A global start up that develops free algorithm-based, interactive travel guides for mobile devices. This is the essence of Triposo, the company co-founded in 2011 by CEO Richard Osinga, and ex-Googlers Jon Tirsen and Douwe Osinga. It recently raised 525k in seed funding (read here).
Richard joined us to answer some questions about this new project.
FinSMEs: Hello Richard, thank you for joining us. First, tell us something about Triposo. How did you come up with the idea of creating it?
Richard:
“Douwe and I had a travel start up before. We founded world66 in 2000 – it was the first travel wiki on the web. It did quite well but when Douwe had the chance to work for Google we sold it to Internet Brands.
“We kept on discussing about doing something travel related, however.
“The idea was clear: in 2011 the content is all there. So we’re not going to create more travel content. We were going to make it relevant for users and bring it to mobile devices”.
FinSMEs: What is it? How does it work?
Richard:
“Triposo makes mobile travel guides. We use open content from wikipedia, wikitravel and 5 other open content sources. We mix and mash and annotate. The end product is an intuitive travel guide that works offline and covers any destination in the world. Currently we have such a world guide for Android. For iOS we have 30 destination guides and we’re still working on the world guide”.
FinSMEs: Could you introduce us the other members of the team?
Richard:
“We’re 5 guys now:
“Douwe Osinga, my brother. He was with Google for the last seven years. The last project he worked on was Google Wave.
Jon Tirsen was also on the Wave Team at Google. He is our tech lead.
Vincent Osinga is another brother. He’s our iOS developer and he’s great with mapping stuff as well.
Alex Balut is working on the development or our Android apps.
And then there’s me.
We will probably be joined by a designer in December. Until then we will be working with freelancers“.
FinSMEs: Where are you based?
Richard:
“What’s special about the team is that we work distributed. We get together every 2/3 months and do what we call a Jamboree. First we got together in Sydney, then in San Francisco and now in Amsterdam. Next Jamboree will probably be in Asia”.
FinSMEs: Why did you start thinking about raising capital?
Richard:
“We believe our apps should be free and reach the largest possible audience. It means you need some capital”.
FinSMEs: Today, many tech companies try to raise venture capital and I know that this is no easy. What did you do to reach this target? Was it easy to close the deal?
Richard:
“We went to Silicon Valley and pitched our plan to angels and to people who could introduce us to angels. Getting the right introductions is very important. If you’re introduced to an investor by another successful entrepreneur you’re more likely to have the chance to do your pitch. The fact that we have 2 ex-Googlers who are willing to bet the farm opened quite a few doors as well”.
FinSMEs: Who are the investors?
Richard:
“We have 10 investors. We don’t disclose all their names but we can mention Chris Sacca, Lars Rasmussen, Taher Haveliwali, John Benediktsson, Jens Christensen, Shiva Kumar and Interwest Partners”.
FinSMEs: How are you using the capital?
Richard:
“We’re using it to build a great product”.
FinSMEs: Do you plan to raise additional venture capital funding?
Richard:
“We plan to do a series A in the spring of 2012”.
FinSMEs: Given this experience, what would you say to other young or would-be entrepreneurs who are going through a similar process? Is venture capital the only solution?
Richard:
“Keep your cost down and try to figure out for yourself what it is you need someone else’s money for. If you take money from someone you really have to believe that person can add value beyond just the money. It has to be a good fit”.
FinSMEs: Could you give them some advices on how to approach investors?
Richard:
“Read Venture Hacks and Pitching Hacks. Get in touch with entrepeneurs who like your idea and approach. Ask them if they can introduce you to investors”.
FinSMEs
12/09/2011