Taxidio Brings One Stop Travel Planning Destination For DIY Travellers

Traveling is different for everyone. Some people travel for work, for family, for tourism, for adventure, for culture, and beyond. Traveling provides you with new experiences and perspectives. You are able to see the world in a different way and learn about new things as well as about yourself.
Here are top 10 “significance” why travel is important:

1. Provides learning and education about places and history

2. Connects us to other cultures and people

3. Slows us down: Gives us a break from our fast-paced lives

4. Expands our awareness and introduces us to greater diversity

5. Helps us break habits: mentally, physically, and emotionally

6. Gives us time to heal, reduces stress and helps us regain enthusiasm for life

7.Stokes curiosity and awakens our inner child by offering us new, “first-time” experiences

1. Promotes patience by releasing heavy expectations of the “one right way” mentality thereby allowing life to flow more organically
2. Invites the opportunity to get lost and face one’s fears of the unknown
3. Helps you get to know yourself better: the true you is rediscovered

At the same time travelling and travel planning is one of the most hectic task. Selecting a destination, creating itineraries, booking accommodations, purchasing tickets, travel guides etc is time & mind consuming and little confusion or mistake can create a fuss and ruin your trip.
Today we are bringing Vishal Kejariwal & Abhas Desai from Taxidio. Taxidio cater to Do It Yourself “DIY” travellers across the globe in the age group of 18-45 who like to plan their own trip and not rely on pre-planned tour packages/rigid itineraries.
Lets See what The founders have to share about their venture and their entire entrepreneurship journey.
1.What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
The name of our venture is Taxidio. Taxidio means to travel in greek and most easily defines the purpose of our venture.


2.Who is your target Audience/clients?
We cater to Do It Yourself “DIY” travellers across the globe in the age group of 18-45 who like to plan their own trip and not rely on pre-planned tour packages/rigid itineraries.
3.Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
Taxidio is based out of Mumbai, India and we are targeting English speaking countries globally with special focus on India and Unites States.
4.What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
Taxidio is the first global automated trip planner, which bridges the gap between travel planning and execution. It seamlessly connects the different nodes of travel planning such as –

• Selecting a destination
• Creating fully customisable itineraries

• Bookings accommodations
• Purchasing attraction tickets
• In-depth travel guides
• Saving and sharing itineraries and connecting with other travelers

 
5.Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it came to an existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
Existing market scenario in the travel industry, though talks about automation, is highly fragmented in nature. People talk about automation in travel, however, the amount of time spent in researching, planning and booking makes the process time consuming. I have been traveling since my teenage and every year I travelled, I saw a huge potential and gap in the so called automated world of travel. This gave birth to Taxidio.
6.Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
There are certain players in the itinerary planning domain, however, there isn’t any player globally which looks at destination recommendation in a personalised manner the way Taxidio does it.
7.How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us some thing about your co-founder/s
My Co-founder, Abhas Desai is a friend from my junior college days. We attended engineering college together and have been really close for the past 16 years. His skills in engineering combined with my business acumen makes us a strong founding team.

8.How did you hired your first team members? What skills Do you want in your employees/team?
Our core focus lies around tech and content. We went to graduate colleges in search of fresh talent, young minds who are interested to make a mark for themselves as they grow with us. We look at people who are as passionate as us to make the process of travelling easy and comfortable.
9.What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
Taxidio went live in the month of May 2017 and has had more than 20000 unique visitors since then. We look forward to have an ecosystem that will encompass more integrated functionalities and more than 1 Mn unique visitors on YoY basis.

10.Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
We look forward to be the one stop shop for all travel needs.
11.What are your goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
Taxidio’s app is almost ready and is currently undergoing final testing. The plan in coming months is to have the app released and increase the user base for the same.

12.Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
We have raised seed funding which has helped us build the platform etc. We do intend to get into the markets soon to raise funding for tech and expansion.
13.What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
Biggest challenge as a start-up in the initial days is allocation of resources – be it capital or manpower. However, considering my past experience in management, this challenge turned out to be exciting and solvable. Though we did have some teething issue, our learning curve was steep and helped us take the right steps in the right direction and solve most of it.
14.What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
The most challenging part was content curation. Since we heavily rely on content, finding the right suppliers for the same was a major challenge for us. We introduced various internal programs of inviting thoughts from our team, wherein with continuous brainstorming, we were able to come up with the right content sourcing solutions.
15.Are you married, single or in a relationship?
I am currently single.

16.What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
In my free time, I like to workout and spend some quality weekend time with friends and family.
17.Whats your favorite food & holiday destination?
I am vegetarian foodie who loves Asian cuisine. Favourite destination – Prague. Given an option, I would retire there.

18.Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
Steve jobs for the disruption he brought in the industry.
19.What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
I personally feel there shouldn’t be any difference between entrepreneurs and working for someone. In both roles, it is the urge to do something better and bigger is what should really drive you. You are always answerable to someone, whether its your boss or your customers/employees.
20.If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Nothing. I am byproduct of what I have learnt in the past 33 years and I am happy to be where I am.
21.How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
Yes it has in a positive way. Surprisingly, people in your social circle start respecting you a lot more than what they would do when you are working for someone. They start looking at you as a risk taker.
22.Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
Believe in your ideas and keep working hard towards it. You will hear noises (good and bad), but none of those should divert you from your goal.
23.Tell us something about your education & family background.
I come from a Marwadi (Hindu, Indian) family. Some say it’s the marwadi genes that make you eventually start your own business. My mother is a lawyer by profession.
I have done my graduation in Computer Science and thereafter did an MBA in Capital Markets.
24.What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains.
Our core functionality and the ability to personalise.
25. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
The ability of larger organisations to replicate the model at a quicker pace.
26. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
I think success is very subjective. For me, recognition by my family, my close friends and people who matter to me is what matters the most.
27.Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Vishal Kejariwal
Co-founder and CEO
+919820443578
[email protected]
www.taxidio.com
 
Abhas Desai
Co-founder and CTO