SANEtraveler

They say “when in Rome, live like the Romans do.” But what if you’ve never been to Rome before?  How would you know how they live, where to go and what to do?

When traveling, you want to know the real deal. SANEtraveler will bring the straight story to study abroad students around the globe. Through a custom-built social media platform, founders Nora Drago and Stephanie Filipek are planning to build a community that leverages special interest articles, blogs and discussion boards to connect college adventurers. Hip and cutting edge, you can almost imagine their site evolving into a reality tv show.

But how will they get there from here?

When we met to discuss their project I was impressed by how well they understood their target customers and the competitive market.  They had already crafted a strongly differentiated strategy and seemed capable of scaling their product, but there were two areas we needed to work on: building the platform and creating a fundamentally sound revenue program.

Since they were bootstrapping, and their expertise is not in the software arena, we tackled that issue first. Could we find someone to work with them for an equity stake? Would that be the right direction? If so, what percentage of the company would they need to split? And how could they be sure they were getting the right partner? Further, what if they chose the wrong platform? And just for a point of reference, shouldn’t they know what the development costs would be?

We needed an expert, someone who had been down this road before. So I connected them to David Friedman, who is the Founder of Boston Logic, a Connector with Boston World Partnerships, and a mentor to startups. Dave’s company specializes in Ruby on Rails, a flexible program for web 2.0 sites. With just one meeting the SANEtraveler founders can confirm that their vision is accurate, find out what the build-out would cost if a third party was doing it, and make better decisions about who to hire and how much of their company to share (if applicable). Alternatively, they will have an accurate picture of how much funding they need to raise to build a prototype.

On the revenue side, we agreed that advertising alone is not a sound strategy. Charging for  basic memberships seems unlikely, but they can consider offering higher-level services for paid subscriptions. Additionally, there may be opportunity on the customization side by building out uniquely branded pages for groups like universities and travel companies. The next step, once a prototype is closer to completion, will be to shop the platform to those parties, get early-stage feedback and create a beta-client list for early usability studies.

I hope it’s ready soon.  I’m suddenly inspired to book a trip to Greece.

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“Both Steph and myself benefited from your use of the term “ecosystem” and your advice regarding investors. The term “ecosystem” was both catchy and the perfect word choice for the groups of people we need to fully understand. I believe that by understanding our ecosystem, SANEtraveler will be more profitable. We will be in tune with our customers and their needs, as well as aware of SANE’s role in the business world regarding competition, current trends, and the ever-evolving use of technology as the platform for internet-based businesses. Transparency was also a big part of our conversation. You validated our thought process. You gave us a plethora of examples as to why it is okay to be open and to let people know who we are and what we are about (so long as necessary legalities are taken care of). We aim to keep our customers on board with everything we do, even before we do it. We want to be a flexible company and respond to our target audience as their needs/wants evolve.”

Nora Drago, Co-Founder
SANEtraveler

“The phrase of ‘customer’s ecosystem’ really stuck with me too,  as did the concept of connecting to your customer’s experience. Another helpful piece was your remark on leaving a trail all over the internet and creating multiple channels that lead to our website/name. to position ourselves as more of an authority in the traveling/study abroad arena. I thought you did a great job of bringing in your own business philosophies along with past experiences to help illuminate next steps and possibilities for us to explore.”

Stephanie Filipek, Co-Founder
SANEtraveler