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How Hipmunk (YC S10) Almost Became BouncePounce.com And Other Strange Tales

24 points by SriniK 16y ago

danilocampos 16y ago
There's a particular comment there I found interesting: There is value in Hipmunk no doubt, but I still can't get over that they are just hooked into a single affiliate offer and were able to get $1 million in angel funding, two posts (and video!) from TechCrunch on what is really only a feature but is being pitched as a complete business. Only a feature. I just want to shake people sometimes. It's not just a feature. It is the feature. Buying a plane ticket is the single biggest element of making travel decisions. The experience for discovering the optimal balance of carrier, connections and price is, let's be clear, one of the most important, expensive and stressful elements of planning a trip. What Hipmunk has demonstrated here is that they are in the business of making an important, universal process much easier. They've demonstrated a very specific insight for solving the problem. So if they can, from day one, make money doing this while hinting at their unique insight, that shit is magic for anyone looking to make an early bet on a consumer product. Imagine what they'll be able to do with the rest of the travel space. Who wouldn't want in on that action? There's a pretty clear pattern of success for businesses who turn up and remove the bullshit from useful but sloppy product categories: Google, Facebook and Mint, for example.
- tonystubblebine 16y ago
  I also don't understand why people are giving them a hard time for raising an angel round while having supposedly so little. They have one founder who's already proven himself and another that was writing books for O'Reilly at age 16. And it's not like angels are expecting that you have a finished product, let alone a finished company at that stage. I think it must be some reaction to getting so much press so early (Pogue wrote a glowing review in the NYT).
  - Gibbon 16y ago
    They sold 70,000 tickets in the first three weeks with $3 per ticket in revenue from Orbitz. A million in funding seems entirely justified.
    - viggity 16y ago
      how the heck did they get so much traction so fast?
    - mcargian 16y ago
      source?
      - Gibbon 16y ago
        http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-startups-76-with-steve-huffman/ http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-start...
        mcargian 16y ago
        He stated they have $70,000 per day in revenue. Depending upon average ticket price that is more like 6,000 to 8,000 tickets during this period. Still an incredible success, but not 70,000 tickets.
  - citricsquid 16y ago
    It's probably to do with how replaceable the company is. It takes an actual airline or travel company to realise "oh hey we should do this" to destroy this company, they offer nothing beyond a pretty interface unless they have some secret magic behind the scenes. Maybe that's how business works, you gamble on nobody ever challenging you, but I've seen a lot of the criticism towards HM come from how replaceable they are, because they don't even have a market share.
    - tonystubblebine 16y ago
      But isn't that the norm for all companies that raise angel money?
    - pg 16y ago
      Good design is not a commodity. Surely Apple has taught us all that. Even if the average big company sees something good and thinks "we should do this," odds are they'll fuck up.
      - citricsquid 16y ago
        I won't argue with you as I don't have any real world business experience (at least any that could count as something to back up my point) but I think it's an extraordinary gamble, but that's how you make money I guess, big risks mean big rewards...
      - grinich 16y ago
        Good design requires understanding the problem at a much deeper level. A big company can rip off the design, but without that understanding, they really have nowhere to go. I think that's been most evident with Apple, but it happens anywhere you find good design. (In the sense that design is how something works and not just aesthetics.)
- pg 16y ago
  If you haven't learned yet not to read TechCrunch comments, I highly recommend it.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
hop 16y ago
Just used Hipmunk for the first time, wow was that easy. Once they get the airlines on board directly, instead of via Orbitz, they will sail to the moon with this. A lot of "why didn't I think of this" is going through my head.
benatkin 16y ago
> However, in order for Hipmunk to be “not horrible,” the site will have to quickly expand its database which currently only includes flights from Orbitz. It would be nice if TechCrunch gave a little more separation between narrating and the author's opinion. I'm pretty sure the above is just the author's opinion. I disagree with it. There are a sizable number of people who only check Orbitz, so an improvement on the Orbitz search is welcome. I sometimes only check Expedia, and I only like Expedia a tiny bit better for booking flights (though when I'm also booking a hotel, I like them a lot better).

24 points by SriniK 16y ago

There's a particular comment there I found interesting: There is value in Hipmunk no doubt, but I still can't get over that they are just hooked into a single affiliate offer and were able to get $1 million in angel funding, two posts (and video!) from TechCrunch on what is really only a feature but is being pitched as a complete business. Only a feature. I just want to shake people sometimes. It's not just a feature. It is the feature. Buying a plane ticket is the single biggest element of making travel decisions. The experience for discovering the optimal balance of carrier, connections and price is, let's be clear, one of the most important, expensive and stressful elements of planning a trip. What Hipmunk has demonstrated here is that they are in the business of making an important, universal process much easier. They've demonstrated a very specific insight for solving the problem. So if they can, from day one, make money doing this while hinting at their unique insight, that shit is magic for anyone looking to make an early bet on a consumer product. Imagine what they'll be able to do with the rest of the travel space. Who wouldn't want in on that action? There's a pretty clear pattern of success for businesses who turn up and remove the bullshit from useful but sloppy product categories: Google, Facebook and Mint, for example.

tonystubblebine 16y ago
I also don't understand why people are giving them a hard time for raising an angel round while having supposedly so little. They have one founder who's already proven himself and another that was writing books for O'Reilly at age 16. And it's not like angels are expecting that you have a finished product, let alone a finished company at that stage. I think it must be some reaction to getting so much press so early (Pogue wrote a glowing review in the NYT).
- Gibbon 16y ago
  They sold 70,000 tickets in the first three weeks with $3 per ticket in revenue from Orbitz. A million in funding seems entirely justified.
  - viggity 16y ago
    how the heck did they get so much traction so fast?
  - mcargian 16y ago
    source?
    - Gibbon 16y ago
      http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-startups-76-with-steve-huffman/ http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-start...
      - mcargian 16y ago
        He stated they have $70,000 per day in revenue. Depending upon average ticket price that is more like 6,000 to 8,000 tickets during this period. Still an incredible success, but not 70,000 tickets.
- citricsquid 16y ago
  It's probably to do with how replaceable the company is. It takes an actual airline or travel company to realise "oh hey we should do this" to destroy this company, they offer nothing beyond a pretty interface unless they have some secret magic behind the scenes. Maybe that's how business works, you gamble on nobody ever challenging you, but I've seen a lot of the criticism towards HM come from how replaceable they are, because they don't even have a market share.
  - tonystubblebine 16y ago
    But isn't that the norm for all companies that raise angel money?
  - pg 16y ago
    Good design is not a commodity. Surely Apple has taught us all that. Even if the average big company sees something good and thinks "we should do this," odds are they'll fuck up.
    - citricsquid 16y ago
      I won't argue with you as I don't have any real world business experience (at least any that could count as something to back up my point) but I think it's an extraordinary gamble, but that's how you make money I guess, big risks mean big rewards...
    - grinich 16y ago
      Good design requires understanding the problem at a much deeper level. A big company can rip off the design, but without that understanding, they really have nowhere to go. I think that's been most evident with Apple, but it happens anywhere you find good design. (In the sense that design is how something works and not just aesthetics.)
pg 16y ago
If you haven't learned yet not to read TechCrunch comments, I highly recommend it.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

hop 16y ago

Just used Hipmunk for the first time, wow was that easy. Once they get the airlines on board directly, instead of via Orbitz, they will sail to the moon with this. A lot of "why didn't I think of this" is going through my head.

benatkin 16y ago

> However, in order for Hipmunk to be “not horrible,” the site will have to quickly expand its database which currently only includes flights from Orbitz. It would be nice if TechCrunch gave a little more separation between narrating and the author's opinion. I'm pretty sure the above is just the author's opinion. I disagree with it. There are a sizable number of people who only check Orbitz, so an improvement on the Orbitz search is welcome. I sometimes only check Expedia, and I only like Expedia a tiny bit better for booking flights (though when I'm also booking a hotel, I like them a lot better).