Technology advances of the past decade have ushered in an age of data. Experts estimate that the vast majority of the world’s information was generated in the past few years alone. This abundance of intelligence has revolutionized industries and made new types of businesses possible.
Now, Seattle startup Qalendra wants to leverage that ubiquitous data to enter an already crowded industry — travel planning.
“In 2014, half a billion people visited TripAdvisor and planned their trips relying on that content,” said Qalendra CEO Cristian Munteanu. “But reviews are unreliable, ratings are too subjective and recommendations are often contradictory. Besides, content is static and does not reflect the changes that may have appeared in the meantime. At Qalendra, we believe that just as many people would plan their trip based on data.”
Qalendra mines data on weather, terrain, facilities, traffic, prices, and a variety of other sources to generate predictive analytics for travelers. Munteanu believes the service will be particularly useful for users planning trips around adventure sports.
We caught up with Munteanu for this installment of Startup Spotlight, a regular GeekWire feature.
Explain what you do so our parents can understand it: “We tell you where the best conditions for any sport, activity, or vacation are, anywhere in the world, at any given moment, up to one year in advance. Instantly. On any device.”
Inspiration hit us when: “The inspiration hit us while planning a skydiving trip.
There are many things one should consider when planning any sports or outdoor activity trip. It’s more than the usual hotel checking or flight searching.
For example, I was looking at the weather conditions, especially winds and precipitations. Then I needed a hotel with a large covered area that I could use for packing the chute; a hotel as close as possible to the dropzone. And I needed to rent a car large enough to accommodate six skydivers with all their rigs and luggage. All these add up and turn the vacation daydreaming into a full-time job that takes several days.”
VC, Angel or Bootstrap: “VCs, for being highly sophisticated investors that, once on board, add real value; for being there in the long run; and for giving entrepreneurs the chance to go big and conquer the world.”
Our ‘secret sauce’ is: “We develop some breakthrough technologies, address a huge booming market and make something people want. We are not perfect in all aspects, but these three give us a pretty nice chance to build a successful company.”
The smartest move we’ve made so far: “Definitely, the smartest move was moving to the U.S. It’s not easy to do this, especially when you have to sell your Porsche 911 Black Edition or quit your job and leave your sweetheart behind for months. But you know what they say about the ham omelet: the chicken was involved, the pig was committed.”
The biggest mistake we’ve made so far: “We’ve made all the mistakes in the book. And even invented some new ones. Now we’re trying hard not to repeat them.”
Would you rather have Gates, Zuckerberg or Bezos in your corner: “If I had to choose at this moment in our development I would have Bill Gates in our corner. Next year, I would probably choose Bezos. And after that, I would work with Zuck.”
Our favorite team-building activity is: “We are a team of active travelers: A skydiver and a cyclist. So everyone kind of has his own activity of choice. But now that you made me think of it, I should start BASE jumping from a cliff, while riding a bike. Beat that.”
The biggest thing we look for when hiring is: “Hire young or hire best. As a CEO for a multinational corporation back in Romania, I hired many people, and the youngest proved always to be the best investment for the company. But just as a wise old man told me once: “Every man you hire means 200 grams of shit per day that you have to manage; hire as little as you can.”
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to other entrepreneurs just starting out: “Put all you have into this and let no one cap on your ambition.”
Editor’s note: GeekWire is featuring each of the companies participating in the 9Mile Labs incubator in the lead up to the Milestone9 Graduation Day and pitch event on May 14.
