SEAN: So talk a little bit about the backend. I mentioned today that you had this incredible hotel in Venice, another one in Mexico and the site looked amazing. You know, how do you guys go about finding these deals and what’s the process?

DREW: You know I think it has really to do with relationships and experience in the industry. I’ve been at this now for a decade. We have a team of folks who have similar backgrounds.  There’s a woman named [INAUDIBLE] that leads our team and she comes from Orbitz and before that National Leisure Group. We’ve got folks from AmEx, and Leading Hotels. So, yeah, it mostly turns on having been around the industry and having the taste and judgment and relationships to know where we want to focus. And, again, it speaks to the core of our model, which is about taste and judgment and editorial focus. And it requires some human who has experience, who has a perspective to put together those ideas.

SEAN: Yeah. So what’s, kind of, the end goal for JetSetter?

DREW: You know, at the moment we’re just focused on trying to keep up with growth, trying to see where this thing goes and just how big it can be.  It seems clear to me that consumers need help, especially around high-end vacations. Right? There’s an overwhelming amount of information. And service that has authority, that has taste, that has taste, that points then in the right direction, that’s willing to invest in their service, that stands behind the kinds of things that they sell, I think that puts us in a very different place than the vast majority of players in this category.  Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, all of them, Priceline, all have great businesses and [INAUDIBLE] but I think that when you think of the needs of the leisure consumer, particularly, the top-end, they’re not particularly well-served.  You know, if you look at all those sites, they all kind of look the same. It’s  a search forum, it’s if you’re looking for a flight, a hotel, a car, a cruise and tell me where and when you want to travel. And when it comes to vacation planning , vacation travel websites [INAUDIBLE] for most consumers.

SEAN: Does the high-end, typically, using a travel agent versus the mass market using the web.

[CROSSTALK]

DREW: I think there’s more presence of travel agents in our category than in other places.

SEAN: Yeah.

DREW: I think one of the realities is consumers between, call it 25 and 50 are just much more fluent, much more comfortable in an online environment than they would be , you know, looking for a travel agent  going inside and asking someone to look at a brochure [INAUDIBLE]  I think consumers [INAUDIBLE] think about decision-making and discovery and research.

SEAN: Yeah. So, JetSetter is a great name. Was it your first choice and was it hard to get?

DREW: You know, well once we hit upon it and found we could get the URL it fell on the right answer.  And [INAUDIBLE] brainstorm all the good ideas, and in this day and age getting url’s is always a challenge, but the stars kind of lined up.

SEAN: Who were the runners-up?

DREW: Uh, they were not as good as JetSetter.

SEAN: [laughs] Give us one, give us one good one…

DREW: Oh, God…

SEAN: What was the silliest one?

DREW: We played around with “Valise,” which is the French word for “luggage,” it had, sort of, a whole set of connotations that were unpleasant.

SEAN: Yeah, I had an online car site in 1999 and one of the names I came up with was “Sacarat,” which I don’t even know what it meant but somebody said, “It sounds like “Sack of Rats.” [laughs] I said, “Yeah, we’re going to check that one off.” [laughs] But it’s unusual to have such a great aspirational name…

DREW: Someone asked if Valise needed penicillin or something

SEAN: Oh, Geez… yeah that’s [INAUDIBLE]

DREW: I didn’t need it anymore anyway. [chuckles]

SEAN: So you have a team of, it looks like, 15 or 16 people already?

DREW: We’re up to 25.

SEAN: Wow! That’s incredible.  So you’re hiding a lot of them on your website. You only show selected people…[chuckles]

DREW: I think we’re focused on getting sales up. [INAUDIBLE]

SEAN: That’s great.  Are you sharing office space with Gilt.

DREW: Yep.

SEAN: Oh you are that’s great. So you’ve got another synergy-to-be [INAUDIBLE]

DREW: Exactly.

SEAN: And you guys are in Chelsea?

DREW: [INAUDIBLE] We’re at Park and 32nd now.

SEAN: Ok. You’re not far from… you’re a little above 14th street, the alley crossline. Right, you’re pretty close.

DREW: But it’s still walking distance [INAUDIBLE]

SEAN: Right. And you’ve got lots of great restaurants. And before at Kayak[.com] you were commuting to Connecticut.  Right? From Manhattan?

DREW: By that comparison, it’s the best.

SEAN: [laughs] Yeah. You don’t have to get on the train any more.  Just do the opposite commute, I think, of what most people normally do.

DREW: Yeah.

SEAN: So you got to stay in Manhattan, which is great.  So, looking out, you have a bunch of people watching this video who will want to come work for you, what kind of people in the next 12 months do you think you’ll need?

DREW: You know, I think the most important test is cultural fit. You know, people who are excited by and comfortable with a pretty entrepreneurial environment. I think we’re going to need some help in engineering, we’re going to need help in marketing, we’re going to need help in product development, [INAUDIBLE], but also the thing that’s most important to me is people who can get the team ethos and understand what we’re trying to get done and feel comfortable in that environment.

SEAN: Any sort of tips? Any big learnings, I guess? So it’s been about a year since you left Kayak[.com] and started developing this thing, right?

DREW: Mmm hmm.

SEAN: … and launched it? Any big learnings from being inside, you know, you worked in Kayak[.com] pretty early so you saw that ramp and that growth. Anything surprising  being in a different role?

DREW: Uh…

SEAN: …being in the lead role?

DREW: You always have new challenges in a new job. You know, I think It’s been gratifying, satisfying to be the CEO and, sort of,  try to point the organization in the right direction. Big surprises and learnings? Gosh.  I think the most rewarding piece is having a great team and enjoying the people you see every day. If you like being around them, you’re more likely to spend time with them, you’re more likely to be effective, you get better conversations, you get better answers.

SEAN: Have you had a really bad day in the last 12 months?

DREW: There have been some bad days.

SEAN: [chuckles] Anything you want to share?

DREW: No, probably not.

SEAN: [laughs] What was the best day in the last 12 months? Launching?

DREW: Launching, yeah, was a very good day. That was a very good day.

SEAN: How long were you developing before you launched?

DREW: Gosh. We, I mean,  I started working in April of last year. We did our first, kind of, alpha internal sales in August and then pushed it out at the end of October last year.

SEAN: That’s great. That’s fast. Agile development; you guys are doing, you know, sprints, sprints, sprints. That’s great.

DREW: Yeah [INAUDIBLE], the other piece is, you know, you don’t have to be right, you just have to be fast.

SEAN: [INADUIBLE] right?

DREW: Yep.

SEAN: So it’s great, thanks for coming. We’re excited to see the progress and it looks like you’re off to a really good start, being a nice addition to the New York Tech scene.

DREW: Hopefully we continue to grow [INAUDIBLE] and continue to flourish.

SEAN: Good. Thanks for coming.

[CROSSTALK]

SEAN: Cheers.