I've personally read both of those articles before, and especially like the one by the founder of Desti. That inspired a lot of chats between me, my cofounder,

I've personally read both of those articles before, and especially like the one by the founder of Desti. That inspired a lot of chats between me, my cofounder, my friends, and our users There are 3 main issues raised: - Getting users to learn a new tool is super-hard since users are used to being able to do anything and have custom workflows. That's why they use Google Docs or Word or Google Sheets - Monetization with affiliates is OK, but you are in some ways competing with your customers (the OTAs), and they're still making more money and can outspend you on marketing - Acquiring users is hard since users don't travel often, and the typical channels for infrequently-used product growth (SEO, SEM) are super-competitive We really try hard to solve the first problem by not being prescriptive about how you use Travelchime. We try very hard to let users do whatever they might want to do in a Google Doc or Google Maps. Unlike many travel planners we've tried, we don't assume you like to plan minute-to-minute or by referring to a single resource. We've had hours of face-to-face chats with tens of users and we're not trying to flip the way they plan travel, but rather complement the way they plan travel. For monetization, we have some ideas around it but aren't sure enough of them to share right now. We also believe the user acquisition door isn't as closed as it seems. First, we're hooking onto a growing trend of travel being social. Most people we talked to have asked friends or family for travel tips, and we want to make planning based on that easy. Second, we've done this before, and while we know SEO is tough, Peter and I have built a profitable (albeit fairly niche) business in the field on top of SEO before. I might be a bit deluded about this, but I'm OK with it!