With the WIT Bootcamp, APAC’s only travel start-up event just a week away, some gems of wisdom worth sharing from Gareth Williams, CEO and co-founder of Skyscanner, found in this article on it being hailed “one of the best technology companies to come out of Europe”.
Gareth Williams, behind one of Europe’s best technology companies.
1. On funding: “I view funding as a form of cheating, it is not in its essence entrepreneurial.”
2. On start-ups: “Start-ups are set up to solve problems that most people don’t think can be solved in that way. They are about getting hold of one of these Catch 22s and coming up with a different take on it.”
3. On global and local: “Travel is a universal need, and there are nuances in what people expect and find most useful, so having product design and engineering happen in places around the world means we will be better able to address the global market.”
4. On mobile: “The internet economy arose in the context of shrink-wrapped software released twice a year. The fact you can release software every day or every hour changed how products were designed or sold. Having your computer with you at all times produces just as much of a transformation in production and consumption.”
5. On the mission: “Budget airlines turned visiting other countries into something doable for so many people who didn’t previously think of doing that. Services like ours made it discoverable, so we participated in the democratisation of long distance travel.”
6. On starting up: “Ignore the surrounding noise, and just get on with it”.
7. On investment: “Influence and advice is the way to view it, on its own cash just sits in the bank.”
8. On money: “I think I have gained a lot more appreciation for the journey rather than the destination, because if that is making 10 times greater impact than whatever impact you are having today then you will by definition never achieve that – so I have come to understand that getting enjoyment and fulfilment (now) is important.”
