Howlanders: The booking website for adventure and nature tours in Latin America

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Howlanders is a website for booking tours and activities in Latin America. "We are specialized in adventure and nature tours and work directly with local operators to avoid intermediaries, so we can offer authentic experiences at a local price," explains Howlanders Founder, Javier Moliner, along with Daniel Gómez.

Moliner lived in Latin America for two years, where he spent most of his time traveling, and had worked in several tourism companies. This allowed him to gain a precise knowledge of the region and adaptation to cultural differences, "since in the early stages the human treatment is very important. This helped me to capture the first suppliers and make the first sales. This knowledge and ability of adaptation is something that we have valued since the beginning and we have transmitted to the team so that it can be used on a daily basis."

Howlanders, one of the 50 Spanish startups that are part of a fourth Entrepreneurs List, started with a slightly different idea, similar to AirBnb, "but we didn't have the financial muscle that business model needed, so with the support of BBooster, we were pivoting until we reached the current model."

Customer Support

Moliner recalls those initial moments to attract customers: "They were very exciting, but we took many false steps between adwords and social networks. Although we were convinced that, if there is product market fit, in the end, sales arrive. Our website did not inspire much confidence, but we reinforced that lack with good customer service. I still remember our mentor Raquel asking our colleagues for applause for our second sale: 1,080 euros from a family from Finland. At that time, everything was very manual: we exchanged many emails with customers, we negotiated each sale with the supplier and celebrated it as a goal in a final. In fact, we still sing many of the sales in the office; that illusion is never lost."

Aware that the competition was tightening up, they decided to focus on specialization: "Trip4real had just been acquired by AirBnb and the sector was growing with big players like Get Your Guide, Viator or Civitatis, pulling the car, but instead of We were disappointed to see him on the positive side.Our time to market was correct and with the help of Juan Leal, from BBooster, we realized that specialization would be key for us, and the illusion made us not see the stones along the way. says Enrique Penichet of BBooster, we were recklessly optimistic. "

Global Market

In 2018, more than 2,500 people of more than 40 nationalities booked activities with Howlanders, which allowed them to bill more than 600,000 euros. "This brings us a lot of value, since we have been international since day zero. Currently, the Spanish customer accounts for less than 20% of our sales and customers in Germany, the United States, Australia and England are the ones leading them. We cannot define a single market, but we are global and we have customers of all kinds, from 18 year olds in their sabbatical year to retired couples who travel for free."

In addition to BBooster's support, they have had a shuttle loan, which has allowed us to drive and get the metrics we needed."

With these metrics, they looked for a round led by investor Carlos Guerra in Startupxplore. "Our goal was 200,000 euros and, finally, we expanded to 250,000, to accommodate investors that we consider very relevant for the value contribution they make to the company. This round will help us reach 1.5 million euros this year. billing that we have planned. In addition, we also have a prize of 20,000 euros from the Órbita program and a loan from Enisa, which have allowed us to have more funds and to draw up a much more ambitious strategy for this year and next."

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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