For those who don’t know, what is Travello?
Travello is a social network for travelers used in over 180 countries. We make connecting with new people in new destinations really easy!
How did you get the idea?
I’m a big traveler and, like everyone else, was relying on serendipity and chance to meet people when I arrived somewhere new. I thought ‘there has to be a better way.’ There wasn’t, but there is now!
What’s the biggest win you’ve had so far?
Our biggest win was actually launching a product – so many startups don’t even get to that stage and it’s actually incredibly hard to do. More recently we closed a $5M investment round for Travello. This isn’t an achievement in itself, but it will allow us to have some really big wins from here.
What was your biggest mistake?
Not putting thought into action sooner. Mark (Co-founder) and I kicked this idea around for six months or more before getting started. We should have got stuck-in sooner as we burnt a lot of time. You just need to get started, but it’s often one of the hardest steps.
You just need to get started, but it’s often one of the hardest steps.
How’s your experience been funding your startup?
It’s always a hard road and anyone who tells you different is either lying or Mark Zuckerberg! Every startup founder will have their own war stories, but once you connect with an investor that shares your vision it’s incredibly satisfying.
What needs to improve/change for Australia to become a global leader in innovation and tech?
Investors and VCs need to take bigger chances on early-stage startups. We keep hearing “think global”, but they’re generally unwilling to back early-stage startups. The big VC wins globally, have come from really early investments, where they’re backing the founder and the solution, rather than the profit and loss. I’d love to see more of that attitude here in Australia – the investment landscape is really risk-averse.
Have you had any challenges with sourcing and growing your team?
The talent pool in Brisbane is reasonably limited and large corporates are throwing huge salaries at developers to keep them on. That makes it hard to compete as a startup but our mindset is, if someone is only working for this week’s payday, they don’t culturally fit with us anyway. We have a big vision and we need people who are 100% aligned with it. I think everyone in Travello could be earning more elsewhere and in other jobs, but we wouldn’t be building a global company in those other jobs, which is what we all want to do here at Travello.
Do you have any tips for acquiring new users and/or scaling your business?
Build something your customer’s want – that’s great customer service. Build something they don’t know they want yet – that’s innovation.
Build something your customer’s want – that’s great customer service. Build something they don’t know they want yet – that’s innovation.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
I’d still be a PE Teacher, which I’d be happy with. I really loved that job and I’ve transferred so many of those skills to my current role.
If you could go back to the start, tell us two things you would do differently.
I’d get started sooner and get something off of the paper and into the market as quickly as I could. We wasted so much time. I’d also find mentors in my vertical as a good mentor can fast-track everything,and usually, the truly successful ones are just looking to pay it forward, so they are more than happy to help for nothing else but to see you succeed. We’ve met some great mentors around Brisbane and they have saved us from making so many mistakes.
A good mentor can fast-track everything you do and the truly successful ones are just looking to pay it forward.
What’s the best advice you could give to someone starting out?
Get it to market. Done is better than perfect.