Every day billions of travel photographs, reviews and suggestions are being shared on the internet. Since all this data is fragmented and generated primarily for social consumption – the real commercial value, measured in billions, is being lost. This is a huge loss to the industry.
Today, we have a chat with Mayank Gupta, Founder & CEO of Triplived that addresses this problem by automating trip recording in a well defined structure that travel seekers can easily discover and consume. The app was founded in August 2015. So let’s start of with the Q&A.
Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and it’s founders ?
I started my career in 2005 with Computer Associates after my engineering from NIT Allahabad. Worked with Computer Associates for 4 years before opting for MBA from CUHK Business School and Chicago Booth. Triplived is my third start-up. We are a founding team of 4 from NIT/IIT with 2 members from MakeMyTrip. We started Triplived in August 2015 from an Oyo property in Gurgaon.
Every idea is born out of a problem, what was the trigger for starting TripLived ?
Being an avid traveller, I have always been looking for authentic travel experiences from fellow travellers. Unfortunately most of this information was shared over social media that was difficult to discover and reuse. A platform that could structure all this data and give me insights was badly needed.
Travel memories are a collection of photographs, moments, places, conversations, romantic experiences and a lot more. However, over a period of time, all that remains of these memories are scattered photographs, lost acquaintances and vague recollections of travel details, thereby ruining the fun in reliving and relishing them.
While the traveller enjoys her trip, Triplived intelligently detects moments to be captured and makes them a part of the travel story. An awesome feature of the application is location based crowd sourced suggestions to help the traveller make better travel decisions. The application scans thousands of suggestions, and shares those that are most relevant to the traveller and suits her taste. Once the trip is complete, the travel story is converted into a short video that can be cherish for a lifetime.
Can you touch upon the features of TripLived ?
Instantaneous capturing of travel experiences in real time through completely automated trip recording. Real time suggestion and experiences from fellow travellers that can enrich travel experience and help make right travel decisions.
The application comes as a big respite for travel partners such as OTA’s and travel agents who rely on standard 5/6 Days holiday packages. Triplived gives life to their solutions by linking them to authentic, real time travel stories. The application provides a strong marketing platform for these travel partners to showcase their services to the larger world, directly from their customers’ smart phone.
Is TripLived bootstrapped, VC funded or Angel Funded ?
We are angel funded.
What are some of the stand-out features as compared to other apps like TripAdvisor etc. ?
TripLived is the first proactive travel platform that intelligently analyzes travellers behaviour and preferences, creates his travel story, enriches his travel experience and interactively captures reviews and suggestions in real time.
What is the revenue model of TripLived [Tie-up with hotels/transport agencies etc.] ?
Triplived will evolve into an authentic, structured content platforms and consumption of content will drive revenue down the line.
How has been the feedback so far for TripLived on Play-store. Any plans on releasing the iOS App ?
We have got a warm response from users and travel partners. Yes, we will be releasing the iOS app in the next 4 months.
Does TripLived use Freemium Model [or it free for life-time where user can upload infinite trip memories] ?
Yes, the application is free for users.
What are the major changes that you experienced when you took the entrepreneurial path ?
No changes, just learning. No job is good or bad. There is a task that needs to be done. You may choose to innovate, simplify and learn along the way or you may choose to crib and change. Industry needs the former. Change your attitude first, before changing your job.
What are your key advice(s) to people who want to start-up ?
The term ‘risk’ is wrongly perceived. Our lifestyle has changed; our value for money has gone down. The real risk is not as high as the perceived one. Stop comparing salaries or the time value of money and you will realize that you are ready to start.
Importance of Design in Mobile App Development ?
Most important! They are the blueprints, of your thought process. You get them right, you’ll get the product right. Designs beautifully depict product – business alignment.
What are some of the Growth-Hacking strategies that can be applied for an App-Based startup ?
Again a misused term! Every app is not WhatsApp! Every product has a use case and a target audience. Solve the problem and customers will use it.
How important it for startups especially web, mobile to follow Lean Methodology ?
Very important! Being lean is the way to succeed, be it the product or the business.
Can you give some pointers on Scaling Up & Customer Acquisition [some take-away for entrepreneurs]
Solve the problem and solve it right. There may be a need for it or a need may be generated. Later one is a little tough though. But till you have the solution right, word of mouth will follow. I do not know of any other way to scale.
Some hiring tips for entrepreneurs [especially the core team] ?
This is the most challenging part of any start-up. Look for those with right attitude. Skills can be outsourced.
Any parting words from you for budding entrepreneurs ?
Entrepreneurship is the most exciting journey and the best learning experience. You mature as a professional; you start respecting people and money; you become a better decision maker and above all you generate employment. Go for it.
I have been using the TripLived app and we loved the problem that it tries to solve!!
Salient Features of Triplived App
Record Of Past Travel Experiences
Provides a timeline view to your travel stories to relive those memories that are half-forgotten or lost.
Live Trip Recording
While you enjoy your trip, Triplived creates your travel story on your smart phone. It automatically detects your activity, captures your location, does automatic check-ins, and tags your photographs. Your reviews and suggestions complete the story, that can then be shared with friends and family.
Targeted Suggestions For Better Planning
Your friends, relatives or travellers you follow may have been to the place you are visiting. Based on your interests, Triplived scans through hundreds of suggestions, and shares those that are most relevant to you and suit your taste.
Social Connect
Triplived allows you to share your travel experiences with friends and family in real time.
Trip Video
Once your trip is complete, Triplived converts your travel story into a short video that you can cherish for a lifetime.
We are sure that you would have got some handy tips from the discussion we had with Mayank Gupta of TripLived. The Triplived app can be downloaded from the Playstore from here. If you have any questions related to TripLived or have any general query, please leave them in the comments section.