095: SnapTravel makes traveling a… Snap (with Hussein Fazal)

Background on Hussein Fazal of SnapTravel:

Hussein Fazal is the co-founder and CEO of Snap Travel. He considers himself as a Repeat Tech Entrepreneur, Investor, and Adviser. He is also mentoring many new entrepreneurs at 500 Startups. In 2008, Hussein co-founded AdParlor, which is one of the largest Facebook Advertising technology companies in the world. The company was bootstrapped to $100M Revenue and it was acquired by AdKnowledge in 2011.

In 2016, Hussein launched SnapTravel, which is the fastest and easiest way to book a hotel room. Customers can reach SnapTravel over SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Alexa. Customers can also begin a chat with SnapTravel and their AI powered bot will scour hundreds of sources to find the best hotel deals. Their bot is backed by a team of human travel agent ninjas available 24/7 over chat. The company has raised $9.2M USD to date.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:59] Hussein is the owner of Snap Travel, which allows you to book a hotel thru Facebook messenger and SMS.
[3:18] Snap Travel provides instant information about the hotel via chat. You don’t even have to download any apps to get their service.
[7:30] Hussein was influenced by a book entitled Running Lean by Ash Maurya, which helped him a lot in gaining new business ideas.
[10:21] After graduating from college, Hussein worked for Bell Canada as a software developer. He was not satisfied with his job and he wanted to leave and do something else.
[12:25] Hussein and an intern in Bell Canada decided to create a Facebook ad network. It slowly gained traction, especially after Hussein met a Facebook ad salesman.
[18:40] Hussein recommends visiting Silicon Valley and grow a network because it can lead to so many opportunities.
[20:30] Hussein thinks that in business it’s not all about luck. You need to work hard and take advantages of the opportunities that come your way to gain success.
[21:17] Hussein has traveled to more than 40 countries. He loves traveling, meeting new people, and immersing in different cultures.
[26:00] Going back to his first business in ad networking, Hussein and his partner was earning hundred thousand dollars in gross profit after several months of starting the business.
[33:50] When Hussein was just starting out with the ad network, his motivation was that it was a fun thing to do and he liked what he was doing.
[36:08] When he was just starting the ad networking business (AdParlor), Hussein was doing nonstop work. All he did was work.
[39:16] Hussein associates “working smart” with hiring people to do that job for him and offloading his work.
[41:45] AdParlor grew from 20 people to a hundred people. Hussein started AdParlor in 2008, sold it in 2011, and he stayed on until 2014.
[45:00] Hussein encourages new entrepreneurs to apply to startup accelerators like 500 Startup Incubator.
[54:25] Hussein advises people who are planning to create new startups to just get things done. Hussein also emphasizes that your initial idea will never be the business that you will end up doing.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? UBAG Travel Packing Cubes
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Amplitude
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Hiring

Key Point from the Interview:

“I don’t think it’s just about luck, some of it, but it’s about taking advantage of every opportunities when they come to you”

Resources Mentioned

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