Resilience in Tech: How TripNinja Revolutionized Booking Travel

Welcome to another episode of the SaaScast, the show that flips the traditional podcast format on its head. Here we have one simple rule one question, one answer from some of the biggest names in the SaaS world, and today we're thrilled to have the founder of Tripp Ninja, a SaaS platform that helps booking agencies find efficiencies and drive revenue using machine learning. And here's a number that's really hard to ignore. Tripp Ninja's solution boasts an astonishing 125% increase in revenue per search, so I'm very curious to know more. I'm sure you are, Andreas. It's an honor to have you with us To kick things off. Do you mind sharing a little bit about yourself and your company and how you got started?

Sure, thanks for having me. So we started this with my co-founders in 2017. I had worked for some time after university and got my first tax period, and that's where I decided to dive into entrepreneurship. It was a challenging time to live on almost nothing for about the first year, but we were able to then build the company to help online travel agencies deal with complex activities. We helped them search their existing content better, much like an experienced travel agent will do, but we do have been API and leveraging machine learning Gotcha.

And so you know, while COVID-19 seems like a distant memory, I'm pretty sure it dealt a severe blow to the travel industry when I say pretty sure, I know it did. But it may feel like a distant memory, but it was a really difficult backdrop to be building a business in, especially as a startup. You not only survived, but you managed to help, you know, booking agencies achieve a remarkable increase in revenue when it was really really important and every dollar counted. And so I'm wondering if you could, you know, dive into the impact that A this had on your business and then, more over, what were a few of the key strategies that you leveraged that were instrumental in helping you navigate this really epic storm?

Definitely so. When you say an epic blow, I remember our revenues dropping to exactly zero in about February 2020. It was a very, very difficult time and we had to make some tough decisions with how to navigate it.

My co-founder Brett and I had to figure out okay, how do we ensure that we keep enough capital in the business to keep it running to what back then, we had thought? Maybe if we get to December 2020, we'll be fine? Ultimately, it took a lot longer for the recovery, but by September 2021, we decided to close the business and we put out this article on Focus Wire on how to that we were doing that right. We ended up not closing the business. In that process, we were required by WebJet, their Australia's largest online travel agency, and they helped us grow the business and we were able to deploy the technology across their site To do that.

That's where that 125% increase in revenue, or start for multi-city flights, comes from. We were able to deliver that really, really good result for them decrease the average price that Australians paid for their multi-city flights by about 30%. Obviously, that's a really good success and we've been able to grow the business through that. Now we're working with other online travel agencies to get those same results, investing in R&D and making sure that we have a really good product. Throughout the pandemic, we weren't able to do sales, but we're able to look internally and say, all right, for when the travel industry comes back, let's make sure that we have a really good product to deliver.

That's incredible. I really love this story. There is a lot to be said about being authentic and sharing your successes and the failures equally and giving them both time and space in the world, Whether that be a serendipitous moment like getting your company acquired and then being able to co-create with your customer to build an amazing product so that the industry is ready and recovered, you can launch it into more new markets and serve more customers. I think as many bad stories as we hear about COVID-19, there are stories like yourself building great companies through really difficult times and really hard storms to navigate through. Andreas, thank you so much for your time today. I loved hearing your story and hearing you build your business off of a government tax return. That's fantastic the first time I've ever heard an entrepreneur say that. I can't wait to see what you and the team do next and wishing you lots of success in the future.

Great, I'll see you in person.