Spotlight Series: Tourable Technologies
Legacy Club goes under the hood of some early stage entrepreneurs, to see what makes them and their businesses tick!
Travel tech Tourable Technologies Founder Daniel Casey
Please tell us a little bit about you the person (not you the business owner): I grew up in Scotland and attended Edinburgh Napier University where I studied product design. I choose product design because I've always been interested in the more practical things in life.
I have lived in China and Belgium where I worked as a product designer and I gained a lot of experience not just as a designer but also learned a lot about different cultures and different ways of life. I enjoy travelling and exploring Scotland. (a good start for a tourism startup founder!)
Describe your business in less than 30 words: Tourable Technologies in an Edinburgh based travel tech startup looking to develop an ecosystem of digital products for tourists across the globe.
What industry or sector does your business fall in to?: Tourism
What did you do before you started your business?: Not much!
I started Tourable Technologies during my final year of university. As I graduated in 2020 I was completing my studies during the coronavirus lockdown and I knew the job market was going to be a mess so I thought that there was no better time to have a go at starting a business.
What have been the biggest struggles that you have encountered, and what did you do to overcome them?: One of the challenges that we have faced recently is convincing people that a tourism-related business is a good investment. When discussing the idea with experts and investors some write off the concept straight away because of the current state of the industry.
However, we see our offering as not only a solution to the problems we are trying to solve but also a big part in transforming an industry that is stuck in the past in terms of their acceptance of new technologies.
Our solution to overcoming this is simply to continue talking to investors and potential stakeholders and eventually we will sell the vision to the right person!
Have you had any external investment to date?: No
What has been the impact of COVID-19 on your business and did you make any changes, or pivots?: COVID-19 has not had an impact on our business as we were formed at the peak of the pandemic.
We were lucky in the sense that we didn't need to reinvent our business for COVID-19, that being said, we must ensure that everything we do going forward acknowledges the challenges and restrictions that COVID-19 brings.
What has been the biggest challenge to your business growth?: Access to finance/funding
Do you have any business heroes, if so, who are they?: Having a background in Product Design I have to say, Steve Jobs.
Financial Rewards or Business Awards?: Financial Rewards
What was the last book you read?: Screw it, lets do it - Richard Branson
Tell us something totally unique about your business: I suppose one thing that's interesting is the business idea came to me at 4 am walking home from a Karaoke bar in Shenzhen, China!
Finally, please tell us what we can look forward to with your business as we head in to 2021: Hopefully we will be launching version 1 in 2021!