If you are looking for inspiration to run your travel business this November, look no further than the Women in Travel Meetup at WTM!
This year we are bringing you a wonderful range of people and sessions dedicate to launching and growing your enterprise. Whether you are a tech entrepreneur or more traditional micro business, you will find that this event has something for you.
We know that networking is critical to current and aspiring entrepreneurs. As Kate Hegarty, manager at Travel Tech Lab (the only incubator for travel tech businesses in the UK) puts it
‘I believe building networks for female entrepreneurs fosters innovation through bringing together likeminded people to interact, shares ideas and gain relevant inspiration. These networking opportunities can act as an essential catalyst for future success and growth for a scaling business.’
You also told us many times that you love the mentoring aspect of the event. Therefore, we’re making sure that as many of you possible can benefit from the knowledge and wisdom that our amazing mentors are willing to share so generously!
Dipali Kastia, Co-founder at Digital Dialog, is one such mentor. She says ‘This is a fantastic and motivating event providing a platform to mentees to gain invaluable advice from experienced mentors to develop their own business and career paths. Working with a mentor and networking with the right people can greatly increase chances of success in business. I am delighted to be a part of this event.’
We have organised an amazing panel including three successful travel entrepreneurs and representatives of funders. They will share what they can do to back your business, but also what they expect to see and what you should be prepared to do to attract external investment.
Travel entrepreneurship is undoubtedly hard work but also an extremely rewarding one, something our entrepreneur panellists know only too well. However, they are keen to share with you their wisdom, knowledge and hard won experience so that you can accelerate your own grown.
Below is the first round of brilliant tips they have put together for you:
1. Have all your documentation prepared and ready to go before you start
reaching out to investors – a killer investor summary and pitch deck that
stands out from the crowd will go a long way.
2. Harness relationships of those in your network – personal introductions
are 10x more likely to lead to a successful outcome.
3. Break your funding needs down to easily digestible and attractive parts. Seek investment specifically to realize those goals and in this way, as Merilee says, bringing investors along on your journey to the bolder goal on the horizon.
4. Be bold! Reach out to people you don’t know and share your story. Talk to everyone you already know! It’s often the people you least expect (and not the ones you think are likely) who decide to invest.
5. Don’t go to investors when you need money to start the conversation, talk to them about your idea, bring them along on the journey and then when you need investment, they’ll already be alongside you.