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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

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.)

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.)