Update: Future Strategies For Scaling Our $600K/Year Custom Trips Platform
This is a follow up story for Baboo Travel. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 2 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hola, I’m Paul Sarfati, the CEO and founder of Baboo Travel, the OTA of tailor-made trips for modern travelers.
Baboo is a platform to design and book multi-day adventures directly with local in-destination experts worldwide, who specializes in authentic travel experiences, taking out the stress, information overload, and decision fatigue associated with trip planning, the fear of missing out on unique experiences, along with concerns about safety, unexpected events, and finding reliable sustainable travel operators.
Here’s the link to our original Starter Story interview.
Our core business is offering personalized travel experiences that cater to specific travel interests and preferences, providing unparalleled experiences to our customers, including:
Trip Builder:
A few questions about your ideal trip, travel style, interests, non-negotiables, etc., and our technology will match you with the destination expert who is the best fit to start formulating your itinerary.
Customize Trips:
We need a little inspiration when it comes to travel, so we made it easy to customize hand-selected activities and tours for each destination, designed and recommended by our in-destination experts.
Baboo OS:
Baboo OS is the operating system that powers our fantastic partners and suppliers. Similarly to OpenTable for restaurants, Baboo OS serves as a CRM for our travel partners to create, launch, and manage all aspects of the booking journey.
Our success can be attributed to our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional travel experiences, leveraging innovative marketing strategies, and constantly evolving to meet the changing demands of the travel industry.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
In the past year, we have been working on many different things.
1) Growth Hacking Marketing Strategies
SEO-optimized content: With the use of AI, we can work faster, and answer the important questions that our customers have when planning a trip. ChatGPT and other AI tools such as Quillbot. From writing 4–6 blogs per month, we went to posting around 20–25 blogs per month.
Influencer Marketing: We built an alliance with GlobalChild.tv, Familieslovetravel.com, and WideOyster.com, among other media influencers, so they can promote specific trips they show in their videos, or talk about in their blogs for their audience. We have seen a good increase in direct and affiliate marketing due to these alliances.
E-mail Marketing & Automation: With the use of ChatGPT, we implemented a way to build a customized tentative itinerary for our clients and automate a lot of email marketing tasks. We have seen engagement increase and our conversion rates go up.
TikTok: We built a TikTok channel and started posting travel-related content, and in a few months we got to 29,000 followers with one video with over 1.5 million views. It’s insane.
2) Product Development
This is one of the most important parts of what we have been working on, as we need to make sure that our product works great for what clients are doing on our website. With lots of user interviews and important traffic data, we have been working on improving the sales funnel to improve conversions, and make sure both our clients and local experts are happy using our system and that it’s super easy for them.
3) Optimizing our CAC & LTV
One of our main acquisition channels is paid media, and we have been able to lower our CAC by 3 and get to an inflection point where our LTV: CAC ratio is 3.4/1, meaning that for every $1 that we spend on marketing, we are making USD 3.4. This is amazing news, as it was one of the main things that could help us scale. We now just need to make sure to maintain that ratio as we scale, which is the challenging part.
4) Raising Capital
A big part of the work that I’ve been working on this year is to raise funds. We have been working on improving our deck, and reaching out to strategic partners to raise funds. This year, we raised some funds for our working capital and to extend our runway until we can raise the next Seed 2M round that we are looking for. It’s been challenging, to say the least, especially during these hard financial times, but we are confident that we will find what we need in the coming months.
5) Accelerator Founders Institute
We have been working in the fi.co Accelerator program for the past few months, and it has been a lot of work and very intense, but it has helped us organize our business ideas, improve our pitch deck, think about our values, think about our business model, and understand how to reach investors to have the highest potential for getting investment.
I would highly recommend this program for anyone starting a business and looking for tools to scale and become a VC’s backable company.
6) We are proud to announce that Baboo Travel has become a certified B Corporation, which means we are committed to meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. It took a lot of hard work from our team to make this happen, but we are very excited about this, and making sure we balance business and purpose.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Managing cash flow
It hasn’t been easy to raise funds yet, so it’s been challenging to manage our cash flow, With less runway, we need to be careful about how we spend our cash, so we have had to reduce lots of our monthly expenses, reduce my salary, and operate with the basics until we can raise funds.
Reducing our CAC
Our CAC was very elevated, and it was one of the main reasons why we couldn’t find scalability, but finally, we have been able to reduce the CAC three times, and we are now having a good LTV: CAC ratio that allows us to scale.
Investor meetings and so many people saying NO
Finding funds has been very challenging. Meeting with investors and more investors and having them all say: "You have a great product, but you need this or this for us to invest". We have approached the wrong investors, but we are also learning what VCs and investors are looking for to ensure that our business meets their demands.
Modifying the business model
We started as a B2C model only, and after some time and user interviews, we realized that going on the B2B2C path is the way to go as well, as there are lots of Travel Agencies that would kill to have access to the operators and experiences that we have in Baboo, so we are starting with an aggressive marketing strategy to reach those agents and make sure they use Baboo as their go-to platform to book custom adventure trips worldwide.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
The biggest lesson learned is the importance of adaptability in business. Baboo Travel had to modify its business model from a B2C model to a combined B2C/B2B2C model after realizing the demand from travel agencies for access to their operators and experiences.
Additionally, the company had to reduce monthly expenses and the founder's salary to manage cash flow while raising funds. We had to adjust its marketing strategies to improve conversions, including implementing AI tools and building alliances with media influencers.
Another lesson learned is the importance of persistence in the face of challenges. Despite facing obstacles such as a high CAC and difficulty finding investors, Baboo Travel was able to reduce its CAC, achieve a good LTV: CAC ratio, and raise funds for working capital.
The company also participated in an accelerator program to improve its business ideas and pitch deck. Bamboo Travel's persistence and willingness to adapt allowed us to overcome challenges and achieve success.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
Our plans for the upcoming year and the next 5 years are ambitious and exciting. We are focused on making tailor-made trips mainstream, revolutionizing the way people experience travel by curating unique and unforgettable adventures that exceed their wildest dreams.
Our vision is to take our customers to places they couldn't even begin to imagine, unlocking unexplored destinations and creating unparalleled travel memories, all with a very simple-to-use platform to curate all the travel information to make travel easy, safe, and exciting.
In the upcoming year, we will continue to innovate our travel technology, leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance our customer experience, and expand our market reach through strategic partnerships and marketing initiatives.
Still, our main goal in the next 6 months is to raise our $2 million seed round, to be able to expand our marketing efforts, further develop our tech, and find the right people to scale the business.
Over the next 5 years, we aim to establish Baboo Travel as a global leader in personalized travel experiences, expanding our customer base, revenue streams, and geographical presence. Our goal is to get to $50 million in revenue by the end of Year 5.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
One of the best things I read in the last year was an article on the resurgence of sustainable and responsible travel, highlighting the growing awareness and demand for environmentally conscious travel experiences.
This reinforced our commitment to integrating sustainable practices into our operations and offerings, aligning with the evolving preferences of our customers, and contributing to the conservation of our planet's natural and cultural heritage.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their businesses?
Persevere through the tough times and stay committed to your vision, even when faced with setbacks or failures.
Seek feedback and guidance: Continuously gather feedback from customers, mentors, and advisors to improve your business model and stay on track.
Build a strong team: Surround yourself with talented and dedicated individuals who share your vision and bring diverse skills to the table.
Be financially savvy: Keep a close eye on your finances and create a solid financial plan to ensure long-term sustainability and growth.
Stay curious and keep learning: Stay up-to-date with industry trends and continuously educate yourself to remain competitive and innovative.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are always open to collaborating with local travel operators who can facilitate interesting and unique experiences for our customers. We believe in offering diverse and engaging travel options that go beyond traditional itineraries.
Regarding hiring, at this moment, we do not have any specific positions open. However, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals who share our passion for travel and our vision for Baboo Travel. We encourage interested candidates to periodically check our website or reach out to us for any future opportunities that may arise.
Where can we go to learn more?
Contact Information:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: +1 (302) 244 7918
Feel free to visit our website or follow us on social media for updates, travel inspiration, and more information about our tailor-made trips and unique travel experiences. For any inquiries or further details, please don't hesitate to contact us via email or phone. We look forward to connecting with you!
Begin your next great adventure! Try Baboo free!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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