Podcasts about snaptravel

A 3i Member since 2024, Ankur Bansal is the President of HomeLight Inc. He brings over a decade of experience as a founder, operator, and investor in the technology space. Ankur began his career in private equity before launching SnapSaves, a receipt-scanning cashback app that was acquired by Groupon in just 11 months. He later served as a founding executive at SnapTravel (now Super.com), where he helped scale the business from inception to over $175 million in revenue in just two years.In this episode, Ankur talks about: • Lessons from building and exiting SnapSaves in under 12 months • Opportunities and emerging trends in proptech—and where the space is heading • How AI is already reshaping mortgage operations and real estate workflows • Why product-market fit is a spectrum—and how entrepreneurs should think about raising capital

Hussein's travel startup was doing $10s of millions when COVID hit. His revenue didn't just go to zero, it went negative. There were more customers asking for refunds than new sales. He was 4 months from running out of money.He ended up making a complete pivot, he changed the company's name from SnapTravel to Super.com. He went from travel to fintech and launched a banking card. It seems like a strange pivot —but through deep research he'd realized what his customers truly needed. They needed more money—not for travel or vacations—but for every day life.The new card helped customers earn points and rewards, it helped them save on everyday expenses. The pain was so acute and the solution so perfect, that just 3 years later, Super.com is doing $150M in ARR.Like Hussein said, he got 50 'no's from VCs for every 'yes' he got. He saw his business grow and then crumble over night. He was literally going to zero. But he turned it all around. Now he's not just growing, he's profitable now.And here's how it went down.Why you should listen:How to think from first principles to figure out the right product expansion.Why cross-selling is much harder than you think, and how to make it work.Why finding an unfair advantage is key to scaling a startup.How to use actual customer behavior to understand what customers truly want.Why testing and validating ideas through smoke tests is essential.KeywordsSuper.com, SnapTravel, COVID-19, travel industry, pricing strategies, customer needs, market fit, entrepreneurship, AI, business growth, COVID-19, resilience, travel industry, financial innovation, membership model, customer insights, entrepreneurship, investor relations, business strategy, cross-sellingTimestamps:(00:00:00) Intro (00:02:39) The original startup: Snap Travel(00:08:40) Why a great user interface is a big edge(00:11:26) How to acquire customers(00:13:30) When your entire hypothesis is wrong(00:22:52) Meeting Steph Curry(00:29:03) Nearly crashing to zero-- and going bankrupt(00:33:51) Starting over and rebranding(00:42:42) Creating the Fastest Growing Membership Program(00:52:17) Finding Product Market Fit(01:00:00) One Piece of AdviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!

The year is 2008. Hussein Fazal just quit his tech job to co-found AdParlor, which built marketing campaigns to run on Facebook. He didn't know if it would work but decided to give it a shot. Hussein sold the company in 2011, stayed on as CEO for a few years, and then, in 2016, launched Snaptravel, a discount hotel reservation service that has saved consumers well over $150 Million. But unlike most companies, for their first 100 customers Hussein didn't write a single line of code. Today, he joins to share his journey as an entrepreneur and how he even got Steph Curry to back his company.Twitter of Host (@mbitpodcast): Shamus MadanTwitter of Guest (@hussein_fazal): Hussein Fazal Learn more about Super.com at well...you guessed it...Super.com

In this episode, Annika shares her love of adventuring and how she ended up creating a career where she gets to do work that she is passionate about. Annika is all about helping and encouraging families to get outdoors and adventure together, on big and little hikes, so that they can connect with one another and create lasting memories.Annika Mang is the co-founder of TrailCollectiv and founder of Born to be Adventurous. Her family's motto is that "adventuring doesn't end when you have children, it is only the beginning". Her passion is to encourage families to go on little and big adventures to help them connect together and reap the benefits of the outdoors.Follow Born to be adventurous on Facebook Follow Born to be adventurous on IGFollow Born to be adventurous on TikTokVisit Trail Collective here to find the best family hikesVisit Born to be adventurous hereJoin the Born to be adventurous Facebook group hereFollow Trailcollectiv on IGFollow Trailcollectiv on FacebookFollow Candace on Instagram

Are you planning to take a trip this summer? After two long years of COVID-related complications, Canadians are finally traveling freely again. The cruise sector is back in business, outdoor festivals and other big public events have returned, and of course, air travel is booming, leading to long lines at Canadian airports, thanks to all the pent-up demand from people forced to spend most of the pandemic on the ground. Thankfully, there are technological solutions to some of the headaches associated with booking a trip.On this encore episode of Disruptors, an RBC podcast, hosts John Stackhouse and Trinh Theresa Do explore the “new normal” for travel and tourism with Hussein Fazal. Fazal is the CEO of SnapCommerce, whose flagship product, SnapTravel, is an AI-powered half-bot half-human service that helps customers book hotel rooms, flights, and car rentals, either through their website, or  through SMS, Messenger and WhatsApp. But despite the fact services like SnapTravel have been logging record traffic, there may be a dark lining to those silver clouds. Inflation is at a 40-year high, gas prices are soaring, and Europe remains engulfed in geopolitical turmoil. It's fair to say that for those in the travel industry — or folks hoping to travel — there may still be some turbulent skies ahead.SHOW NOTES:To learn more about SnapCommerce and its flagship product, SnapTravel, check out its website here. In the episode, Theresa mentions new travel statistics and trends from the RBC Consumer Spending Tracker. To read more, follow this link.Also mentioned is a new RBC report that looks at the importance of boosting women's pay and participation in the labour force—and presents some possible solutions. The report, called, “Equal Measures: Advancing Canada's working women in a post-pandemic economy,” can be found here.

To learn more about SnapCommerce and its flagship product, SnapTravel, check out its website here. In the episode, Theresa mentions new travel statistics and trends from the RBC Consumer Spending Tracker. To read more, follow this link.Also mentioned was a new RBC report that looks at the importance of boosting women's pay and participation in the labour force—and presents some possible solutions. The report, called, “Equal Measures: Advancing Canada's working women in a post-pandemic economy,” can be found here.

In this episode of The Path, Yash Patel, General Partner at Telstra Ventures, and Hussein Fazal, co-founder and CEO of Snapcommerce, discuss personalized messaging and its role in changing the way people shop on their smartphones, the role of the celebrity investor (like Steph Curry), trusting your business partners and employee culture. Snapcommerce, formerly Snaptravel, found its niche by working out what the customer used messaging for. Now its mission is to “change the way people shop on their phones.”

Hussein Fazal is the Co-Founder and CEO at Snapcommerce. Previously Co-Founded AdParlor - a Facebook ad optimization company. The company was bootstrapped to $100M revenue and sold in 2011. Hussein considers himself a Repeat Tech Entrepreneur, Investor, and Adviser. He launched SnapTravel (2016), which is the fastest and easiest way to book a hotel room. Listen to this podcast and know his interesting entrepreneurial journey and also how he is mentoring many new entrepreneurs at 500 Startups. Please Enjoy! If you enjoyed the podcast, would you please consider being 1% and leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/ iTunes? It takes less than 30 seconds, and it really makes a world of difference in reaching new interesting guests! To sign up for Kevin's Podcast email Newsletter and to view the show notes & past guests please visit-https://officialkevindavid.com/podcast Follow Kevin: https://mmini.me/@FollowKD

Tonight we got to talk to the one and only, the legend himself, Henry Shi!He's a UWaterloo CS alum who started his own startup while still in university, scaled that to 2 mill views a day, and got great internships like Bloomberg. And he did all this while maintaining a 96% cumulative average.To take a break from all this, he then chose the "easy life" and worked at Google for a year which he then left to start Snaptravel, now Snapcommerce.Snapcommerce is a messaging service that helps customers find the right products at the right places. After raising more 100 million dollars, Snapcommerce has also become one of the hottest Tech startups in Toronto!

In the inaugural episode, AK speaks with Ally Bashir, Head of Customer Experience at Snaptravel about how her team delivered amazing customer experience, found a new sense of purpose, and helped the company reach profitability -- all amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.  The interview was based on details shared in https://www.fastcompany.com/90528345/how-this-travel-startup-became-profitable-during-the-pandemic (Fast Company) and on https://medium.com/snaptravel/from-burning-millions-to-profitability-and-back-to-growth-in-60-days-b1702cd2631c (Medium). AK and LB also discuss #somegoodnews in business this week, including stories from https://www.theverge.com/21440183/tiktok-small-local-business-landscaping-beekeeping-home-renovation (TikTok) and https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/11/28/disney-world-donates-20-000-wishing-well-coins-homeless-charity/6449441002/ (Disney World), and pay tribute to former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, who was an inspiration to anyone interested in the links between happy customers, happy employees, and long-term business success.

The online e-commerce experience is more important than ever. With the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have been forced to become reliant on digital products and services. As brands shift online to meet their customers, how can they find the balance between maintaining relationship experiences created in traditional brick and mortar, while transitioning to the transactional nature of online services? In this episode of Ask AI podcast, we sit down with Henry Shi, Co-Founder at SnapTravel to learn more about their AI-powered messaging platform for booking hotels. Discover how SnapTravel is leveraging artificial intelligence to power the next evolution of e-commerce known as relationship-driven commerce, and how they have managed to thrive during the pandemic.

095: SnapTravel | Hussein Fazal is the CEO & founder of SnapTravel.  The company allows you to find and book the best hotel deals over Facebook Messenger and SMS. SnapTravel advisors include the former CEO of Hotels.com and the CTO of Expedia. To keep the show free, please visit the sponsors of this episode... Square Payroll, StartEngine, & Blinkist.Square Payroll makes doing your books easy & affordable! For just $29/month it's the best payroll deal for any small business. To support the show, please visit this link to check them out: millionaire-interviews.com/square.StartEngine is the largest equity crowdfunding site in the USA. Over 170+ companies have raised $60 million using the platform. And 87% of companies successfully reached their minimum funding goal of $10k. Get 20% off your campaign using this link: millionaire-interviews.com/start.Blinkist gives you key ideas from the world’s best nonfiction books in 15-minute text and audio. Learn something new everyday with unlimited access to over 2,500 of the world’s best titles in 19 top categories. Get 7% off & your first week free with this link: millionaire-interviews.com/blinkist.

Savana Elsays, shares how she shifted gears from pursuing a medical degree to becoming a talent acquisition specialist at SnapTravel and why she decided to immerse herself in the technology industry. Can studying pharmacy give you any advantages in the tech sector? What general characteristics are the employers in the tech sector looking for? Listen to Savana's insightful, insider take on these questions and many more in this episode.

We’re proud to bring you a Forbes 30 Under 30 CTO who built production-grade deep learning systems while going from zero to $100M USD in sales. How can you take an engineering first approach to developing impactful business strategies? How do software leaders evolve from technologists to CTOs while simultaneously building teams during hypergrowth? How do AI thought leaders think about deep learning, natural language processing, and machine learning applications today? Leading a company from zero to $100M runrate in under three years while balancing and building world-class technical teams is a humbling experience. That’s exactly what Toronto-based SnapTravel has done, aside from adding the greatest shooter in NBA history to their team. In this Terminal Tech Talk we bring you Henry Shi, co-founder and CTO of SnapTravel, in conversation with Mohammed Ridwanul, Product Manager at Dessa where Mohammed’s team has built an AI platform that helps the world’s largest and most complex organizations build real-world value with advanced AI.

Join in for a conversation with Henry Shi, Co-Founder and CTO of SnapTravel. As the name implies, SnapTravel is a travel company headquartered in Toronto that creates a seamless experience for you to book your hotel accommodating through easy instant messaging apps. Henry and SnapTravel made the news rounds when they raised their Series A round with Golden State's Steph Curry and Henry's acceptance onto the Forbes 30 under 30 list. SnapTravel is Henry's third startup company after having created two others while at the University of Waterloo's Velocity student incubator and Canada's Next 36 program. After his first two startups, Henry decided to take a startup sabbatical by getting a low-stress job at Google. In our conversation we go through the learning Henry had from his first two startups, the decision behind working at Google, the early years of starting SnapTravel and the major mental model he uses for many of his decision makings.

On this week's Roundabout Roundup, Nicole's saving money on hotels with SnapTravel (https://www.snaptravel.com/). Terri recommends several Broadway podcasts: Geffen Playhouse Unscripted (https://www.podcastone.com/geffen-playhouse-unscripted), Billboard on Broadway (https://www.billboard.com/podcasts), and Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine (http://www.littleknownfactspodcast.com/). And Catherine found another time-wasting game: 1010! (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/1010-block-puzzle-game/id911793120)—and the hotel she mentioned in Boston was the Revolution (https://therevolutionhotel.com/). For quotes, archives, and more, visit us at http://parentingroundabout.com.

Ankur Bansal, Head of Finance and Business Development at SnapTravel On this episode of The Backbone, I chat with Ankur about: His journey into tech after completing the trifecta of management consulting, investment banking and private equity, as well as being a co-founder with an exit to Groupon. SnapTravel — what the company does and what is it all about. Raising a debt round in conjunction with an equity round. What Steph Curry looks for in his investments. How his diverse background of investment banking, consulting and private equity, not to mention being a founder, helped him think about the finance at operations role at SnapTravel. The importance of the finance function at a technology company. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/backbone/message

Scott Soshnick, Michael Barr and Eben Novy-Williams discuss a host of issues related to the business of sports, including Steph Curry’s new investment in Toronto-based startup SnapTravel. The two-time NBA MVP is looking to make 8-12 investments a year through his SC30 Inc., primarily in tech and media. Also discussed on the podcast is Home Court Capital’s $150 million fund that will invest in early-career athletes, and the NHL’s decision to put its 32nd franchise in Seattle. Hosts: Scott Soshnick, Michael Barr and Eben Novy-Williams Producer: Colin Tipton

Hussein Fazal is the CEO & founder of SnapTravel.  The company allows you to find and book the best hotel deals over Facebook Messenger and SMS. SnapTravel advisors include the former CEO of Hotels.com and the CTO of Expedia. This Episode is Sponsored By: Square Payroll makes doing your books easy & affordable! For just $29/month it's the best payroll deal for any small business. To support the show, please visit this link to check them out: millionaire-interviews.com/square. StartEngine is the largest equity crowdfunding site in the USA. Over 170+ companies have raised $60 million using the platform. And 87% of companies successfully reached their minimum funding goal of $10k. Get 20% off your campaign using this link: millionaire-interviews.com/start. Blinkist gives you key ideas from the world’s best nonfiction books in 15-minute text and audio. Learn something new everyday with unlimited access to over 2,500 of the world’s best titles in 19 top categories. Get 7% off & your first week free with this link: millionaire-interviews.com/blinkist.   *** For Show Notes, Key Points, Contact Info, Resources Mentioned, & the Fabulous 4 Questions on this episode visit our website: Millionaire Interviews. ***  

On this week’s show, we spoke with Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner @ iNovia Capital. Chris is a senior executive with over 20 years of general management experience in high technology industries, with extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, sales, marketing and communications. Chris is the cofounder, President & CEO of iNovia Capital, a Venture Capital firm launched in 2007 with now over a half a billion under management. Chris currently serves as a director on the boards of AppDirect, LightSpeed Retail, Poka, SnapTravel, Well.ca, and until recently Luxury Retreats (acquired by Airbnb). Chris is an active board member of Réseau Capital, and a proud Charter Member of Silicon Valley based C100.   On the show, we spoke about: How he launched iNovia more than 10 years The role of mentorship in his career The most important characteristic in an entrepreneur What it takes to build a successful VC firm (brand, team and vision) How crypto fits into the larger trend of decentralization If you have time, check out Chris’ thesis on optionality.   Chris is a legend in the Canadian venture capital landscape. I always walk away inspired after talking with him. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!   Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com   Subscribe to iTunes here | Subscribe to Google Play here

Today's Commexis Cast is all about Chatbots. From implementation to early successes on Facebook Messenger, chatbot use is growing at an incredible rate. Digitally transforming your businesses using burgeoning technology can be intimidating, but we've got the information to help set your mind at ease. Columnist Jay Baer on Martech Today writes three things you'll want to keep in mind while implementing chatbots to enhance the user experience. The most important takeaway from Baer's piece is to remember that chatbots are a tool, not a means to replace customer service employees to save some cash. The success or failure of your chatbot integration can hinge on a lack of strategic thinking and unwillingness to spend resources on it. You'll also want to remember that its the user experience you're trying to curate. Baer writes, "Chats should offer better customer experiences, with tools that keep customers informed throughout the process. The technology must respect consumers' time in a world where it's one of the most valuable commodities available." If you use chatbots merely as an alternative to the typical customer service experience, you're setting your business up for failure. eMarketer has an excellent chart showcasing areas where chatbots are less preferred by users, and many where human interaction could be replaced by a chatbot. The information below, however, isn't meant to scare away brands in the fields that see a higher preference for human interaction. Rather, brands should take this data into consideration when thinking of how they may use chatbots. While a person may not want a bot to help them receive medical information, they could prefer to schedule an appointment that way. Finally, some chatbot success. Facebook has been allowing brands and businesses to use chatbots since the launch of Facebook Messenger 2.0 in April 2017, and Rachel Wolfson of VentureBeat reported some major successes at the time of release. Sephora, for instance, saw "an 11 percent increase in booking rates through the Sephora Reservation Assistant" and "an average spend of over $50 from clients who have booked an in-store service via its Messenger assistant." SnapTravel and Tommy Hilfinger are also among the chatbot successes. Digital Transformation can be a tricky subject with many forms, but when considering the use of chatbots its clear that the user experience trumps everything else. Today's cast: Len Ward (Commexis President), Phillip Brooks (Commexis Lead Strategist), and Matthew McGrorty (Commexis Videographer/Podcaster). Join the Commexis team as we add context to these stories for the busy CMO. All the news you need to know–from our inbox to yours.

SnapTravel: CTO Henry Shi by Tell Me More: Careers in Tech & Business Interviews

In this episode, we talked with David Lau of SnapTravel. David Lau thrives in the startup world. He is currently part of the growth team at a startup called SnapTravel – a booking startup that helps travelers find great hotel deals over Facebook Messenger and SMS. In July 2016, SnapTravel raised $1.2 million in its Seed round. Since then, they’ve been seeing rapid growth and hope to become every traveler’s go-to booking service. Learn about David’s journey today!

Rob Kenedi sits down with Hussein Fazal, founder SnapTravel, a SMS, Slack and Facebook Messenger bot-based hotel booking service. Hussein discusses how and when he decided to sell his last startup, AdParlor, and how he is approaching latest endeavour. In particular, he describes how to navigate a hot, new space that hasn't yet found well-understood user experience as well as the how to solve for the imperfect science of natural language processing and machine learning.

Food Cloud CEO Iseult Ward joins us from Dublin, Ireland to talk about connecting wasted food to charitable organizations.   Also on the show, Hussein Fazal is in studio to discuss new chatbot service SnapTravel, the half human and half robot that can book your next hotel room (with an upgrade!). Plus, Amber Mac shares her top three picks from her Holiday Gift Guide, including what you need to know hatching Hatchimals under the tree Christmas morning.