Plan One-Of-A-Kind Destination Events With YouLi

Jen Fein, Founder of YouLi Travel, allows travelers and planners to plan unique trips so others can experience one-of-a-kind destination events with the people who make it special.

The urge to travel comes from a desire to experience something different. For more and more people a typical packaged tour isn’t enough, they want something different, something that changes the way they see the world. The key is to be invited on a trip arranged by an organizer who knows you and knows how to make it special.

But planning a destination event for a group can be stressful and difficult. Confusion and frustration can overwhelm organizers as things fall through the cracks and people don’t respond. Many trips never overcome these challenges to become reality because it is too hard to manage. Others happen through sheer willpower of the organizer.

That’s where YouLi comes in. It is a platform to help make group destination event coordination seamless.

Who is your startup for?

For all the organizers who love to make group trips happen, but hate chasing people for responses and payments. If you are always the one booking the AirBnB and researching the best flights for your family/friends/teammates, then YouLi is for you.

What inspired you to create this startup? 

In 2014, I organized a trip to climb Mt. Fuji, Japan that started with 2 people and ended with 9 people at the summit. We came from Australia and New York. So managing time zones and collaboration was a challenge. As the organizer, I spent a lot of time answering questions that were in the email threads/spreadsheets, but it was too hard to find. I wanted to create a platform where all my diligent planning is expressed in an easy interface for my fellow travelers to get exactly the information they need at each stage of the process.

How did you build your startup?

I’ve bootstrapped with the help of technical friends who built the prototypes. My first trial was my destination wedding in Jordan. Then we tested with a corporate client.

We are now building our beta release for early 2017 based on the feedback from our early users. We will be launching at PauseFest.

What makes your startup different from other similar startups out there?

Most planning solutions are trying to sell you a hotel room or other bookings. YouLi is your private space that allows you to keep track of what matters to you, whether you need to book it or just want to note it so everyone knows where to be. This allows you to merge things like your flight bookings with your personal events seamlessly in a private social space. Everyone can see who is arriving when and which group activities they are joining.

How did you get your startup off the ground and gaining traction?

Lots of hustling! I spend a lot of time talking to people who organize travel with other people, both for profit and for fun. That’s why I’m excited to hear from the TravelMassive audience about their experiences, to build a better product.

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

I do, so many that I wrote a book with my mentor after a year of discussions on this topic. But the short of it is:

Be committed yet humble, be realistic yet visionary, expect to learn, but not necessarily to earn.

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. You can connect with Jen and YouLi on Travel Massive, Facebook, and Twitter.