創業偶像：AnyRoad掘金導游業
好兄弟喬納森?雅菲和丹尼爾?雅菲是AnyRoad的聯合創始人。圖片來源：AnyRoad
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????據丹尼爾?雅菲和喬納森?雅菲這對好兄弟稱，全球共有40萬名持證的全職導游，他們構成了一個價值高達160億美元的市場，但其中只有5%的人會在網上露臉。對此丹尼爾解釋道：“我們意識到，很多職業導游是完全與互聯網絕緣的。所以我們想，如果能讓他們上網，給他們一個平臺來更好地展示自己，那將為導游和游客雙方都帶來巨大的便利。” ????于是，雅菲兄弟于今年四月在舊金山創辦了AnyRoad公司，目的是要為導游提供一個樞紐，讓他們可以把在某個城市提供的旅游線路集中發布在網上（目前僅有六個城市），比如去東京賞酒，或是徒步游玩里約熱內盧，這樣游客就能在線預訂了。它的盈利模式是，從游客和導游兩邊各收一小筆費用，同時拿出其中5%給該城市的非盈利機構。這家公司打算在近兩個月內把業務拓展到希臘和韓國，還希望到明年夏天能有15個城市加盟。 ????不過，這家公司現在面臨的頭等大事是，必須全身心地迎接另一個挑戰。就在下周，雅菲兄弟倆將與其他五位競爭者共同參加本年度在科羅拉多州阿斯彭學院舉行的《財富》科技頭腦風暴大會（Brainstorm Tech conference）的“創業偶像大賽”（Startup Idol competition）。我們找到了28歲的丹尼爾和31歲的喬納森，對他們進行了簡短的采訪。 ????作為下周正式比賽的熱身，請跟大家講講你們的“電梯游說”（elevator pitch，指對產品、服務、機構及其價值主張的簡短介紹——譯注）。請用一句話概括AnyRoad的使命。 ????丹尼爾與喬納森：AnyRoad是一個從價值160億美元的線下導游市場開始著手，繼而對全球旅游業進行現代化改造的平臺。 ????作為兩位資深驢友，你們曾表示，你們并不認為自己是那種按通常方式“游覽”的人。說到“游覽”這個詞，馬上讓我想起最近的一次游覽經歷：在蒙特利爾跟一群興致勃勃的老年人一起坐大巴觀光。 ????喬納森：世界上確實有不少地方都有這種觀光巴士：如惡魔島、漁人碼頭等，不一而足。但是這種觀光游的導游不會都讓老年游客自己步行觀光！但AnyRoad上的導游卻是一些對雞尾酒、小啤酒廠或是某種小吃情有獨鐘的人，他們認為游客應該深入了解某個城市的真實面貌。他們也許有文藝復興藝術領域的學位，也許自己本身就是涂鴉藝術家。所以他們是真正專業的、有資質的導游，他們提供的行程多數人不會認為是“觀光”，因為這類行程不是那么能看得見摸得著的。 ????聽起來挺像那么回事的。你們在有些城市和當地政府合作，讓導游更方便地發布自己的行程。跟這些政府接觸時有什么困難嗎？ ????丹尼爾：我們向他們推出的價值主張超級簡單明了。我們只是找到這些政府，告訴他們：“我們是要幫助當地導游上網推廣旅游線路，而且還會把5%的收入贈予你們本地的非盈利機構（不收一分錢）。”這樣一來，很多政府部門就非常支持我們了。他們喜歡AnyRoad的原因是，我們并沒威脅到旅游業，而是提供了一個平臺，幫助他們把旅游服務變得更加現代化。(財富中文網) ????譯者：清遠 |
????According to brothers Daniel and Jonathan Yaffe, there are 400,000 full-time, accredited tour guides around the world who account for a $16 billion market, but just 5% of them have any online presence. "What we realized is that there are amazing professional tour guides who are completely off the grid," explains Daniel. "And so we sought to find out how their lives, and ultimately travelers' lives, might be better if we were able to bring them onto the grid and give them a platform with more visibility." ????Launched this April, the bootstrapped San Francisco-based AnyRoad offers guides a hub where they can list tours in one of six cities -- a Tokyo sake tasting, a light hike through Rio de Janeiro -- and tourists may book them. AnyRoad makes money by shaving a small fee from the customer and the guide but gives 5% back to a city's ????nonprofits. The startup plans to expand into Greece and Korea within the next two months and wants to be in 15 cities by summer of next year. ????First things, first, however: AnyRoad must face another challenge entirely. Next week, the Yaffe brothers will vie as one of five contestants for the mantle of this year's Startup Idol competition at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference, at the Aspen Institute in Colorado. We caught up with Daniel, 28, and Jonathan, 31, beforehand for a few quick questions. ????To warm you up for next week, let's hear your elevator pitch. Summarize AnyRoad's mission in one sentence. ????Daniel and Jonathan: AnyRoad is a platform that is modernizing the worldwide tourism industry starting with a $16 billion market of offline tour guides. ????Being pretty well-traveled, you've said that you wouldn't necessarily consider yourselves the kind of people who normally take "tours." When I think of the word "tour," I think back to the last one I took: a Montreal bus filled with (delightful) senior citizens. ????Jonathan: There are of course, the hop-on, hop-off buses of the world: the Alcatraz tours and the Fisherman's Wharf tours and all of that ... But not all tour guides give the general senior citizens walking tour! These [the kind on AnyRoad] are tour guides who have a passion for cocktails or microbreweries or a certain kind of cuisine. Or they think people should explore the nature of cities. Or they have a degree in Renaissance art. Or they have a hobby as graffiti artists. So these are professional,?accredited guys, but the tours they give, well, most people wouldn't describe as "tours" because they're not quite as visible. ????That's fair. In some cities, you're pairing up with the local government to make it easier for guides to list tours. Is it a hard sell when you reach out to them? ????Daniel: The value proposition that we offer is super-easy. We're basically going to them and saying, "We're helping bring your tour guides online, and we're also giving 5% to local nonprofits. (Oh, and we're doing this for free.)" So, a lot of governments have been very supportive. They love that we're not challenging the industry, that really, we're offering them a platform to help modernize their own infrastructures. |
