NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
“The rate of growth of
tech-savvy young people in Asia-Pacific is phenomenal. Yes, we’re doing great things here, but by 2020, Asia-Pacific will be the most-travelled-to region. “If you put a pin in a map
of where the axis of travel worldwide sits, in 1975 it would have been somewhere midway over the Atlantic. “That pin has steadily been
moving east. It passed the Meridian Line in Greenwich a couple of years ago. “This is why Turkey and the Middle East carriers are investing so much, because they think the world is moving east.” Other speakers agreed there
were advantages to being based in the UK, both as a launchpad for the rest of the world and as a place from where they can access vital support. Simon Robinson, chief
executive of Yolo Leisure & Technology and former chief executive of Thomas Cook retail, said: “The UK is one of the leading investment centres in the world. It’s a great market to cut your teeth on and prove your model, but it’s a small world, and there are other markets. “It’s having that trust and
footprint that you can tap into other markets. If you can tap into that investor community here, you can get that real global vision.” Fellow investor Stewart
Baird, chief executive of Stone Ventures, said London was not the be all and end all for young travel firms looking for financial support or talent. “We chose to base ourselves
in Worcester because we wanted to be outside London,” he said. “A lot of the talent is being nurtured in regional universities.” Sam Bruce, founder of start-up Much Better Adventures, and Eddie Robb, who founded Make It Social, both stressed the opportunities of being UK-based.
Travolution @10 Summit: Speakers identify a niche focus and the
Burge highlights ‘torture’ of a venture’s early days
Running a start-up can be “torture” and founders were warned not to be seduced by fairy tale dreams of becoming overnight successes.
Hugo Burge, chief executive of Momondo Group and co-founder of investor Howzat, said that to impress investors, firms must prove they can operate on a shoestring and commit to the cause. Howzat’s most successful travel
investment was Trivago, the German hotel metasearch site, now part of the Expedia Group. Howzat invested when it was turning over just €30,000 a year. “What they did really well was
focus on hotels,” said Burge. “For start-ups to succeed they
have to focus on one thing and do it extremely well. It’s very difficult to spot that magic in an early-stage business. There is no golden rule. “Generally we have three guidelines. The first is an incredible team with a strong
Failure in Dragons’ Den still boosted profile of Ride 25
The founder of travel start-up Ride 25 explained how a failed attempt to win investment on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den was positive for the business. John Readman said he was
approached by a researcher from the show about appearing, the firm having already won a number of start-up awards. “It was quite a big decision because we didn’t need the cash, but 4.2 million people watch it,” he said. After the programme aired in September 2015, bookings and
70
travelweekly.co.uk 2 June 2016
BURGE: ‘For start-ups to succeed they have to focus on one thing’
passion and staying power. Second is whether it is in a market where it can create enormous value. “And third, which is always the
corporate enquiries went up and Ride 25’s profile was boosted on social media and in other media. Readman said the aim of the
firm was to become the leading brand for cycling holidays. He said Ride 25 has a close association with charity and that this is an important ethic that it wants to maintain. A corporate division of the firm
organises corporate cycling events. Its first client, Google, was secured “by luck” because Readman knew a senior manager who worked at the search engine. The Google cycle is now an
annual sold-out event with 80 participants, including invited senior executives from Google partners such as Sky.
READMAN: ‘We didn’t need the cash, but 4.2 million watch it’
hardest one, is their traction, their magic. Do you believe in what they are doing? Trivago ticked all of these boxes.” Burge added: “The hardest thing as an entrepreneur is balancing dreams of changing the world with getting things done. “The people who impress me
most are those who are able to create things with tiny teams on their own. “It’s incredibly hard. The early
days of a start-up are torture. They are the hardest days of a company’s life. “You are forced to do things that
don’t play to your strengths, to be a jack of all trades. It’s really easy to get seduced by these dreamy Silicon Valley stories or fairy tales. “These businesses are often
raising enormous amounts of money over a long period and losing money. “It’s not really very British or
European.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80