The World’s First Together-Travel Company
Interview with Julian Ing, Founder & CEO of Launchtrip
Julian Ing is a serial entrepreneur that loves disrupting industries. He specializes in innovative technologies, product logistics, and user acquisition. Julian sits on multiple advisory boards and actively supports and works with outstanding non-profit organizations ranging from equality for minorities and young entrepreneurs. In 2018, Julian founded Launchtrip Technologies, an industry-changing travel tech company. Launchtrip is the world’s first travel booking platform to focus on group travel and events. Launchtrip is well on its way to becoming one of the fastest-growing travel tech companies in the world.
Dan: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us. To start, I am sure our readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What is your background?
Thanks for having me! Travel has always been a passion of mine, even as a kid. In fact, I was born into the travel business. My Dad owned an airline and travel agencies in Toronto, which cemented my interest in the travel industry at a very young age. I was even pitching business ventures to my Dad when I was eight years old and into my teens! By the time I got to University, I was ready to launch my first venture — a publishing company that sold in less than a few years. Two advertising agencies and one global social/mobile gaming company later, I came full circle and ended up in the travel space. I haven’t looked back since!
Dan: Tell us about your business. What do you do and what is your startup’s origin story?
Launchtrip is a travel booking platform that helps travelers, especially groups, book accommodations, restaurants, and ground transportation with one really intelligent and user-centric application.
Shortly after I merged Eruptive Games, I put together a small group of engineers to build a next-generation recommendation engine. A lack-luster trip to Thailand after using Trip Advisor (today’s customer feedback system is so broken) inspired this.
I ended up learning a lot about hotels and events because of it. I learned that corporate events, or events in general, drive business for hotels throughout the year. Within four months of launching Launchtrip, we built an MVP (web version), signed up a handful of major corporate events like Fast Company’s Innovation Festival and Voice Summit, and successfully serviced these events and made a healthy margin. And here we are now preparing to launch to the public this summer.
Dan: What’s unique about your company? What are the key differentiators between you and other players?
Launchtrip is the first travel app to merge group travel and events. We filled a gap in the travel industry for group trips by making logistics a lot easier, not to mention additional rewards and discounts for groups.
Dan: Take us through a day in your life. What does the typical day look like?
I usually work until 1 am every weekday, so I tend to get up a bit later than other CEOs, usually around 8 am. I need 7 hours of sleep, or it’s going to be an uphill climb. I check my phone and answer anywhere between 15–20 messages, and then I meditate for 25 minutes. Then it’s off to the office. I spend my daytime hours working with my teams, and as a young start-up, I believe it’s necessary. Once my staff finishes their day, I head home, meditate for another 25 minutes, have a quick bite, and then back to the laptop. Evening and night hours give me more space to think and to be creative without interruptions. It’s not uncommon that my staff sees emails fill their inboxes at midnight or even later. I don’t expect them to respond, of course, but you’d be surprised how many do. Everyone at the company so strongly believes in what we’re building — they are just as passionate about it as I am. I love my team!
Dan: What are some of the key steps you have taken to grow your business?
The team at Launchtrip is interested in building automated systems that are heavily logistics-based. Having been around the block and made expensive mistakes, I learned that putting systems in place to scale is incredibly advantageous.
The set-up portion of the curve is always the hardest and most tedious, and teaching employees to inherit this style of operations isn’t easy. As I said, it’s necessary and advantageous. Startups don’t often understand this concept, and they throw things at the wall to see what sticks — that’s not how we do it here. Once systems are in place, they have the flexibility to be creative and innovate.
Dan: What has been the most challenging part of growing your company?
Recruitment. It’s so difficult to find the right candidates, and the associated costs have increased incredibly in the last four years, especially in Vancouver and New York City. We have an incredibly strong team at Launchtrip, so it’s equally as important to me that we find the right people for the right jobs to fulfill our mission to make every customer experience outstanding, from the very beginning to the very end. That is one thing I will not budge on.
Dan: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
- Be empathetic
- Be unique in your proposition
- Follow your ethos
Dan: Do you have a book, podcast, or Youtube channel you would recommend to other Entrepreneurs?
The last two books I read are “The Product Led Organization” by Todd Olson and “Inspired” by Marty Cagan.
Dan: If you could go back in time to the day you founded your company, what advice would you give yourself?
For Launchtrip, I would tell myself to build even more contingency plans, just in case the world falls apart and travel goes down the shitter. Right?!
For my very first company, I would say, once you sell your company, invest in commercial real estate with that money and leverage the equity and keep doing that!
To Learn More About Launchtrip Check Out Their Website and Social Media Pages Below!
Website: https://launchtrip.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/launchtripapp?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/launchtrip/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/launchtrip/?hl=en
