Many large companies both within and
outside travel are embracing start-ups, but what’s the experience like from the newbies’ point of view? Touriocity may seem like an unlikely match for the corporate world but it has had some advances from TMCs recently because of the trend towards mixing leisure time with a business trip. Founder and CEO Alex Grant says the start-up is talking to large players who operate across both the leisure and corporate segments. He believes it is not too difficult to get the attention of large companies if your product is interesting enough. London’s Traveltech Lab has also helped the start-up form partnerships and meet companies. Grant acknowledges that large players are trying to engage with the start-up com- munity but points out that, for many of them, it’s the first time, too, especially with incubators and accelerators. “They’re trying to be very careful in deciding what exactly their priorities are,” he says. “Companies
are really opening up. It’s complicated and we still have to get in to the right people.” Michael Riegel, founder of corporate
travel start-up Comtravo, points out that the whole idea of digitalisation can be scary to large companies. He says that a start-up’s background, especially if it’s in technology, can go a distance in reassur- ing companies. Comtravo uses natural language processing to turn text-based enquires for travel into the best recom- mendations for travellers. Riegel adds that once you start working with a company in a particular industry segment, you get recommended to others in the same sector. “Initially they can be pretty suspicious. The lead office manager making the buying decision will have done their due diligence. They look up our corporate history and ask questions about shareholders. It shows they deeply care.” One of the issues that often comes up on both sides is the balance between that innovative, agile development versus the
Top tips: How to get the balance right START-UPS
• Start-ups need to focus on their idea and its application to the corporate travel world. Don’t talk about all the possibilities immediately – address one issue that needs your service.
• Highlight how an idea can save a company money, or add to the bottom line – essentially, what is the value proposition?
• Be prepared to consider tweaking, changing and even pivoting from the original concept. Also consider
different commercial models that work for everyone.
• Start-ups need to have a professional appearance with an office rather than a back bedroom.
• Get stakeholders, such as travel buyers, involved from the start. This creates a feedback loop and helps everyone get to a product or service quicker. It’s also likely to foster support and buy- in from the corporate travel community.
traditionally methodical thinking corpo- rate culture. At a conference in the spring, IAG chief
Willie Walsh summed it up perfectly. “A large organisation operates at a pace that is glacial compared to some of these new things and being able to bridge that gap requires a change in attitude.” Touriocity’s Grant stresses how difficult this can be. Corporates will always be looking for where the return on invest- ment is going to come, no matter how good a product or service looks. “There is going to be a cost to somewhere in the business.”
But, if the start-up and larger company manage to find common ground quickly, then the benefits are many. The start-ups get access to a ready bank of mostly willing customers to test, learn from and prove their product and service.
LARGE COMPANIES
• Large companies need to think about how easy they are to work with. Is their technology open for developers?
• They should also appreciate how complex the business travel landscape is and help start-ups adapt accordingly.
• Don’t suffocate innovation, nurture it. These are bright, passionate people whose product is their life. They are committed to getting it right.
They get the backing, often financial, advice and general support of a large name. And, whether the partnership proves fruit- ful or not, they have something to talk about with future perspective partners. Large companies get smart-thinking people with ideas that could fundamen- tally change a business and add to its bottom line. As Balcom says: “It’s bringing in additional value to customers that was not there before.” Amex GBT has been working with air and hotel pricing intelligence start-up Yapta, and launched a proprietary tool developed with the company in March. Tcheng says the TMC’s work with Yapta is a good example of when things go right. Amex saw a “limited downside” in working with Yapta. “It was not us being asked to invest US$10 million now with the possi- bility of getting US$20 million back. There was almost no upfront cost but there were also other reasons we decided to invest. We wanted a unique solution,” he says. He explains that Yapta decided on taking a cut of future transactions that came out of the proprietary technology. “They are bringing expertise and the technology we don’t have.”
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