business model, business model canvas, columbia, customer development, lean launchpad, lean startup, steve blank

1. Day 5
January 13, 2017
PlandIt
Group travel simplified
Total # of interviews: 51
Giorgi Suladze
Jake Kupperman
Poppo Hofsteenge
Anqi Yang

2. PlandIt
(Day 1)
Group-Focused
Great Planning
Photo Sharing
Split Costs
Book Directly
Consumer- Focused
Ad Revenue Model
Competitive Landscape
Teams
PlandIt

3. PlandIt
Organizations3
Advertisers1
Individuals 2
$7.7B
$62M
$9.9M
77M
31M
27M
28M
10M
4M
TAM: 20-39 year-olds
who travel
SAM: All
potential users
Target market:
People with mobile
internet access
TAM: All
businesses
in the US
SAM: # of businesses
regularly organizing
travel
Target market:
addressable
market
Key insights
- Total addressable revenue: $72 million
- Advertising revenue upside: tentative
- Growth rate for digital travel advertising: 11%
Market Sizing
1. Total ad spend related to travel
2. Total potential ad revenue from users of individual group travel apps
3. Total potential revenue from subscriptions by companies and universities in the group travel

4. Business Model Canvas - Day 1
# of interviews conducted: 0 (# of online surveys: 30)
PlandIt
•Blogs
•Social media /
advertising
•The application
•Age group: 20 - 39
•Lifestyle: frequent
traveler
•Location: urban
metropolitan
Millennials living in
metropolitan areas
with sufficient
disposable income that
travel in groups
frequently.
•Advertising
•Subscription fee - commercial only
•Partnerships
•Customer data
•Influencers
Bloggers
•Payment
providers
Venmo, Stripe
•Travel sites
Tripadvisor
Yelp
•Booking sites
AirBnB
•Other apps
Google maps
•Initial development and maintenance
•User/customer acquisition/adoption
•Marketing
•General & Administrative costs - rent, equipment
•Software
development
User interface
•Marketing
•User services
● Self-service
● Community
● Co-creation
•The application
•Application
developers
•Cloud server
•Customer data
•Centralized planning
and coordination tool
● Simple way to
plan
● Track and settle
expenses
•Trip-centric
Two or more people
•Coordinate
Receive and send
notifications

5. Dictator
Dan
Moderator Liz
Value
proposition
PlandIt
Customer
Group travelers:
friends, family, &
organizations
Groups of students
traveling together
(MBA / type A focus)
Everything Cost splitting, activity
suggestions
Collaborative
decision-making
Leader
Maria
Our Journey from Day 1 to Day 4

6. “coordination and collaborative
decision-making for each task across all
participants”
Ideas, hotel and itinerary suggestions
and feedback, budget feedback, ...
PlandIt
“finding establishments that fall within
everyone’s budget”
“Conversations tend to shift towards other
topics in WhatsApp or by email”
“I need to ensure everyone is happy, but I
sometimes need to make hard choices”
“Non-responsiveness in group messages”
Moderator Liz • 26 years old
• Youngest; 2 siblings
• Columbia MSc Applied
Physics
• Single, but is seeing
classmate Ryan
• Organizes the annual
college friends trip
• Loves to make others
happy
Moderator Liz and Her Biggest Problems

7. • Mobile app
• Websites
- Social media
- Travel sites
- Blogs
• Individual: Free
• Advertisers: Ads & Customer data
Individuals
•Frequent group
traveler
•20-39 years old
•Urban area
•College educated
•Group with moderating
leader who plans in a
democratic way
Advertisers
•Hotels, airlines, towns,
attractions
•Mobile ad platforms
•Influencers
•Payment providers
•Cloud services
provider
•Other supporting
apps
- Google Maps
- TripAdvisor
- Yelp
•Travel-focused
blogs/forums
• Initial development and maintenance
• User/customer acquisition/adoption
- Marketing campaigns, both paid and organic
• General & Administrative costs
- Rent, equipment
PlandIt
•User interface
•Software
development (new
features)
•Marketing
•Mobile app
developers
•Customer data
Simplify Group
Trip Planning
Individuals
• Collect inputs from
participants (polling)
• Share itineraries and
create events in trips
• “Get everyone in the
same room” to plan and
make decisions quickly
Advertisers
• Access to frequent
travelers
Business Model Canvas - Day 4
# of interviews conducted: 51
Get
• SEO
• SEM: AdWords
• Marketing campaigns
• Collaboration with
popular travel websites
Keep,Grow: TBD

8. $135 p.n.| Pool | Casino
Updated Wireframe addresses Top Pains
Liz proposes Embassy
Suites in San Juan.
Do you want to stay here?
PlandIt
Book
Hotel
$180
3/4
votes
In
process
Pick
Destination
N/A
4/4
votes
Comple
ted
Book
Flights
$450
0/4
votes
Waiting
Pick
Dates
N/A 4/4
votes
Comple
ted
Activity Price Vote Status
1. Checklist 2. Polls
1:32 left to reply
Day 1 Day 5
# of MVP feedback interviews: 6

9. PlandIt
LTV CAC
Unit economics are insufficient
< $9 $10 - $20
Trip days per year 4*7 = 28
App mins per day 10
Total mins on app 10*28 = 280
# of impressions 2*280 =560
Annual value $1.7
Lifetime value 5*$1.7 = $8.4 → < $9
# of downloads p.m. 50k - 200k
SEM cost per click $0.50
Conversion to user 30%
Sales & Marketing p.m.1
$33K - $70K
Monthly cost $1.3 - $1.7
Acquisition cost ~$10 - ~$20
- Infrequent usage
- Low click rate on in-app advertising
- Smaller market than originally anticipated
Unit Economics
1. Year 1 Sales & Marketing costs
Based on 2 interviews:
Travefy founder, founder
successful travel website

10. Lack of financial viability
PlandIt
How do we tip the scales?
Time for a Pivot
Potentially interesting segments
based on our interviews:
1. Group travel for corporations
2. Group travel for universities
3. Location discovery for young
families

11. Appendix

12. Business Model Canvas - Day 2
# of interviews conducted: 29
•App/word of mouth
•Google Ads
•Blogs
•Social media
•Conferences
Individuals
•Frequent group
traveler
•20-39 years old
•Urban area
•College educated
•Female (focus)
Organizations
•Universities
•Companies
•Charities
•Clubs
Individuals
Free
Organizations
Subscription fee
Get - social media, SEA,
SEO, blog posts, rewards
Keep - monthly emails,
updates
Grow - incentivize
individuals to sell to
organizations
Other
Ads
Customer data sales
Influencers
Payment providers
Cloud services
provider
Other supporting
apps
- Google Maps
- TripAdvisor
- Yelp
•Initial development and maintenance
•User/customer acquisition/adoption
•Marketing
•General & Administrative costs - rent, equipment
PlandIt
Simplify group trip
planning
• Share trip ideas and
make group decisions
• Track and settle
expenses
• Track against
budget/goals
Organizations:
“engagement”
•Involve participants in
travel planning
•Simplify expense
reimbursement
MVP: app for individuals to
like trip suggestions
Cust. dev. focus
Software
development
Marketing
User support
Smartphone
application developer
Customer data
Black = unchanged
Blue = new

13. •App/word of mouth
•Google Ads
•Blogs
•Social media
•Conferences
•Travel sites
•Partner sites (AirBnB, SPG)
Individuals
•Frequent group traveler
•20-39 years old
•Urban area
•College educated
•Female (focus)
Organizations
•Individuals who lead large treks
•Individuals who organize for their
friends
•Individuals who take a democratic
approach to planning with friends
•Companies
•Charities
•Clubs
Advertisers
•Hotel groups, airlines,
governments, sights
Individuals
Free
Organizations Groups
Subscription fee
Other Advertisers
Ads
Customer data sales
Influencers
Payment providers
Cloud services provider
Other supporting apps
- Google Maps
- TripAdvisor
- Yelp
•Initial development and maintenance
•User/customer acquisition/adoption
•Marketing
•General & Administrative costs - rent, equipment
PlandIt
Software development
Marketing
User support
Feature additions and
enhancements
Get - social media, SEA, SEO,
blog posts, rewards word of
mouth and social media
Keep - monthly emails, updates
notifications, travel deals,
curated content, feed
Grow - incentivize individuals to
sell to organizations incentivize
word of mouth, build a brand
around group travel
Smartphone application
developer
Customer data
Relationships
Business Model Canvas - Day 3
# of interviews conducted: 40 (+11 since Day 2)
⇒ Simplify group trip planning
Individuals
• Share trip ideas and make group
decisions with polling capability
• Track and settle finances
expenses• Track against budget/goal
Organizations: “engagement”
•Involve participants in travel
planning•Simplify expense
reimbursement MVP: app for
individuals to like trip suggestions
• Collect inputs from participants
• Track itinerary, expenses & updates
Groups
• Share itineraries and create
events within trips
Advertisers
• Access to frequent travelers with
particular focus on millennials
Black = unchanged
Blue = new
Red = deleted