anything to do with your family,
724
00:43:45,230 --> 00:43:48,590
friends, a date night,
this is what you'll use.
725
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:51,560
Um, and we're not all the way
there yet. We're travel product.
726
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,780
But that's the future of of the
product.
727
00:43:53,780 --> 00:43:58,740
So, it's exciting and and we are
blazing a trail and we are trying to
728
00:43:58,740 --> 00:44:01,530
educate people in marketing and,
um, you know,
729
00:44:01,530 --> 00:44:04,530
adoption is the name of the game.
And it's the hardest thing to
730
00:44:04,530 --> 00:44:07,890
get on an app. Yes it is.
Well, I wish you all the success.
731
00:44:07,890 --> 00:44:10,620
I know you got to run.
And if people want to reach out
732
00:44:10,620 --> 00:44:12,090
to you and connect with you,
because I know you work with a
733
00:44:12,090 --> 00:44:15,000
lot of founders as well,
how can they do how how should
734
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:19,020
we put them in touch with you?
So so obviously one is I'd love
735
00:44:19,020 --> 00:44:21,840
you to download OSI.
It's available for Android and
736
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:25,110
Apple and the App Store.
But also I have a platform
737
00:44:25,110 --> 00:44:28,470
called Scared to Scale.
Um, and that's um,
738
00:44:28,650 --> 00:44:32,190
scared and then to scale.
Com and uh,
739
00:44:32,190 --> 00:44:35,700
if you have a business idea, I would
love for you to submit it on there.
740
00:44:35,700 --> 00:44:39,150
And, and we're helping fund
young founders and put them into
741
00:44:39,150 --> 00:44:42,810
a mentorship program where we
are helping them along the way.
742
00:44:42,810 --> 00:44:46,770
Raise capital as we are.
So everything that's working for
743
00:44:46,770 --> 00:44:49,890
our company, we're each one.
Teach one, reach down,
744
00:44:49,890 --> 00:44:53,850
pull someone else up, and we're
giving them the list of the investors
745
00:44:53,850 --> 00:44:58,320
how to use LinkedIn, how to use,
uh, you know, pitch, pitch book,
746
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:02,190
how to create a deck that converts.
And we're, we're trying to help and
747
00:45:02,190 --> 00:45:06,210
foster both the Miami and Las Vegas
community as much as we can, um, with
748
00:45:06,210 --> 00:45:10,530
as much as we're learning and, uh,
it's an ever changing playing field.
749
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,620
Uh, it's unfortunate the
goalpost moves constantly in it.
750
00:45:13,620 --> 00:45:17,310
So, um, you have to just really stay,
uh, you know, above board with
751
00:45:17,310 --> 00:45:19,920
all your information. Well, sure.
Well, this has been amazing.
752
00:45:19,950 --> 00:45:24,090
Thank you so much for all your
insights on raising capital.
753
00:45:24,090 --> 00:45:27,270
I wish you all the best on your app.
I think it's an amazing idea.
754
00:45:27,780 --> 00:45:29,520
Uh, and, uh,
look forward to seeing all the
755
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,740
success you have from here on out.
I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
756
00:45:32,740 --> 00:45:35,890
And I love to come back on again.
If you ever want to drill into,
757
00:45:36,100 --> 00:45:38,440
uh, capital raise or something.
Yeah, absolutely.
758
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,230
100%, maybe six months time or
year time and see where you're
759
00:45:41,230 --> 00:45:43,630
at with the app. Yeah.
Just do a little recap and and
760
00:45:43,630 --> 00:45:46,210
I'll let you know.
Um, especially after TechCrunch,
761
00:45:46,210 --> 00:45:48,400
uh, is a big thing for us.
So you'll be able to see us at
762
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:52,180
TechCrunch disrupt this year in
San Francisco on October 28th.
763
00:45:52,570 --> 00:45:54,370
That's awesome. All right.
Thanks again. All right.
764
00:45:54,370 --> 00:45:55,780
Thanks a lot. Bye bye.