Evan Schneyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Wanderfly on This Week in Startups #136

TWiST #136: Evan Schneyer of Wanderfly

All packed up with no place to go? CEO of Wanderfly Evan Schneyer was once in your shoes--and created a solution. His site offers a carefully curated stable of options tailored to your budget, dates and interests in seconds flat. On this episode of TWiST, Evan shares how the idea for Wanderfly was born and what he's learned in the years since.

Support This Week in Startups by joining our new producer program at twistlist.co!



0:00-0:15 Introduction
2:30-3:00 Thank you to Squarespace contest participants.
3:00-4:30 GoToMeeting ad.
4:30-6:15 Reminder about the GoToMeeting contest. Send in your receipt to enter to win a GoToMeeting with Jason and Tyler.
6:15-7:30 Today we’re welcoming Evan Schneyer of Wanderfly to the program.
7:30-8:15 So there is an actual business plan for Wanderfly?
8:15-9:30 What was the idea that Jason fell in love with--what was the core of it?
9:30-11:00 Did you find anyone who had tried to build a site like this? (Watch the clip.)
11:00-12:00 (Looking at the Wanderfly site) Tell the audience what we’re looking at.
12:00-13:00 Jason searches for a trip that costs $2k per person in early June for 4 days and can be to anywhere.
13:00-13:45 Did you need to do that (searching) graphic or is it just for fun?
13:45-15:30 Jason reviews the results of his search: Miami.
15:30-16:15 Why are the search result cards with images going away?
16:15-17:00 Are you pulling data from Foursquare and Yelp?
17:00-18:15 Jason reviews the next search result: Cancun, Las Vegas, Chicago.
18:15-18:45 If a user searches for 14 days you’d get different results?
18:45-20:30 What did the business plan lead you to believe? How did you determine if it would be successful?
20:30-22:30 If you’re the place that they start and you’re not the place they finish, is that a problem?
22:30-24:00 Like all startups that build a good product, you’re faced with multiple choices: You can be a consumer brand or you can become a service provider. How do you make the decision?
24:00-25:00 Affiliate revenue is popular. With hotels you could make $10 a night, is that correct?
25:00-27:00 Any thought on having a concierge type negotiation platform where a user could pay a premium to have the site plan their vacation? (Watch the clip.)
27:00-27:45 Tyler discusses the Let's Go Europe travel series and how that could be digitized.
27:45-28:00 Why don’t you have Airbnb pulled in as a provider?
28:00-29:45 Tell us about your raise--what was the goal, when did it start, who invested and how much?
29:45-30:15 You used AngelList so does that mean you met Naval? How did you get on his radar?
30:15-31:30 Jason shows the Wanderfly AngelList page and Evan discusses his investors.
31:30-33:15 Jason thinks Wanderfly is the prime example of a beautiful product that functions well, which makes it easy for an angel to make a decision (about investing).
33:15-36:00 Ad for Squarespace.
36:00-37:00 How did you get started with writing the business plan? Do you think they have value?
37:00-37:30 How much time did you put into writing the business plan?
37:30-38:30 How much time did it take to build the 1.0 version of the site?
38:30-39:30 What’s the goal? Do you want to get bought or do you want this to last?
39:30-41:30 How do you manage your people in general and with regards to the possibility of a sale?
41:30-41:45 What percentage of your time, as a CEO, is spent building versus managing?
41:45-43:00 What’s your philosophy on when it isn’t working out with someone? (Watch the clip.)
43:00-44:45 Compare and contrast: Minimum viable product versus the slow product movement. What’s your take?
44:45-47:00 How are you building the core community? Are there any best practices you can share?
47:00-47:15 What if a product existed that let you send a message to the establishment of a business to open a dialogue about the service or products?
47:15-48:00 Jason introduces Skweal to the TWiST audience. (Watch the clip.)
48:00-49:30 Thank you for joining us today, Evan. Wishing you continued success!
49:30-51:00 Jason discusses what he thinks is essential when building a product.
51:00-52:00 Tyler explains how Skweal works and why you can’t game the system.
53:00-53:30 Reminder to enter the GoToMeeting contest. End of show.

Multilingual? Translate this episode of TWiST into another language and email the transcript to translate@thisweekin.com

BACKGROUND ON EVAN AND WANDERFLY
About Evan

• Co-founded Wanderfly with Christy Liu (his long-time girlfriend), Cezary Pietrzak & in December 2008, all went to Wharton


• Evan is the technical co-founder of the three


• Co-founder (along with Christy and Cezary) and Digital Producer at digital marketing consulting firm Living Breathing in 2007


• LB continues to operate and serve clients through network of contractors


• Came up with idea while traveling in Rome with friend who worked for Expedia


• Previously was a Business Analyst at AmEx and a Social Apps Manager at Longtail Studios and NBC Universal


• Graduated from the Wharton School of Business, studied tech and business (experienced developer)


• Passionate about food--would like to travel to S. America to sample the local cuisine


• Says he can’t imagine being anything other than an entrepreneur


• Plans to stay in NYC (loves the startup scene there)


• Born and raised in Philly


• As an entrepreneur, he has learned that management takes time (and to accept that)


• Has also learned to make decisions within real-life constraints (not ideals)

About Wanderfly

• Suggests destinations based on your interests and budget


• Wrote business plan for competition at Wharton, was finalist


• Has never shown business plan to investors


• Spent many months researching before started building


• Private beta in July 2010, official launch October 2010


• Lists nearly 1,500 destinations right now


• Has over 20 categories of travel from family to outdoors to history


• Business model now shifting to advertising and partnerships


• Thinks acquisition by data-driven site like Expedia possible in the future


• Wanderfly team researches and updates destination listings


• Raised $400K in seed in August 2009 from family, friends, angels


• Raised $1M in February from Charles River Ventures (George Zachary), Jason Calacanis, StartupAngel, James Bailey, Roger Dickey and other angel investors


• Nominated for a Webby in the travel category


• Partners include Kayak, Rough Guides, Hotels.com, Quintessentially, Not For Tourists


• Uses Facebook connect so travelers can see if friends live in the destinations Wanderfly recommends


• Just released a Wanderfly widget for WordPress


• Has 10 employees


• Offices in NYC are in shared startup space called Projective Space

FOLLOW ON TWITTER

Jason: @jason
Tyler: @steepdecline
Wanderfly: @wanderfly


And support This Week in Startups by joining our producer program at twistlist.co!

Comments

[Bill McNeely]

@jason extremely impressed with your improving on air presence. Great interaction with the guest!