This Social Enterprise is Making People Travel For a Cause The startup helps non-profit clubs and organizations raise funds for a cause through travel.
By Nidhi Singh
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We all dream of travelling to certain destinations. This growing passion for travel has resulted in increase of travel based startups in last few years. Yet despite the exponential growth, there are a few factors that are showing signs of industry saturation. For startups, surviving an oversaturated market is challenging, but the right kind of approach can take your business apart from other competitors.
A huge number of travellers aren't anymore looking at chaotic mainstream destinations but are looking for unexplored and non-commercialized destinations to relax and refresh.
To address the increasing travel goals of Indians, Arjun Vajpai - a Mountaineer, Abhishek Joshi - a Learning and Development Professional and Anoop Dixit - a Digital Marketer came together to inspire people to travel for a cause through their travel social enterprise - "Lets Travel for a Cause".
The startup helps non-profit clubs and organizations raise funds for a cause through travel.It also aims at uplifting the smaller communities by reducing migration from Tier-II and Tier-III districts and giving the people reasons to stay and build their own livelihoods.
The three founders share common interest such a mountaineering, adventure sports, travel and community service. While recalling their first meeting, Abhishek said, "It's an act of destiny that we met, discussed our thoughts and came together to do something different.Three of us come from absolutely different backgrounds and we have different skill sets, it really helps us in adding value to each other's thoughts and ideas and we complement each other really well".
Identifying Like-Minded Audiences:
A travel startup faces many challenges to survive besides engaging in common obstacles like intense competition and customer base.
For the three founders, identifying like-minded people to take this venture ahead was a challenge initially. Since they have bootstrapped so managing expenses at the same time, so keeping an eye on execution was a major challenge.
Add Value To Your Startup then Conserve Money:
For startups, conserving money has now become a top priority to extend their journey in the market but Abhishek considers their first priority is to add value and create an eco system for people to do meaningful travel and add value to the society.
Public Fundraising Platform for Philanthropists:
Making a startup revenue model in advance is possibly the best thing to keep your company safe financially.Talking about the revenue model, Abhishek said, "Our short term revenue model right now is earning from people who travel to our destinations. On the other hand our long term revenue model includes primarily earning from people who travel to our destinations, promotion of travel entrepreneurs through a product based on CRM, marketing and crowd funding platform."
The startup sector can be a nerve-wracking place for anyone, let alone millennials. "Don't jump into entrepreneurship just to earn money. It's a crazy trap," Abhishek shared his advice for millennials looking to get ahead in their entrepreneurial journey.
