7 Questions with Todor Gerovski, one of the co-founders of 15toGO
Todor studied Economics in Trade and Banking High School and have a Bachelor degree in Entrepreneurship as well as Masters in Marketing in University of National and World Economy (UNWE). He has been part of 4 startups as a co-founder including 15toGO. 12 years of experience in organizing trips from which 4+ years working at Tripsy club. 5+ years being part of NGO supporting and promoting entrepreneurship. 8+ years of experience in Business Development.
Check his LinkedIn profile
- What is your background and why did you join 15toGO?
Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be an entrepreneur and to have my own business, that I can develop and mostly contribute to making the world a better place. On the other side, traveling is my biggest passion. When I was in school and after that in high school, I was always in charge of organizing my friends and have always been involved in that … actually, I like socializing and organizing events, gatherings, trips for my friends. I really don’t remember when was the last time I traveled in a group of under 20 people. I am always surrounded by many people when on the road. ;) It was easy to organize my friends back in the days when we were in school and in the University, but after a couple of years you realize that it is not so easy anymore. Everyone has its own daily round — a job, family arrangements, kids etc., so people don’t have time for this. It becomes even impossible to organize at least 5 people for the seaside. Basically, this was one of the main reasons why we have established Tripsy club in the first place. This way we can build a community of travelers and meet like-minded people who share the same passion for traveling.
And this is how we started in 2015. Tripsy club and everything happened as we recognized the problem of not having the opportunity to organize our friends to travel together. We wanted to do this hassle-free and share the experience with others. We founded the club with Peter, who is also one of the co-founders of 15toGO. What we have in common is our passion for entrepreneurship, we had two separate non-governmental organizations supporting young people to establish and develop their own business ideas. One day, we decided that it will be efficient to merge the two organizations and collaborate together so that we can accomplish greater results and have a bigger impact. Actually, this is the first project we have worked on together and we saw that we were handling it really well as we have compatible characters, personalities, way of thinking and execution. So we decided to give it a try and see what will happen. First I joined FlyEvents, organizing different events and later on we founded Tripsy.
Over time, we developed and polished the idea as we got deeper in the travel industry. Our expertise helped us recognize many issues that can be solved and many things that can be improved. What is actually the main one? There are many legacy intermediaries out there, using old methods to book and manage their trips since there is a lack of innovation and modernized thinking … and this is quite common especially in the group traveling. As for the solo traveling the situation is a little bit different. During the past year there were many improvements and new ideas were brought to life while in the sector of group traveling this type of ideas are non-existing.
That’s why we thought and developed 15toGO’s concept and we aim to disrupt the travel industry.
2. What is your role in the 15toGO team?
(Laughing) It is definitely a tough question. In a startup, you basically work 24/7, doing everything, breathing and living the project itself, which I don’t mind. Basically, my role is concentrated on the product development, the application features, the traveling part, and the organization as I mentioned is one of the strong qualities I possess. I also work on developing the marketplace which includes the communication with different tour operators and most importantly for me is to guarantee the customer satisfaction. Even when we started with Tripsy club, for us the most important thing is to make customers happy and to see smiles on their faces.
3. What gets you most excited about the project?
First of all, it is what 15toGO brings as a solution to everyone who loves to travel, including me. I have experienced the problems in traveling as well and I know how hard is organizing your friends to travel together. I am also excited that I get to meet many interesting people with different backgrounds and experience in different spheres. Most importantly it gives me the opportunity to make meaningful relationships and build real friendships while traveling. Moreover, we are building a whole ecosystem that gives users who can’t afford it the opportunity to travel. Through the gig jobs marketplace users can offer their skills -for example as a photographer or a guide and help the LTOs to improve their services while exploring the world with like-minded people. I think that we are building a project on a global scale which can influence the way people will travel in the future, their overall travel behavior, improve the user experience and last but not least disrupt the travel industry itself. And what people are most interested about is with whom they will travel rather than where and when. As most of the travel agencies are offering already prepared packages for different places, they do not emphasize the group experience itself while 15toGO does and it is what differentiates us.
4. Where do you see the project in the next few years?
I deeply believe in this project and as I said on a global level. We are aiming to improve our product and services every day and we have a team formed by great professionals in their sphere of competence. I believe that there will be millions of people worldwide who will use 15toGO’s app to match with fellow travelers, to meet new people and travel and explore the world together in a new, intriguing way.
5. Which do you think are the main challenges that the project and the team will face?
Maybe one of the main challenges will be the mass adoption of the crypto technology. It is known that in the last years more people are aware of it, however, we are still far away from the mass adoption of blockchain globally, even though they are many potential benefits for the financial systems and not only. Personally, I consider that large-scale adoption could take years. Many of the projects using it are technology orientated and are mainly recognized by early adopters who are seeing it from a different angle. While our project is focused on the mass audience as well — many of those people have heard about blockchain technology but still not sure how it works or what benefits it could bring.
6. How would you describe the atmosphere around 15toGO?
I am really happy with the team we have formed and what people we have on board. Everyone is passionate about the project, attaining synchronized development process and working together to deliver the best results. They are all great professionals, highly-skilled and competent and what we strive for is to develop the project and bring value to our potential users. The atmosphere is amazing, we all believe in the idea and we stand behind what we are doing — disrupting the travel industry all together.
7. Tell us three interesting things about yourself?
(laughing) Okay, let me think about it. Hm … the first is that my first business that I have started on my own was in 2nd grade ;). I was selling sweets to my friends as I studied in a private school and it was a little bit in the nowhere, far away from the center, shops etc. and we had our breakfast, lunch, brunch in the school. But when I was little I was really picky about what I eat so my mom was preparing different things and giving them to me, she had a shop at that time. So every time when the other kids were seeing what I eat, they wanted to try. I saw a business opportunity (laughing) and decided to start selling my own food to them. After that, as the demand increased, I started to supply more — “buying” it on preferential prices and selling it at a double price. As you can imagine, they were rich (laughing), we were in a private school after all.
The other interesting thing is that I always travel with other, preferably with a big group of people. Since I was in high-school, I have been traveling and not even once without my friends. So yeah, as you can see I really love to travel and mostly with other people. And maybe the most interesting case is that once I organized around 30 people for a trip to Turkey in less than 24 hours. Not only did they say that they were coming, but they also transferred the money, so that I could book the places. Basically everything was at the last minute, but the offer was great and we had an amazing time.
And lastly, I think I did a record for not sleeping much on a weekly trip, as I organized a trip for nearly 80 people where I was the only one managing it and guiding the group. I was the one waking up earlier in the mornings and going to bed after everyone else (supposedly in the morning). So to summarize I have slept around 15 hours for that week, but then again amazing trip, unforgettable memories and many new friendships.
For more information check 15toGO’s website , join Telegram for future updates, follow us on social media — Twitter & Facebook .
You can also download the app and try it today: https://15togo.page.link/medium
MATCH. BOOK. TRAVEL.
ARE YOU READY TO GO WITH US?
