Travel Massive Podcast Episode #10: Kei Shibata

In this episode of the Travel Massive podcast we chat with Kei Shibata Founder & CEO of Venture Republic Japan’s largest travel metasearch business including Travel.jp, the “Kayak.com of Japan” about change and innovation. Welcome to the Travel Massive podcast, an interview series with travel industry change-makers and pioneers, sharing their stories and insights.

Kei talks about disruption in the travel and tech space including:

– what does it mean to be a “disruptor?”
– how The Venture Republic centres “users” around their business model
– how sacrificing financial gain sometimes is needed to get ahead of the competition
– finding new ways to innovate in the travel space, change the travel industry, and impact the way travellers travel and make decisions when they travel

Tips for a successful startup:

– focus, passion and loyalty
– having too niche of a market makes it hard to scale the business
– dedicate your effort in a more sizeable market

Kei also reveals the next, big emerging market to watch for new innovators and disruptors in travel and tech.

Listen to Holly’s interview with Kei Shibata

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The Travel Massive podcast is an interview series hosted by Holly Galbraith with a focus on travel industry change-makers and pioneers, sharing their stories and insights. Holly also records her own Tourism Tweetup podcast geared toward industry professionals who want to learn more about tourism marketing.