Hipmunk is a US-based flight (and now hotel) search engine, which first featured on Tnooz in August 2010 [TLabs Showcase - Hipmunk].
So what happened in the intervening 12 months?
Are you making money yet?
Revenues, yes. Profits, no.
What has been the biggest problem – building the product/service or marketing it to consumers/travel industry?
Both have been equally challenging, but also equally rewarding.
On the product side, we are constantly talking to our users, so we know exactly what features they want. Our team can build those features and innovate faster than any out there.
We’ve also seen great success on the marketing side with our promotions and campaigns, from the PDX power station takeover to the Hipmunk Me Facebook campaign.
Our challenges on the marketing side have mostly come from suppliers.
Biggest assumption in the business plan that was wrong?
None of our fundamental assumptions have been proven wrong – at least not yet.
We assumed customers would discover Hipmunk, return frequently, and share it with their friends in sufficient numbers for us to continue growing month over month.
We also assumed we could make money from both flights and hotels, and grow month over month in revenues. These have all come true, and the trajectory looks fantastic.
Is your current customer base as predicted?
Yes. We have a good mix of business and leisure travellers concentrated among the “early adopters” as we expected would be using Hipmunk at this point.
Did you achieve your 12 month goals? If not, why not?
Yes, In fact, we far exceeded our goals in terms of traffic and revenues.
Has the problem you were trying to solve changed?
Nope. The rest of the industry is still stuck using ancient technologies and clunky user experiences that get in the way of customers finding what they want.
We still want to take the agony out of travel planning, and while we’d like to think we’ve made a strong move in the category, there’s still a ways to go.
Which startup that has launched in the past 12 months did you think “Ah, wish we had done that!”?
We wouldn’t have wished to do anything instead of Hipmunk—it’s the problem we had the most personal familiarity with and felt we could solve the best.
If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Be ready for long days and nights.
NB: Tnooz launched TLab Showcase in March 2010, a dedicated channel to give startups in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector an opportunity to explain their vision, company background and strategy to a wider audience.
As well as publishing an elevator pitch-type questionnaire for each business, Tnooz committed to following up with each startup after 12 months or so to see how well (or not) each performed.
NB2: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.
OK @Kevin, I’ll bite and post a comment on this piece. Why stop now, I’m on a roll.
Here goes, point by point:
Are you making money yet? Achieved revenue expectations – check.
What has been the biggest problem? Anticipated all problems – check.
Biggest assumption in the business plan that was wrong? No wrong BP assumptions – check.
Is your current customer base as predicted? Expected audience make-up and demographics – check… hey, this start-up thing is easy!
Did you achieve your 12 month goals? If not, why not? Achieved goals – check. Surpassed goals – checkmate.
Which start-up that has launched in the past 12 months did you think “Ah, wish we had done that!”? No regrets on business strategies – check… think we should consider writing “Start-ups for dummies”, cause this is a breeze.
If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be? No interruptions on social life – un-check… ah shit, I knew I should have become a rocket scientist, those boys get mad chicks.
These guys are from the movie Inception – they can see into the future. WTF!
In all seriousness though, clearly the fellas at Hipmunk have got the right pedigree to make things happen. Guess M.I.T. isn’t such a waste of money after all, cause those boys are definitely “wicked smart”.
Such a shame though, as a university dropout, I was really holding on to the Good Will Hunting bad-boy-makes-good feelgood narrative. Very deflating that, in reality, it actually takes a $800,000 education to make it in the start-up world.
Final anecdote (promise) – Sat beside a well known VC on LHR to JFK flight who had a long look at Hipmunk and decided not to participate, wonder if they have similar regrets on Hipmunk as they have for missing AirBnB, considering all the milestones they seem to be hitting or exceeding… I wonder.
Great UX Hipmunk boys, primary mission accomplished. Now if you could only do something to make the UI design less Dr. Seuss.