The Concept
Tripr is a social discovery app for people who travel.
Users can find and chat with other travellers who are going to the same place at the same time. Users can also connect with locals and ask for advice or suggestions for their trip.
Tripr enables users to plan who they will cross paths with.
Travellers fear:
Being Alone It can be difficult to meet new people away from home. Tripr connects travellers who will be in the same place at the same time.
Missing Out Travellers often return home from a trip to discover that friends had been staying nearby. Tripr connects users with friends so they don’t miss out on seeing them.
The Unknown Going to an unknown country can be a worrying prospect. Tripr connects travellers with locals so they can get advice for their upcoming trip.
Context
Our Story
Nick and Alick came up with the idea for Tripr over a Skype conversation. Nick was calling from a 20ft shipping container in the congolese jungle (his home for the past six months) whilst Alick was calling from Oxford. Alick was travelling to Cape Town alone and worried that he knew nobody there, asked Nick (a native South African) to put him in touch with any friends and family who lived there.The pair realised that there was no easy way to meet other travellers and that travelling alone could be a difficult experience. After further research, Nick and Alick realised that this need was shared by a significant number of travellers. Work on Tripr began the next day.
Timeline
July ‘14 – August ‘14 – MVP design & development.
September ‘14 – MVP released. Concept proved.
October ‘14 – November ’14 – Development and soft launch.
December ‘14 – User growth exceeds server capacity – time to raise money in order to build scalable product.
January ‘15 – Successfully close first round of financing. (See Financials for details)
February ‘15 – June ‘15 – User research, redesign and redevelopment. Focus on backend to facilitate millions of perspective users.
June ‘15 – Tripr iOS Hard Launch.
July ‘15 – Tripr Android Hard Launch.
Progress
User Growth
Tripr is currently available on iOS and Android. Our core focus has been on product. Tripr has been redeveloped with a backend that can facilitate millions of users whilst our new front has been built on the back of hours of user testing and subsequent iterations.
We have had more than 22k downloads and there are currently over 16k registered users. On average, 28% of registered users log in to Tripr each month, but this rate is increasing with over 35% of registered users logging in August. Since April (which saw the introduction of our new backend), our growth rate has increased month on month and was 16% in August. Our growth has been entirely organic, driven by word of mouth and PR. We currently have users in over 130 countries.
Marketing
With a stable and organically growing product, we are now ready to scale and have begun to implement our marketing strategy. We have already seen positive results from improved App Store Optimisation and Search Engine Optimisation. We have begun testing various user acquisition strategies such as Facebook Ads, Ad Words and Twitter Ads in order to benchmark Cost Per Install (CPI).
Partnerships
Partnerships are a key user acquisition stream and are essential to Tripr’s long term success.
Current partnerships overview:
Partnership with large tour company, (18 cities, 250 tour guides, 80,000 tours per month) currently under trial Guides have been instructed to recommend Tripr at the beginning, middle and end of tours.
Late stage discussion and current beta testing for an online travel company, whose parent company serve c. 2 million customers per year .
Late stage discussions with a large online travel company (21 million bookings).
Partnership with large student network in progress. On the back of successful trial there is further opportunity to partner with the remaining sections (268,000 students per year).
Late stage discussion with international volunteer social enterprise, 150 projects ongoing across 6 continents Tripr will be promoted in pre-departure emails and social media
We are also in early discussions with other a major online travel company, airlines, consumer data agencies and accommodation providers.
Ambassador Program
The Management team have an extensive network across the travel industry, with contacts across Triprs 8 top locations (London, New York, Amsterdam, Dubai, Berlin, Tokyo and Bangkok). On the back of successful crowdfunding this network would be activated. Profiles include:
Backpackers
University students
Erasmus sections
Independent hostel owners
Leading travel bloggers
Press
We have already received considerable media coverage and have been featured by: