050: Winding Tree takes on Airline Travel via the Blockchain Space with Max Izmaylov & Pedro Anderson.

Background on Max Izmaylov & Pedro Anderson:

Max Izmaylov is the CEO of Winding Tree & Pedro Anderson is the COO of the company. Winding Tree is a blockchain-based decentralized open-source travel distribution platform. The company makes travel cheaper for the end user and profitable for travel companies, like hotels, airlines, and travel agencies because it removes the middlemen from the equation.

Maksim Izmaylov is a software engineer, entrepreneur, and previously founder of Roomstorm and Travel Tech Con. Max is also passionate about making travel a more enjoyable experience for everyone. Pedro Anderson is the COO of the company. He specializes in crypto-investment and social entrepreneurship. Being in charge of partnerships at Winding Tree, he had previously sold millions of dollars of SaaS products.

This year, Max and Pedro’s Winding Tree has struck a major deal with Lufthansa. Winding Tree will assist Lufthansa in building and testing decentralized, blockchain-based travel apps that meet the requirements of airlines, while Lufthansa will integrate its APIs with the Winding Tree platform. This will allow Lufthansa the exposure to new technology experts, and Winding Tree access to experts in the field.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:10] Maksim is a software engineer who co-founded 2 tech companies and Winding Tree, a blockchain-based decentralized open-source travel distribution platform
[1:30] Pedro is a social entrepreneur and crypto-investor
[4:25] “Winding Tree is a very very similar system (Bitcoin system) for the travel industry that removes intermediaries…”
[5:55] Pedro and Max sees the monopoly in the Travel Industry
[11:33] One of their biggest challenges is how to inform people what blockchain is and to educate them about new technologies
[13:22] Max is selling his other company Roomstorm, a platform that helps the airline industry provide hotel accommodations to distressed passengers during flight disruptions
[15:48] Max and Pedro consider themselves as Digital Nomads
[18:51] “Talent is everywhere”
[23:21] Since they’re bootstrapping, one of their challenges is funding
[28:29] One of the things they’ve realized is that “who you know” matters a lot
[30:46] “Fail fast! Not because you want to fail fast, you just want to find all the ways that didn’t work”
[31:07] Winding Tree is more than just a company but a movement
[37:58] “If you do want to change the world, just don’t be afraid just go ahead and do it and you will fail multiple times but it’s also fun. Just get up, do your thing and don’t be afraid to ask for help..”

Fabulous 4 Questions (Max Izmaylov's Answers):

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? My favorite book is this one, it is an essay about Tolstoy's search for life's meaning: kvakes.github.io/what-i-believe.
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Amazon Kindle.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? I am very skeptical about magical recipes that improve life 10x. I think learning and optimizing your tools well though goes a long way.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Successful business is all about great team and effective communication. I think we have that.

Fabulous 4 Questions (Pedro Anderson's Answers):

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age by James Dale Davidson.
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Books, always books.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Slack.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Funding as we've bootstrapped so far. But that's being resolved.