Tripcipe Helps Create Personalized Trips

This month in our travel-tech startup series we connect with CEO and co-Founder Esther Pun at Tripcipe, a central hub that connects you to any travel site or resource. Esther’s role is to create an app that helps travellers easily plan personalized trips.

Who is your startup for?

Tripcipe is for travel lovers who want to simplify the trip planning process. It’s great for people who do their research with multiple sources, because Tripcipe’s plug-in allows you to save and personalize information from any website, and shows everything on one map. You can also organize by day, collaborate with friends, and use the mobile app to take your trips with you on the road.

What inspired you to create this startup? What gap did you find in the travel industry that inspired you to create this startup? / What is your startup about?

I noticed that every time I planned a trip, I would end up with a bunch of tabs open on my browser. I was also using Excel and Google Docs to keep track of the information. All the copy and pasting was getting time consuming and tedious. My co-founder Harry was encountering the same problems and we quickly realized that everybody else was doing the same thing, which motivated us to start thinking about a better solution. That’s how the idea for Tripcipe was born.

How is your startup disrupting the travel scene? / What makes your startup different from other similar startups out there?

Tripcipe is a central hub that connects you to any travel site or resource. We are not trying to compete with existing travel resources like guide books or review sites; rather, we work with all of them to deliver a great trip planning experience. Because Tripcipe’s plug-in allows you to save from any website, we actually help you capture and organize the best of what every resource offers.

What challenges did you face in getting your startup off the ground and gaining traction in the industry?

The trip planning space is very fractured. In order to create a seamless tool, you have to build a lot of functionalities before you have a valuable product. A lot of travel planning start-ups fail because they only address one aspect of the trip planning process, and that’s not enough.

As a startup, what benefits have you seen from being a part of Travel Massive meet-ups? 

The Travel Massive events have really helped us gain new users, and acquire valuable insights from travel enthusiasts and industry professionals. We are looking forward to attending more meet-ups in the future! 

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

Persistence. Patience. Passion. …and most importantly, listen to feedback, even if it’s not what you expect or want to hear.

Okay, we want to learn a bit more about you!

What was your first travel job?

My first travel job was with the Legal Assistance Centre in Namibia. We traveled throughout the country conducting interviews and focus groups to better understand local perspectives on gender. It was not only an amazing way to see the country, but also a far richer travel experience because we got a glimpse of the various cultures and perspectives across different towns. That was my first travel job and I’ve been hooked ever since.

What was your most embarrassing travel moment?

I fell into the fountain at Piazza di Spagna in Rome!

How do you think we can be better travellers?

Be respectful.  Be curious.  Be open.

If you could book a ticket tomorrow, where would you go?

Hammerfest, Norway… to chase the Northern Lights!

Finally, why do you travel?

To collect SIM cards from around the world.  Just kidding. I travel to experience the world through other people’s eyes.

Tech Startup is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel-tech start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. You can follow Withlocals on Travel Massive.