Travel Tech Essentialist #90: Value
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. — Albert Einstein
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1. Growth is no longer the best predictor of a software company's value
In 2020, revenue growth was the most important factor explaining a public software company’s forward multiple. The formula has changed since then, according to an analysis by Tomasz Tunguz, a Venture Capitalist at Redpoint. Net income has surged to the highest correlate of a public software company’s multiple surpassing revenue growth.
2. Stock market performance for travel companies
The 3 companies that have “Trip” in their brand name show the best stock market performance year to date. Four of the worst 5 performers went public via a SPAC.
3. Ideas for invigorating airline commercial products
Airlines have made efforts to generate additional revenue opportunities but there is much more that can be done with the people, processes and planes they already have. Ricardo Pilon shares five tips for airlines looking to get the most out of their staff’s creativity. Read +.
4. Reframing the work remote vs in-person question
The hot takes on what is better between working remote vs in-person are getting a bit trite, but I thought that the way that Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI and the former president of Y Combinator) framed the question was insightful. Employee preferences and company performance don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
5. Go-to-market motions
A go-to-market motion is an action plan that specifies how a company will reach target customers, grow and scale. It addresses two questions:
How do people hear about your product?
Why do they buy it?
Ali Abouelatta writes about 12 different GTM motions (with examples) for high-intent customers (if you are building something people already know they need) and low-intent customers (if you are building something people don’t know they need yet). Read +.
6. What Jetblue Technology Ventures is paying attention to in Web3
Jim Lockheed from Jetblue Technology Ventures writes about Travel and Web3, and the opportunities that JTV is looking at carefully in that space. Some of the trends and companies mentioned include:
Decentralization and tokenization in accommodations - Pinktada and Dtravel
Crypto OTAs - Travala (Jul 2022 revenues: $4 million; 8433 room nights booked, 2057 flights booked)
Decentralized mobility - MobiFi
7. TikTok Travel Index 2022
Google data reveals that 40% of Gen Zers prefer TikTok over Google for searching (source). TikTok is also an important source of travel inspiration. Bounce (luggage storage startup that recently raised a $12 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz) looked at the top travel influencers on the platform to reveal which are this year’s most popular destinations (by # of views in the first half of the year).
Top 3:
Dubai (81.8 billion TikTok views)
New York City (59.5 billion)
London (36.8 billion)
Top 50 TikTok travel destinations
8. A people-powered OTA
There are three million real estate agents in the United States (the majority of whom are part-time), but only roughly 100,000 travel agents. Is it possible to empower hundreds of thousands of people to participate in the travel industry in a way not previously possible? This is the basic question that Evan Frank and Henley Vazquez asked themselves 18 months ago and which gave birth to Fora Travel. The startup just announced a $13.5 million Series A investment co-led by Heartcore Capital and Forerunner Ventures. Fora has experienced exponential growth with 500 advisors around the world and more than 30,000 people on the waitlist. 97% of Fora Advisors had never sold travel previously. Read +.
9. I asked GPT-3 a few travel related questions
Question: Should people meet in person or via zoom?
GPT-3: In person
Question: What has been the most profitable merger or acquisition in the travel industry?
GPT-3: The merger of American Airlines and US Airways.
Question: Which year in history have people travelled the most?
GPT-3: The year 1869.
Question: Do you book your flights direct with an airline or via an intermediary?
GPT-3: I book my flights direct with an airline.
Question: How should travel companies gain more customer loyalty?
GPT-3: By offering a better service.
If you want questions for GPT-3, go right ahead.
10. Fundraising
Boatsetter, a marketplace for boat rentals, raised a $38 million Series B.
Based in the Miami area, Boatsetter is sort of an Airbnb for boats. It has more than 50,000 boat listings in 700 markets around the globe.
Velocity Ventures invested in ZYTLYN, a Switzerland-based big data and ML startup that enables companies to optimise critical decision-making through predictive insights for travel demand. Read +.
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There are currently 218 exciting jobs posted in the Travel Essentialist job board. Just a few of the amazing jobs seen on the board:
GetYourGuide, Head of Site Merchandising (Berlin)
Amadeus, Global Communications Manager (Madrid, London)
WeRoad, DevOps (Remote)
Sojern, VP Americas (Remote)
Hotelbeds, Business Development Manager (Remote)
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I hope you are having a good summer,
Mauricio