What If Authentic Travel Content Could Book Your Trip For You?

1 - > SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Mediascape, Insights from 2 - > Digital Changemakers, a speaker series and podcast brought to 3 - > you by USC Annenberg's Digital Media Management Program. 4 - > Join us as we unlock the secrets to success in an increasingly 5 - > digital world. 6 - > SPEAKER_03: I don't know that on the Mediascape podcast, I've 7 - > interviewed two people at the same time. 8 - > But listeners, you are in for a treat today, I take a lot of 9 - > inspiration from these two and the platform they've put 10 - > together, and I'm waiting to get my hands on it.

11 - > So welcome Diani and Annie to Mediascape. 12 - > SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having us here. 13 - > And yeah, we're just so blessed that we have a platform that we 14 - > can share some really exciting news about what we're working on 15 - > and what we're about to launch. 16 - > So yeah, I'm excited to be here.

17 - > SPEAKER_03: Let's start with your individual origin stories 18 - > and then talk about how you came to partner around travel spoken. 19 - > So let's start with you, Deanni. 20 - > Yeah. 21 - > SPEAKER_02: Hi, everyone.

22 - > So just a little bit about me. 23 - > I was originally born in Oregon. 24 - > I went to Oregon State University and studied there. 25 - > And then I started traveling the world.

26 - > I ended up in LA. 27 - > And that's when I met Annie. 28 - > I actually met her first on social media about eight years 29 - > ago. 30 - > So ever since then, literally, I think after a few days of 31 - > knowing each other, we went on our first trip together.

32 - > So we've been traveling the world since. 33 - > It's been really, really exciting just having all of 34 - > these experiences together. 35 - > And yeah, we experienced great moments and difficult moments 36 - > when it came to booking and planning travel, which has 37 - > really led us into travel spoken and the start of that. 38 - > So I'll let Annie jump into that.

39 - > She can tell you a little bit more. 40 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, basically, second into what she said, I um 41 - > also came from a background with really large interest when it 42 - > came to travel. 43 - > I've been traveling since I was a little girl. 44 - > My parents were basically traveling parents.

45 - > So we were always constantly back and forth between Europe 46 - > and Africa due to the nature of my parents' work at the time. 47 - > And then when I was a teenager, I was assigned as a model. 48 - > So I had agencies in different cities, and I also traveled 49 - > around the world and really got to experience living in 50 - > different cities and experiencing different cultures 51 - > at a young age. 52 - > And I think that's kind of what really opened my eyes to there's 53 - > so much out there, there's so much to experience and learn, 54 - > and really matured me as well at the time because I think a lot 55 - > of people they don't get to see and experience things outside of 56 - > themselves.

57 - > So yeah, while I was doing that, I went to university at the 58 - > University of Westminster in London, where I actually studied 59 - > architecture and 3D design. 60 - > And then I later on went into uh product management and AI. 61 - > But in between all of that, and when I moved to the States, I 62 - > met Diani through social media. 63 - > So we both at the time, it's kind of a crazy story.

64 - > So we don't even really understand how it happened. 65 - > We think we were just drawn together, some higher power, 66 - > honestly. 67 - > But we both had very similar interests, very similar sort of 68 - > travel content. 69 - > And we somehow started talking to each other.

70 - > And then yeah, we ended up meeting in LA. 71 - > And um, yeah, like she said, just been traveling ever since 72 - > and just you know exploring the world together. 73 - > So yeah, that's it's basically how Travel Spoken came together. 74 - > I mean, there's other elements as well with what we got into, 75 - > which we we can talk about later.

76 - > But me and her decided to start the company. 77 - > And we also have our amazing CTO and lead software engineer. 78 - > His name is Christopher Walsh. 79 - > Um, he really has helped build our stack from the ground up as 80 - > well.

81 - > And he's a huge part of this process. 82 - > So wanted to give him a shout out as well, but he couldn't be 83 - > on this call. 84 - > SPEAKER_03: So and this is why it's so important to have 85 - > connections and to form connections. 86 - > Benny and I met at AI4 in Las Vegas.

87 - > She was handing out bags, cute bags, as people were walking 88 - > into breakfast and into a keynote speech one of the 89 - > mornings. 90 - > And I got the bag and just went on my way. 91 - > And then I said, there's something about this woman. 92 - > I need to meet her.

93 - > And that is how we formed a relationship. 94 - > And I was like, all right, we got to get you on this platform 95 - > to discuss what you're putting together. 96 - > Because, of course, I love AI, you're doing something really 97 - > innovative and digital. 98 - > And I also am a traveler with a mom from a different country.

99 - > I have dual citizenship. 100 - > And my most recent trip was just to Vietnam and then to Thailand. 101 - > And as I was in Vietnam, a country that I never necessarily 102 - > would have thought about going, except maybe as just traveling 103 - > throughout Southeast Asia. 104 - > But when we were there, I got to experience the culture, but also 105 - > learn about businesses and industry and commerce and how 106 - > that's different in different countries, depending on when 107 - > their markets opened up, what the resources they have 108 - > available, what the people are like, the culture.

109 - > And as I was on a bus going to the next business there, I was 110 - > thinking through that. 111 - > And you really learn so much about yourself, your culture, 112 - > and others. 113 - > And the world becomes a smaller place, a more forgiving place, a 114 - > more welcoming place as you travel. 115 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we 100% agree.

116 - > Like I couldn't disagree with you at all. 117 - > I think it's such a big part of our lives when it comes to 118 - > discovery. 119 - > And like you said, just seeing the world outside of the of a 120 - > larger lens and not just thinking about you and yourself 121 - > and being so self-centered because there's so many other 122 - > people, so many other experiences out there. 123 - > Um, and yeah, it just opens you to that as well.

124 - > What was that first trip that you took together? 125 - > SPEAKER_02: So we went to Puerto Rico actually for the first time 126 - > together, which was really exciting. 127 - > And I just remember reaching out to her after our first meet in 128 - > LA and just really feeling connected to her and just yeah, 129 - > wanting to share in a travel experience. 130 - > It just seemed like something that we both would really enjoy 131 - > and really love after having spoken about so many of our 132 - > interests that aligned.

133 - > So yeah, that was our first trip. 134 - > SPEAKER_03: Amazing. 135 - > What were some of the things you have both experienced in the 136 - > course of travel that led you to go? 137 - > There has to be a better way.

138 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, where do we start? 139 - > So we've had different experiences, I think from 140 - > spontaneous trips to having to plan for groups, you know, when 141 - > we went to Mykonos for my birthday and it was like a bunch 142 - > of girls, and then family trips, trips, um, just different 143 - > demographic of people, different types, different ages. 144 - > And I think the biggest thing was the time. 145 - > The time spent planning was always it always felt longer 146 - > than it had to be.

147 - > And this is something that has been a constant in my life in 148 - > terms of having to plan ahead for certain trips and everything 149 - > that goes into it before the trip actually happens. 150 - > And sometimes I feel like you spend more time planning the 151 - > trip than actually being on the trip, it seems. 152 - > But this is the same pain point that we've noticed from a lot of 153 - > people, all our user testing and people that we surveyed, and 154 - > just friends and family that we've talked to as well.

155 - > And actually, there are some crazy stats. 156 - > You know, the average American traveler spends over 18, 18 157 - > hours planning and booking a single trip. 158 - > And a lot of the times they're overspending by 20 to 50 159 - > percent. 160 - > And that was another thing, always sifting through the 161 - > deals.

162 - > I mean, Deanni was always the expert at finding like the best 163 - > deals. 164 - > So yeah, we just always felt like, wow, we're like, we travel 165 - > so much and we experience all these frustrating elements of 166 - > trip planning, bouncing between different spreadsheets. 167 - > I think we we've tried sticky notes, like the notes app on our 168 - > phone and sharing it with each other and trying to like, oh, 169 - > this is the iTunes day one and day two, and spreadsheets and 170 - > group messages and WhatsApp group chats with different 171 - > people.

172 - > I mean, it's just endless, endless. 173 - > And then Deanni as well, I mean, she's really great with uh 174 - > social media and mark her background in marketing. 175 - > And she always used to find like the most amazing videos for 176 - > travel inspiration on social media, including all the videos 177 - > that she would post as well. 178 - > And we always used to think too like, why can't we have access 179 - > to this content in a way that can actually lead to actionable 180 - > bookings?

181 - > Like, why is it that we have to do all this research on all 182 - > these social media platforms and try to figure out how to get 183 - > there, what to do when we get there? 184 - > And so yeah, we really saw a gap in the market. 185 - > SPEAKER_03: And so when you were thinking about what you wanted 186 - > to build and looking at what else was out there, because 187 - > there are apps for luxury travel, right? 188 - > There are apps where you can share where you've been with 189 - > your friends, but you took it a step further.

190 - > So, can you talk to us about what exactly travel spoken is 191 - > and all the different things we'll find on it? 192 - > Because I agree with you. 193 - > Sometimes it's really easy to give up before you find the best 194 - > deal because of information overload. 195 - > I've used spreadsheets, I've tried using LLMs to help me 196 - > figure out what's the best seat in this category on this plane 197 - > versus this plane.

198 - > And you look at things like Airbnb or Expedia or a number of 199 - > different apps, and you see reviews, but you don't always 200 - > see the experience that you would want, right? 201 - > Because I've had that experience of going in and going, oh, this 202 - > is not the environment that I thought it was going to be. 203 - > Great location, but I would not stay here again. 204 - > SPEAKER_01: Right.

205 - > Yeah, we've all experienced that. 206 - > So she, yeah, all over. 207 - > I mean, I remember this one trip we went to. 208 - > Was it in Miami?

209 - > And we got to the hotel, and honestly, it's probably the 210 - > worst thing we've ever seen in our lives. 211 - > SPEAKER_02: It was nothing like the photos online. 212 - > It just it must have been like a staged photo. 213 - > And then when you got there, I everything was completely the 214 - > opposite of that.

215 - > It was we actually had to end up moving hotels because of it, 216 - > because it was just so not like the photos. 217 - > SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, there's a whole there's a trend. 218 - > Like literally, like people will say, you know, Instagram versus 219 - > reality. 220 - > And that's a real thing in the travel industry.

221 - > It's like the lack of this authenticity when it comes to 222 - > being able to really see, like, okay, this has a certain amount 223 - > of reviews, but is that to my liking? 224 - > And is this actually what it's going to be like when I get 225 - > there? 226 - > So yeah, well, we can tell you a bit more about what we're 227 - > actually building. 228 - > So Travel Spoken is a social first AI-enabled travel 229 - > platform, and we help time-conscious and frequent 230 - > travelers book and discover travel through voice, videos, 231 - > and imagery.

232 - > And we plan to transform real travel content into bookings and 233 - > create one seamless experience without spreadsheets, tabs, or 234 - > endless group chats. 235 - > And we what really makes this stand out is this social layer 236 - > that we're building. 237 - > We're um curating, you know, our first hundred of customers and 238 - > our first travelers to really come and inject um authentic 239 - > travel content so that our other users can really experience and 240 - > book from this content.

241 - > And it's all going to be places we have certain target cities 242 - > that we're going after right now, but we are going to be 243 - > targeting top highly visited um cities that people will often go 244 - > to so that they can actually have content that they can book 245 - > directly from that's authentic, that tells them exactly what 246 - > activity they booked, how they got there, what flight they 247 - > took, even what, like you said, like what part of the plane they 248 - > might have sat on, or like how the plane was, or you know, what 249 - > activities they took part in.

250 - > And everything, we want everything to be transparent. 251 - > We want everything to be listed out so that other travelers can 252 - > directly benefit from it. 253 - > And it's not just some random content you've seen on TikTok or 254 - > Instagram that you can't really identify, or even if you do, you 255 - > still have to go through all those steps to really make that 256 - > part of your travel experience. 257 - > So I think that's what really sets us apart.

258 - > Nice. 259 - > SPEAKER_03: And so obviously there's also a layer of AI 260 - > infused into this platform. 261 - > Can you talk a little bit about that? 262 - > And then how difficult has it been to decide what locations 263 - > you want to put in first, who you want to be the creators, and 264 - > what kind of content will actually drive decision making?

265 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I can speak on the AI part. 266 - > So we use a various selection of really trusted models that we 267 - > fine-tuned with travel data. 268 - > And this is something that we're building and refining over time. 269 - > So it will get better over time once we have more users and more 270 - > travelers using it.

271 - > But it's better than your standard MLLMs, anything that 272 - > you would be able to do on ChatGPT, be able to do with our 273 - > AI agent. 274 - > But we want it to be voice first as well. 275 - > So we believe and we've seen a lot of trends away from the 276 - > screen interface. 277 - > A lot of people are using Whisper and you know, 278 - > voice-to-text agents and tools.

279 - > So I think society in general is going away from this sort of 280 - > typing archaic search bar kind of experience. 281 - > So we want people to be able to just talk like they were talking 282 - > to a normal person with natural language, explaining exactly 283 - > what they want. 284 - > The AI will transcribe that into text, it would start pulling up 285 - > data, and it'll it'll be able to build your day-to-day 286 - > itineraries as you go along, asking you questions, maybe 287 - > questions you haven't even thought of.

288 - > And it's been really interesting because when we've tested with 289 - > it as well, we've seen like, wow, like we didn't even think 290 - > of that. 291 - > And the LLM is is teaching us maybe you should think about 292 - > this. 293 - > Have you thought about the weather this day? 294 - > Have you thought about how far your hotel is from the dinner 295 - > that you want to do on the on Monday?

296 - > Maybe you should do that on Tuesday instead because you're 297 - > going to be closer there the next day. 298 - > So really helping you think about how you're going about 299 - > your trips and being able to really use that time 300 - > efficiently. 301 - > I think a lot of trip time is wasted on transportation, 302 - > getting from point A to B. 303 - > So if you can consolidate everything and really, I think 304 - > that's where AI comes in, really learning your schedule, learning 305 - > what's coming up, you can really consolidate that and really 306 - > maximize your time on the trip.

307 - > But yeah, in terms of like target countries, I'm sure 308 - > Deanni can go more into that and you know the marketing and 309 - > influencer side of everything that we're planning on doing. 310 - > SPEAKER_03: Yeah. 311 - > SPEAKER_02: So right now we are focused on the US and Europe. 312 - > So main cities in America would be New York, Miami, Los Angeles, 313 - > San Francisco.

314 - > There may be one other, I'm not sure if I remember correctly. 315 - > And then also for Europe, it's Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, London. 316 - > So right now, for in terms of marketing, we've got over 1,200 317 - > signups that have joined our wait list. 318 - > So we've got a really, really strong engagement already, a lot 319 - > of interest and excitement for the launch of our platform.

320 - > So we'll be focusing on having a lot of those be our early 321 - > adopters for the platform. 322 - > And then we've also we're focused on the influencer 323 - > outreach, which is mainly going to be in the beginning stages, 324 - > friends and family. 325 - > We want to offer them special incentives to join first, just 326 - > because they've shown the most support in our community. 327 - > They're going to be helping us build the platform as well by 328 - > being able to share their travel stories.

329 - > And it's going to be real authentic content. 330 - > So it's going to be things that trips that they've booked, 331 - > places that they've been that they want to share with family 332 - > and friends. 333 - > And then also we're going to be focused on the social layer as 334 - > well through storytelling, which I think is something that's 335 - > really important. 336 - > And I've I've just experienced that in the past with building 337 - > other brands.

338 - > And it's something that I really want to bring into Travel Spoken 339 - > because I am obsessed with travel. 340 - > It's like the most important and the most thing I'm passionate 341 - > about in life. 342 - > So we just want to focus on like building brand awareness and uh 343 - > the brand story through platforms like social media. 344 - > So all of the social media platforms, YouTube, TikTok, 345 - > Instagram, LinkedIn, all of the places that people can find 346 - > content already.

347 - > We essentially want to focus on outreaching in those areas and 348 - > bringing them into Travel Spoken and starting to get them to post 349 - > their travel stories. 350 - > SPEAKER_03: So fantastic. 351 - > And can you talk both talk about your backgrounds a little bit? 352 - > What were you doing before starting Travel Spoken?

353 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's actually a really interesting 354 - > story that's led us directly to starting Travel Spoken. 355 - > So in the last couple of years, Annie and I both became travel 356 - > agents and we actually did that process together. 357 - > So that was the first time that we've started really working 358 - > together, like on the same thing. 359 - > Like we were always collaborating in the past, 360 - > different travel projects and things like that.

361 - > But this is the first time we got to see the travel industry 362 - > from the inside out. 363 - > And one of the things that I noticed was really difficult was 364 - > their integrations and the back end system. 365 - > It was very difficult to book travel for our clients and for 366 - > our friends and family. 367 - > It was just very fragmented.

368 - > It was slow. 369 - > It was just there was no seamless process. 370 - > And I felt like we would spend hours and hours trying to book 371 - > travel for other people and for ourselves, which is it's 372 - > interesting because we were like, okay, this is what's not 373 - > working. 374 - > So how can we build something that can give people the 375 - > customer experience that we were wanting to give to people, but 376 - > we just felt like we couldn't because we didn't have the tools 377 - > to do so.

378 - > SPEAKER_03: And Deanni, you also started an organization called 379 - > My Campus Closet. 380 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I did. 381 - > So my mom and I started that when I was actually had just 382 - > graduated college. 383 - > Yeah, so I had started that, yeah, a college e-comm clothing 384 - > business.

385 - > It was really successful, like 13 years now. 386 - > So yeah, that was like I would say that's my second experience 387 - > with e-comm, but we really, really focused on the 388 - > storytelling and building a community of girls shared around 389 - > the experience of college, which I think even in the travel 390 - > industry, it's the same kind of network. 391 - > There's people that are really inspired by being a part of a 392 - > community. 393 - > So yeah, that's something I'm really excited to share now with 394 - > Annie, and we can help grow travel's booking.

395 - > SPEAKER_03: Monetization, right? 396 - > Sometimes that seems like a dirty word when it comes to, I 397 - > know my students who are creating capstone projects, many 398 - > of them are creating apps or they want to create mini-series. 399 - > They want to help people explore and do things in a different 400 - > way, right? 401 - > Or bring communities together.

402 - > That's usually where they get stuck. 403 - > As startup founders, what are some of the goals that you have? 404 - > Are you raising? 405 - > Are you looking for sponsors?

406 - > What are some of the techniques that you're going to be able to 407 - > use for monetization? 408 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for monetization, that's actually 409 - > one of my favorite words. 410 - > We have a hybrid approach. 411 - > So we have a lot of different methods and ways that we're 412 - > planning on scaling and growing the business.

413 - > Raising is a big part of it. 414 - > I think it all comes down to people believing in you. 415 - > And the biggest way for someone to show that they believe in 416 - > you, especially at such an early stage of a startup, is by giving 417 - > you money and investing in you because they're basically saying 418 - > they believe in you directly. 419 - > Because when you haven't developed a company that's been 420 - > around for years, they're basically putting that bet on 421 - > you that you're going to develop this product and you're going to 422 - > be the one that's going to push this company to scale it to 423 - > where they they're going to see a return on their investment.

424 - > And I think that's also one of the biggest ways of supporting. 425 - > I mean, obviously taking part in the when travel spoken, using 426 - > it, that's amazing ways to support as well. 427 - > But from a monetization standpoint, we will need that so 428 - > that we can scale and hire, hire really good talent that's going 429 - > to help us to get this company to where we need to go to 430 - > because it also involves a lot of outreach. 431 - > It's going to involve a lot of sales, getting a lot of people 432 - > on board.

433 - > And I think once we've raised enough to get to the point where 434 - > we are self-sufficient, which if we if we plan everything right, 435 - > it should be within the first few years, then we can really 436 - > focus too on the product, which is really important. 437 - > I think being product first is very important because you 438 - > really have to make a product that speaks for itself. 439 - > So if we have a really good product and a product that's To 440 - > help people and building something that people see a lot 441 - > of value in, we're not gonna have to have a huge ad spend.

442 - > We're not gonna have to spend all this money on advertising 443 - > and and and trying to get people on board because people will see 444 - > the value, they will be saving time, they will be saving money, 445 - > and they'll see the value of using travel spoken and it'll 446 - > speak for itself. 447 - > So definitely we will be starting to fundraise very soon. 448 - > And right now we're just going through a lot of organic 449 - > channels to try to get people to, you know, see the value and 450 - > come on board and share it with other people as well.

451 - > And we already have, you know, such amazing feedback from so 452 - > many people and so many people, like Deanni said, on our wait 453 - > list that are willing to use this as well. 454 - > So yeah. 455 - > SPEAKER_03: And is there going to be a subscription or 456 - > membership model layered onto that? 457 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's a hybrid model.

458 - > We have this traditional commission on booking. 459 - > So anytime anyone uses any of these other online travel 460 - > agencies or booking platforms, whenever you pay that price, 461 - > they're making money. 462 - > It's usually already baked on to the price of, you know, the 463 - > hotel, the package, whatever it is that you end up purchasing. 464 - > So we all have that same model and that standard across the 465 - > whole travel and tourism sector.

466 - > We won't have any hidden fees. 467 - > It'll just be very, very basic and clear as to where those fees 468 - > are. 469 - > And then also a subscription model, which is new in this sort 470 - > of sector, but we have a whole separate business segment where 471 - > we're targeting creator revenue share and monetization on the 472 - > creator side. 473 - > So getting a lot of travel influence influencers, sorry, to 474 - > come in, upload their content, share it with our community of 475 - > travelers, and then offer them revenue share if people book 476 - > through their content as well.

477 - > So creating a model where it's not just that direct consumer 478 - > facing, like, oh, come here and book your travel through us. 479 - > It's also a business facing as well, because hey, if you're a 480 - > travel agency, a small-tier travel agency, if your travel 481 - > agent is overwhelmed, like we were with outdated systems and 482 - > you want something that's going to make finding travel options 483 - > easier for your clients, you can also use our service as well.

484 - > You can come to travel spoken and you can also come to travel 485 - > spoken if you just wanted to just be a creator and make some 486 - > extra money and have somewhere that's more exclusive and 487 - > authentic to share your content and not get drowned out by other 488 - > people's cat videos. 489 - > SPEAKER_03: So I love that you mentioned that because that's 490 - > something I was talking about in class just last night. 491 - > Oh yeah. 492 - > SPEAKER_01: What is it with the clap videos?

493 - > I mean, I love cats, nothing against cats. 494 - > I just, yeah, it's interesting that people just have all these 495 - > videos. 496 - > It's almost mean. 497 - > I see so many mean videos that people post about cats.

498 - > SPEAKER_03: Oh no, my family, not to a sidebar, but um I'm a 499 - > dog owner. 500 - > My family are mostly cat people. 501 - > So like my siblings. 502 - > And so they will share all these cat videos in our group chat on 503 - > Facebook Messenger or an Insta.

504 - > And I will not click on any of them. 505 - > I'm like, these are messing up my algorithm. 506 - > Let me see all the travel, right? 507 - > Let me see all the other things that I really want to see that 508 - > will inspire me.

509 - > SPEAKER_01: And that's also part of our value proposition. 510 - > It's like you come here and you're you you know 100% it's 511 - > just gonna be pure authentic travel content. 512 - > It's not anything else. 513 - > You don't have to put in any filters.

514 - > I mean, there are subfilters within there if you want to go 515 - > to different countries, cities, that kind of thing. 516 - > But yeah, you don't have to worry about, you know, anything 517 - > messing up your algorithm. 518 - > SPEAKER_03: Fantastic. 519 - > Well, I know that I'm excited to use your platform.

520 - > I've spoken to any about this previously, but planning a tr a 521 - > trip this summer, I was gone for five weeks, three weeks in the 522 - > UK. 523 - > Got my daughter off to Cambridge for a summer program. 524 - > But then my sister and my boyfriend were joining me and 525 - > trying to balance how much time we were all three together, who 526 - > got what separate time with me individually, where we were 527 - > going. 528 - > I ended up going back to Edinburgh after I'd already been 529 - > there with my daughter because they wanted to go there, which 530 - > was fine.

531 - > I mean, because that way I got to spend more days in that city, 532 - > which I love. 533 - > But it was a whole thing and trying to plan out so that 534 - > they'd both be happy with what they got. 535 - > And I was like, at the end, I was like, all right, I don't 536 - > think I can do this again. 537 - > We all traveled well together, but I just need one to travel 538 - > with one person.

539 - > But something like this would help us create a better 540 - > experience and really think through everything and not just 541 - > put a lot of the burden on me as the person who was like the 542 - > connector or the connection point between everybody else. 543 - > Yeah. 544 - > SPEAKER_01: So no, I I think we we like to say that this is 545 - > built for travelers by travelers. 546 - > As people who are building this platform, we have also 547 - > experienced all these pain points that so many people have 548 - > experienced as well.

549 - > And it's good to know that when someone's building something for 550 - > you, they've also been through that experience. 551 - > So they know exactly what they're trying to solve. 552 - > SPEAKER_02: And I think also, too, like it's a tool to help 553 - > plan and organize, but it's also a tool to help bring back the 554 - > joy of traveling together because it takes away the 555 - > stresses. 556 - > And I think of travel spoken as like a movement.

557 - > We're going towards something smarter, story-driven. 558 - > We're bringing back connection and we're making it something 559 - > that people can actually use that feels human. 560 - > I mean, I know AI is heavily incorporated, but it's something 561 - > that is is connecting us all to make our lives easier and to 562 - > actually be able to experience travel with the ones you love. 563 - > I think there's nothing more important than that.

564 - > SPEAKER_03: What would you both say to anybody who's listening, 565 - > because a lot all my students have capstone projects, right? 566 - > So what as they're trying to think through ideas and get them 567 - > from ideation to inception. 568 - > SPEAKER_02: I mean, for me, I would say that follow your 569 - > passions first and foremost. 570 - > Like when I see something visually, I get really inspired 571 - > by it.

572 - > And I think a lot of the younger generation, especially, because 573 - > I've still got a lot of girlfriends that are still in 574 - > college, as you know, I worked with my campus closet. 575 - > So a lot of them are still in that time and they're so 576 - > socially driven by what they see, what their friends are 577 - > doing. 578 - > So I would say that when when they come across something that 579 - > they're really passionate about, to follow after that. 580 - > And if it is something in in our field is in travel, take a leap 581 - > of faith, you know, try something new.

582 - > SPEAKER_01: Right. 583 - > I agree. 584 - > I think too the story about how we met and how, you know, all 585 - > this came together. 586 - > And it's just really inspiring.

587 - > And just working as a team, even with our CTO as well. 588 - > It's sometimes, you know, even we got emotional about it 589 - > because it's just something we're just so passionate about, 590 - > and it's something that brought us together as friends, as 591 - > soulmates, and to be able to build something as well on top 592 - > of that and help other people, it's a really amazing and 593 - > fulfilling um feeling. 594 - > And I think when you're young, you might not maybe put as much 595 - > emphasis into fulfillment until you get a bit older and you 596 - > start to really reflect on life and reflect on what's important 597 - > to you in life.

598 - > But I think for you know, your students, I think really 599 - > following their heart and picking something that's really 600 - > gonna fulfill them and inspire them because it's a hard 601 - > journey, it's a hard process. 602 - > I mean, we've already faced setbacks and we're just at the 603 - > start of the journey. 604 - > And if you don't have that passion or resilience, and if 605 - > you don't have something that's really keeping you there and 606 - > you're really, really passionate about, you're just gonna give 607 - > up.

608 - > And so it really has to be something that you are very, 609 - > very passionate about. 610 - > SPEAKER_03: And let's talk a little bit about what are some 611 - > of the hurdles that you have experienced in this, because I 612 - > know that you're launching soon, but you have been working on it 613 - > for this the entire year plus. 614 - > SPEAKER_01: Well, we started working on it, I would say 615 - > beginning of May, because being beginning of May. 616 - > There's a few different things.

617 - > So the first thing is just the industry as a whole. 618 - > So the travel, it's very regulated. 619 - > It has to be, you know, you don't want any random person to 620 - > just be able to build anything, and then next thing you know, 621 - > they're selling flights to people and it's not regulated. 622 - > So there's um different layers of accreditation that need to be 623 - > obtained.

624 - > There are certain relationships that need to be built and before 625 - > you can even get your foot in the door to be able to sell 626 - > travel to people in a commercial sense. 627 - > And so we've had to do, we've condensed a lot of sort of 628 - > business liaising and creating these relationships with people 629 - > that are gonna give us access to be able to sell travel. 630 - > And that sometimes can take a long time. 631 - > And I think even these bigger enterprises and conglomerates as 632 - > well, they have a lot of relationships and a lot of 633 - > contracts where I'm not saying they're trying to squash 634 - > competition, but they are trying to make it harder for um smaller 635 - > companies to get in.

636 - > But thankfully, there has been an uprise in more B2B solutions 637 - > when it comes to travel. 638 - > So we've been lucky enough to receive contracts from a lot of 639 - > major global distribution systems that are also feeding 640 - > some of these larger companies their travel content. 641 - > So we have basically access directly from the source and 642 - > we're able to mitigate going through any of these other 643 - > larger companies that might try to make things harder for us.

644 - > But I would say that's been part of the setback is just really 645 - > trying to get our foot in the door. 646 - > And then even after we got our foot in the door, making sure 647 - > everything aligns so that when our users start booking travel, 648 - > they're not having these issues and they have real customer 649 - > support and real people that they can fall back to if they do 650 - > have issues. 651 - > As much as we're very AI focused and AI-centered, we do want if 652 - > there's an emergency or something happens during 653 - > someone's travel, we want to still have that concierge 654 - > service where, you know, you can't actually speak to a human 655 - > and you're not just going to be redirected to this chatbot 656 - > that's not gonna help you.

657 - > SPEAKER_03: Great. 658 - > Yeah. 659 - > So even as you're building and excited, you still have to think 660 - > about methodically going through the steps. 661 - > And that's a good lesson for everybody to think about.

662 - > Yeah, it always takes longer than you think. 663 - > This is true. 664 - > This is true. 665 - > As I am working on a number of projects right now.

666 - > Yeah. 667 - > This has been really fun. 668 - > I love seeing the two of you, what you've put together, what 669 - > you're building, how you started this your friendship and 670 - > relationship, and have built it now into so much more that will 671 - > benefit other people. 672 - > Any final thought from either of you?

673 - > Annie, would you like to share our favorite quote? 674 - > SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah. 675 - > So yeah, we have a favorite quote, but our story actually 676 - > started with a shared love of travel content. 677 - > And I think traveled spoken is really a product of that love.

678 - > You know, it's finally made it, it's finally brought back that 679 - > connection that we have for the world into something that can 680 - > really help other people. 681 - > And we have a really favorite quote that we always go back to, 682 - > and it's actually by St. 683 - > Augustine, and he says, the world is a book, and those who 684 - > do not travel only read one page. 685 - > And then it really sets you into the mindset of travel is for not 686 - > just for exploration, but also for deepening your horizons into 687 - > the world and really understanding that you know it's 688 - > not just you and there's so much more out here to learn and 689 - > experience.

690 - > And we want to provide that to everyone. 691 - > SPEAKER_03: Fantastic. 692 - > Well, thank you both for being on Media Escape today and giving 693 - > some insight and wisdom on being a startup that's focused on 694 - > social, AI, and community building at the same time. 695 - > Yes, thank you so much for having us.

696 - > Noah, thank you so much, Anissa. 697 - > And thank you to everybody who is watching this episode or 698 - > listening to it on your favorite platform. 699 - > We'll be back again with another amazing guest in a couple of 700 - > weeks to share their story, their journey, and some things 701 - > that will help you as you go through your digital life. 702 - > SPEAKER_00: To learn more about the Master of Science and 703 - > Digital Media Management program, visit us on the web at 704 - > dmm.

usc.edu.