At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the seventh article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors.
Kei Shibata is a pioneer of travel meta-search in Japan. He founded travel.jp with his co-founder, Kenichi Shibata. The story of how the two met and how they both had the same idea is one of those serendipitious moments that make you wonder if there is a bigger force out there. They both started the business at a time when online travel was still in its infancy in Japan and both have survived the ups and downs.
Today, Venture Republic, which owns travel.jp, has expanded beyond Japan and Kei, who is partly based in Singapore, has investments in travel start-ups in South-east Asia. Its latest bet is a mobile travel meta-search in South Korea, Allstay. As one of the partners in establishing WIT Japan, Kei has certainly played an influential role in raising the awareness of the online travel industry in Japan.
Q: Tell us your first memory of the Internet and what your thinking was at the time.
Kei Shibata: “I was inspired by the idea of revolutionising the way for people to conduct ecommerce using the Internet.”
I thought that we were entering into the beginning of the biggest revolution in modern history of human being.
Q: Do you recall your first email? Who was it to?
Not really. Do you?
Q: What was the first thing you bought online?
It must have been some book.
Q: What was the first thing you sold online?
Besides work, I had sold some auto accessories through an online auction.
Q: How did you venture into online travel as an industry? What motivated you?
I wasn’t much into travel industry specifically. I was inspired by the idea of revolutionising the ways for people to conduct ecommerce using the Internet. I still am. Travel was one of the verticals, besides shopping, that I was interested in.
Q: What was behind the thinking of the company you founded?
Revolutionising the way people engage in commerce activities by empowering them, leveraging the Internet.
Q: How did the name come about?
We felt that the new era was coming where every people could become an entrepreneur by “venturing” into something using the technology. We wanted to build the “Republic” of “Venturing (people)” around that idea. Everyone has something they are passionate about, knowledgeable of and want to contribute to society with. Internet empowers them. We want to respect those people and work together with them to build something.
Q: What were the earlier challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? (Cite 3 challenges)
I feel like I am writing an essay again to apply to business school.
First challenge was fundraising. It was when the dot.com bubble was clearly bursting. I ended up persuading the company (Mitsubishi Corporation) I was working for back then. It wasn’t easy but they finally agreed because they knew me and trusted me.
Second challenge was surviving in early stage. We had no meaningful revenues for the first two-and-a-half years after we started up. Only a handful number of people were practicing e-commerce back then. It was the times when there was no broadband Internet and people had to dial up during midnight to avoid expensive phone bills. We ended up taking a strategy in which we focused on limiting the services and product categories and conserving cash.
Third and perhaps the biggest one was governing the company without almost-no ownership. (We as co-founding management team started the company with less than one percent of equity ownership.) It was an enormous challenge over the first 10 years. It’s all about doing the best I could to run the company and maximise the value to stakeholders. Passion, persistence and preparations are key.
Q: What was the first major milestone/success achieved? How did you celebrate?
IPO in 2008. It was a month before the global financial crisis. We rented out the entire private mansion owned by the group of Mitsubishi companies, in the middle of Tokyo, to throw the party.
Q: What’s been the biggest change in the online travel world in the last decade?
OTAs have set the standard for consumers to book travel nearly anytime, anything, anywhere.
Q: What do you forsee will be the biggest change to come in the next decade?
Technology will allow consumers to make incredibly smart decisions efficiently at any point of time of travel.
Q: Do you think online travel is a force for good? How does it make travel better? How does it make the world better?
Absolutely. Collective knowledge of every single traveller should shape the world of travel in a much better fashion.
Q: Businesses are built by teams. Every team has a rock star and a steward. If you are the rock star, who’s your steward, the one who’s often behind the scenes making things happen?
There are always multiple individuals behind the scenes making things happen with me. Kenichi Shibata (not a relation), co-founder, is definitely one of them. We went to the same business school and met there. We had the exact same business idea. We were so surprised that two people had the same idea, and we were both from Japan, not to mention we had the same last name. How weird is that? I am business-oriented and like to lead the organisation, and bring in investors. He’s very good at analysing numbers, financial and operational matters. We are very different individuals – but when we discuss something, we agree right away. Our longest meeting is 15 mins, I am so lucky.
Q: If you could give an award, what award would it be and to whom would you give it?
Takanori Kurusu and Sayaka Azuma, our great managers for integrity and professionalism.
Q: Who were your earliest influencers?
My mother who clipped newspaper articles for me every morning. She still does.
Q: Who are your current influencers?
Our board members. They are supportive, after 10 years of tough corporate governance.
Q: One thing you feel you have influenced in the business.
Setting the standard of travel meta-search in Japanese market.
Q: Who and what do you wish to influence in the next five years?
Change the patterns of users’ decision making process on travel. In any decision process, when you think of where you want to go, you normally get inspired by reading or listening to stories – we want people to make decisions by using our services. We want to be the first choice. Our destination guide services cover almost every destination in Japan – 100 new articles every week a total of 6,000 now. We have indepth destination guides. The combination of content and price is important. OTAs are the ultimate booking machines. Meta-search is search. We want to be the one-stop shop to help travellers make decisions.
