AlumniGO

Wrote by: Reagan Condry

I was assigned to work for AlumniGO alongside my entrepreneurship practicum course. I worked with the cofounder in a very early stage of his start-up. AlumniGO is an affinity group travel company planning to partner with universities in creating customizable affordable ventures. Michael Clouser, the Director of the Entrepreneur Innovation Center, and I met weekly one on one to ensure I was working in the desired direction.

Market Research

I went into the travel industry blind so it is safe to say I dedicated a lot of time and energy into market research. AlumniGO’s website already hosted the travel pages for universities so I started there. I used excel to organize the travel page and standouts for each. I went through every travel expedition and found their cheapest and most expensive trips as well as the yearly frequency. This part was tedious but insightful especially in seeing how expensive some journeys are, the most expensive being a $100,000 private jet around the world. This is when Michael and I started getting suspicious of potential competitors due to different schools having the same trips. I discovered AHI travel which was very similar to our idea even including custom dates. But once I reached the University of Miami travel page I really began to see the scope of the competition. This was the first site to put the multiple tour operators right next to trips prices and descriptions. I then did a deep dive to each competitor’s website trying to find what gaps there are in the market. While discussing my internship with my mother she realized it sounded similar to a company she previously worked for Kuoni and she set me up with Joseph Green their director of travel for an expert interview. I learned a lot from him and even discovered a new layer of the industry “Destination management companies” which are the B2B wholesalers to tour operators. Michael Clouser introduced me to google trends which was also very helpful in finding up and coming travel trends and scandals.

Customer Discovery

Customer discovery and market research really go hand in hand but I did do a few tactics specific to customer discovery. I went to reddit boards dedicated to alumni travel and kept track of praises and complaints of their journeys. For primary research also would discuss with alumni at networking events to inquire if they went on trips with their school and why or why not. The last first hand research I started was the google forms for current students and alumni to talk about their views on travel. This gave insights into the market potential of younger travelers.

Strategic Partnerships

I researched strategic partnerships for AlumniGO through course work. I discovered many cool travel start-ups especially centered in accessibility in all different forms of the word. This opened up the idea to have a strong value on accessibility because all that does is expand the market. And for disability accessibility particularly it is important because the current market is an older demographic and many people become disabled later in life. There was also a flightless travel start-up that may not currently be feasible in the USA but it is a great thing to think about and good to know it has already been successful. Also accessibility to safe travel for women showed up multiple times and is a great market to tap into.

Business Plan

I ended it all putting all my research together in a business plan accompanied with my ideas for the future of the business. I think AlumniGO should focus on partnering with events around the globe for mostly weekends and short trips. I think they should build or find an AI to sort through google trends on travel and event trends and create the trips based on the results. The partnerships with events could result in group discounts in exchange for promotion. And

there should be an emphasis on spontaneous last minute travel capitalizing on the fear of missing out. This was an amazing experience that I am incredibly grateful for.