Leading a TravelTech Startup through a Pandemic - looking back on 2020

When I founded YouLive to Travel in 2016, I was on a mission to make it easier for people to create unique travel experiences. I saw the top 10 lists on travel sites and realized that the overtourism it created was no good for anyone. I believed that we could build technology that empowered planners to think beyond the top 10. Instead, we help planners take people on tours tailored for their group that would show them a different perspective, keep more money local and maybe even change the world. 

I didn't come from a travel industry background, so I had a key attribute that successful founders need, just enough naïveté to believe you can change an industry. It turns out that travel is a slow moving industry and covid has slowed us down even further.

The Dream of Sustainable Changemakers

All industries have their change makers, the people on the edges looking to make something new, to shift mindsets, the ones who are passionate about their WHY, in addition to building sustainable businesses. So we found them and nurtured them.

People like: Ben Southall of Best Life Adventures and Steph Woollard of Hands On Development and Jake Haupert of the Transformational Travel Council.

By January 2020, YouLi, the best software to manage groups trips, had been in market for 2 years, and it had finally reached sufficient maturity to compete and win against established players. The pipeline was full, the team was energized, our clients loved us and we were going to ride the startup rocket up the curve, just like all the success-biased stories we had heard. By April 2020, all those plans were laid to rest as the world held its breath to see what the pandemic would mean.

The Identity Crisis

I had planned to attend 3 international destination weddings in 2020. One was in Argentina, one in Jordan and one in New York. My family is global and I have acquired them over 20 years of traveling the world as a digital nomad. My first international trip was to Russia at the age of 17. The United States Congress sponsored an exchange program for high school students. It was meant to improve relations between Russia and the United States (not sure it worked as well as they wanted). My first glimpse at the real world outside my American bubble left me thirsty to understand more than the headlines from other countries and make true connections with people. I have been unimaginably lucky to find ways to quench my thirst and I've made deep connections that mean sitting at home for too long is not an option.

That's why I ignored the sage advice from my Chinese friends to skip the trip to Argentina in March 2020. I wrote an article explaining why I chose to travel during a global pandemic. I had no idea that trip would end with a panicked car ride to a remote airport at the end of the world in Patagonia. I had lived so long knowing that all the people I loved were just a flight away. It wasn't always easy, cheap or convenient, but it was always POSSIBLE.

As the shock of managing to escape the most horrendous stranded traveler scenarios wore off, the scarier reality started to sink in. The thing I had built my world on, the thing we had built our business on, was the idea that connections to people around the world were not only possible, but ESSENTIAL.

In March of 2020, the world unanimously decided our work was not only NON-ESSENTIAL, but actually the thing to be stopped at all costs. As borders closed, I experienced a sense of utter loss. Even when my mother passed, I did not feel as existentially threatened. Because that is part of life, people you love pass on. But to be deemed non-essential while you are still capable, that felt so inconceivable.

On a deep level, my entire identity felt undermined. Still, I had a team to lead. I've been around long enough to know that long term decisions should not be made when you're facing the first waves of shock and uncertain conditions. So I asked my team to take a pause, the first one for 2 weeks. We kept the platform running and I fielded cancellation requests and the questions as best I could. 

Over those two weeks I put together a plan for how we could cut back our operations to the bare minimum and make space for some new ideas. Bron, my co-founder, and I agreed to start seeking alternative projects to keep cash flowing in. Together with Geoff, Ellie and Vika we made plans to support our community. We started running meetups every two weeks, making space for people to talk and process the changes sweeping their world.

In some of those discussions we explored virtual experiences, and we even co-founded a virtual experience platform called Speakeasy, which now specializes in Virtual Events at Scale.

Along the way, we connected with Soundsmith Chris Wurden, an incredible musical talent who is intent on changing the world, one breath at a time. Like many during these intense times, I was introduced to the Wim Hof method of breathing just when I really needed it. I was experiencing an existential identity crisis and anxiety was my constant companion. Of course, I wasn't the only one. I watched through my internet feed as the whole world tried to grasp the inconceivable. We all felt it differently, but we all felt it. I'm pretty sure I experienced all the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and now, I hope, I'm close to acceptance -- the breathing helps.

The Pivot

In startup land, we talk about "pivots", and I guess that's what we did. We understood that travel would be constrained for at least a year, so there was no point focusing on bookings. Thankfully, YouLi is more than a booking platform. It is a customer engagement platform specializing in gathering groups. So we set about finding the partners who understood the value of this as a platform to rebuild on the other side of the travel restrictions.

We connected with many amazing partners, like:

Yasmine Grey - founder of Getaboutable.com - a social enterprise dedicated to mainstreaming accessible travel. YouLi now powers her marketplace, saving her the cost of building her own custom booking engine so she can focus on her WHY.

Dr. Sheri Rosenthal - founder of Wanderlust Entrepreneur - she is a beautiful soul who shares her experience building profitable retreat businesses with her community of retreat organizers. We partnered with her to create a custom Sales Page JUST for her community.

B-corp - I have had it in my mind for a while that we should become a B-corp, but I never had the space to get it done. Finally this year, I've started by changing our constitution to commit to a purpose beyond shareholder value: ‘The purpose of the Company is to deliver returns to shareholders whilst having an overall positive impact on society and the environment.’

The YouLi Team

We were lucky the pandemic lockdowns hit when they did and not a month later. We were just about to spend a lot of money on advertising and grow the team. Instead, we paused, scaled back, and found other projects to bide our time. We found comfort in each other and in projects that focused our minds on short-term achievable goals. We took it one day at a time in April, then one week at a time in May, then one month at a time in June. 

Then in July the entire Melbourne team was put into one of the most extreme lockdowns in the world for 111 days. Our worlds were no more than 5km from home. Digital interactions were our salvation and our torture for days on end. Today Melbourne counts itself lucky to have no circulating virus and we have the hard earned privilege to hug people again. 

Feeling Necessary

Each of us suffered various losses, plans we had that could not be. Yet we managed to hold on and find ways to create value in the lives of our clients so that today we are growing again, as our clients pivot and find their value again too. We are now seeing regular bookings and new experiences being created again. So we come full circle as it is almost January and I am dreaming of the things we will achieve in the new year, together and stronger than ever, feeling NECESSARY.

Change means one thing ends and something else begins. Sometimes we initiate change and we feel empowered, like when you go on a transformational retreat. But quite often change is something our environment thrusts upon us, leaving us feeling threatened and vulnerable. We still face a challenging road to rebuild the travel industry in a way that is sustainable. Yet, unlike in April, I now have the peace-of-mind to recognize the opportunity amid the loss and I am proud to have a resilient team and an awe-inspiring community ready for whatever comes next.

Join our next community meetup and find out how YouLi can empower you to shape what travel will become in 2021 and beyond.