Yowtrip Won't Have You Travelling Alone

Sun Startup Essentials finds an Entrepreneur filling a need and a dream

In the world of ever-changing technology, rapid-fire innovation, and seemingly instant and fleeting millionaires with equally flash in the pan technology, sometimes it seems we may have forgotten that Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I was lucky enough to meet a young entrepreneur at the Montreal Entrepreneur Tech Breakfast on September 9th who hasn't forgotten at all.

Felipe Coimbra started Yowtrip to fill the most important need: his own. Felipe came to Canada from the US Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to see our amazing country, and to study French in Trois Rivieres, QC. Travelling around Canada alone, and not having travelled much before, Felipe went online and attempted to find like-minded travellers within Canada to meet up, ask for tips, and to sight see and experience Canada with. Not finding a suitable site to meet his desire, Felipe knew he had to start such a service.

Felipe returned stateside, and had another startup (i-stats Web Analytics was bleeding edge) on the go, plus holding down a regular job, but he didn't give up the urge to build the site he had dreamed up in Canada. "When I was in California, and I had time and money to travel, half my friends were married, some were poor, and the rest didn't want to go," Felipe laments. He sacrificed his nights and weekends for 4 months, coding feverishly, forgoing full nights sleep for short 2 hour naps. Emerging from the glow of the computer screen, Felipe switched his effort to marketing and showcasing his basic platform.

Living near the Bay area, Felipe found a rich event environment for pitching his site. With events of every flavour, every day, there was no shortage of opportunities to refine his story, gather feedback and share his enthusiasm for the site. But with a keen understanding of the need to scale, and not be limited to a small geography, Felipe used his knack for performing on little sleep to travel around the US to promote in other areas, showcasing at democamp NY, SanFran Meetup, and NewTech meetup in Boulder, CO. While in Boulder, after his pitch, Felipe was offered 3 jobs, but declined to follow his entrepreneurial spirit.

Felipe understands Principle Number One of Viral and 2.0 marketing: Build a Good Product. Buzz is a fleeting thing, and in the world of 2.0, buzz without substance fades quickly, or worse, turns to jaded distain in the social media driven universe. The biggest challenge Yowtrip faces everyday is building the userbase, and getting to critical mass. Felipe focuses a ton of energy on getting the word out, and talking to the right people. But he never forgets the product. "Build a good product that keeps them coming back, and telling others about", says Felipe.

Felipe says he is having fun, but knows that what inspires him is not for everyone "Yeah, I work a lot on this, easily until 3 or 4 in the morning. [When I was developing the site] I would go out on Friday, then work all weekend, then back to work on Monday; it's lot of work, but I like doing it, and the best part is when you are done the development, you get to talk about it and get excited about it and meet people along the way. I like it!"

So what is next for Yowtrip? I asked Felipe if he thinks they are going to make it big. "I'm an optimist, I'm passionate and I love to keep trying, but I am also realistic; I look at all the people, and what everyone is doing without a lot of funding… there is only so far that you can keep going without extra help." But Felipe hints at a big improvement coming up for the site. He relies on his 'power users' to decide what to build next.

Felipe stresses that Yowtrip isn't just for the younger jetset. One of his favourite users is a woman in her 50's who loves to travel and shop. Having trouble to find other like-minded shopoholics, she turned to Yowtrip, where she can pick any where in the world, pick the type of people she wants to spend her travels with, and meet up!"

As if running as startup were not enough, Felipe is passionate about bringing the event-rich startup fever to Montreal. After falling in love with Canada, and specifically Montreal, Felipe got involved with tech bloggers and events in the city even before moving "There is not as many events here as in the SF Bay area where every day there is an event." To supplement the community events where only a few companies get to demo, and to reach out to even more entrepreneurs in the area, Felipe aims to build more community for startups, investors, and other interesting people.

I asked Felipe why he came to Canada to be an Entrepreneur. His answer "It's just something about Canada…."

Imagine that.