Don’t build something better. Build something different.

In this series, professionals discuss their experiences accomplishing something for the first time. Read their stories here, then write your own using #IWasTheFirst in the body of the post

Several years ago (back in the iPhone 3 days), it became clear to me that the way people were browsing and buying things was shifting, especially when it came to travel. Mobile commerce was fairly nascent at the time (about 1% of online travel bookings), but I could see the coming platform shift from computers to mobile devices. And despite this turning tide, the existing online travel agencies (OTAs) simply didn’t make great mobile experiences. So together with my cofounders Jared and Chris, we jumped on the opportunity, starting HotelTonight and inventing the last-minute mobile hotel booking app.

HotelTonight is the third travel company I’ve founded. The first two didn’t achieve a ton of success, but gave me the experience to spot the mobile opportunity in travel before others did. They also taught me that to be successful you need to build something not just better but different. Improving on a product that already exists is certainly a meaningful task, and it’s what led to my first two companies. I learned that to really stand out, to really make the impact on the industry I wanted to make, I wanted, and needed, to create something completely new. Doing so not only allowed me to tap into my creative side, but it also made good business sense.

As we were conceiving the product, I thought about how we could make HotelTonight as unique as possible. I tested hundreds of mobile apps and experiences, and noted what was different about the ones that were amazing. A few things stood out to me as features that could be differentiators for HT: speed, stellar photos and merchandising, and a clever brand voice.

The hardest decisions were around what would make us the most different: being mobile-only and same-day-only. Investors and friends criticized this focus, but it ended up being critical to our success. Being mobile-only and same-day-only set us apart from competitors, and allowed us to throw all of our resources into doing what we did better than anyone else could.

However, our initial user testing had disappointingly lackluster results. In fact, the first two potential customers we tested with totally didn’t get it. Why would I use this? Why can’t I book on my computer? Why do you only show a few options versus hundreds of hotels? Why can I only book for tonight? I also shared the early prototype with one of my DealBase investors, expecting him to love it. He hated it and pleaded for me to abandon it. It was one of the worst coffee meetings of my life. Still, we believed strongly in the product-market fit, and that once people tried HotelTonight, they would love it, so we pressed on.

Today, I’m so proud of what HotelTonight has become. Our team is amazing, the product keeps getting better and better, we’re profitable, and we deliver amazing value to consumers and our hotels partners. Every day, we remain laser-focused on doing what we’ve always done: making the best last-minute booking experience out there.

My family and friends have always been supportive (if a bit skeptical at times), but what’s even more gratifying is when they use and love the app for themselves. And I like to think I’m paying it forward by helping create a culture of empowerment, questioning the status quo and creating new things at HotelTonight. I fully expect people from this incredible team to build things in the future that I will use and love – products that will be different than anything else in the world.