Find Local Travel Guides with Silk Tours

Matt Esposito, Co-Founder & CEO of Silk Tours, is helping travelers find safe local and independent tour guides and activities in their destinations. 

Matt is part of our Travel Massive Philadelphia chapter and currently working towards better understanding the Silk Tours marketing strategies while gaining partners in their destination cities.

In between his never-ending schedule of Silk Tours preparations, we managed to squeeze in a short interview asking Matt all about how they build up the business and what keeps it going.

Who is Silk Tours for? 

Our platform is useful for all travelers, and although that’s a broad statement to make, it is a probable thing. Though we feel we can bring out more of a destination, we see that the way people are traveling is adapting more to unique services. Silk will certainly be for those who are currently seeking adventure, while also those who are interested in trying something new for their visit.

What inspired you to create Silk Tours? 

After being fortunate to travel to a few countries outside of the U.S., our founding team became curious as to why we weren’t feeling connected to our destinations. We first thought language barriers were the reason, but we also determined that tourism options are just not as unique as they can be as they are in some parts of the world. We searched for answers, and it turned out that there is a largely underserved portion of the tourism market in independent tour guides.

How did you build your startup?

Being students at Drexel University in Philadelphia, there is an increasing movement towards entrepreneurship and building products to benefit people in the city. We have been fortunate to gain support from faculty, staff, and mentors within the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship to assist our team in understanding how we can win in the market. Other students have also played a role, as our team is currently made of 9 dedicated individuals who are affiliated with Drexel as well and are passionate about our mission. External competitions and resources have helped us get our engines warmed up to prepare for our planned 2017 launch.

How is your startup changing the future of the industry or helping to make travel better?

Silk is all about empowering change in travel, in that we want to give travelers more valuable opportunities to find what they are passionate about when in their destination. Other companies are attempting to follow this path in different verticals, such as hoteliers and trip planning solutions, and we want to be a part of the new wave in travel options. In an ideal world for us, the future holds travelers being able to meet with locals safely and confidently to gain an experience unlike the traditional tour. Every destination has much more to offer than what is currently on the surface, and we plan to help breach that surface so that the next time you go on vacation you will be able to truly experience the culture you’re surrounded by.

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

Listen to customers and potential influencers when you can do so. They can become the most important adaptations to what you do with your product!

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 Matt and Silk Tours on Travel Massive, Facebook, and Twitter.