FlyMuch plans to role out a new service next month that will let travelers plan their next trip with the help of knowledgeable Facebook users.
The Dublin-based startup, which began working on a mobile app for travel in 2009, aims to fill a void, says Brian Zuercher, head of product and co-founder.
"There had been no service that had created a great user experience in terms of planning travel. At the heart of it was the consumer who says 'I'm getting e-mails from Travelocity and Orbitz and Hilton everyday for things I'm never going to do.'"
That resulted in an idea for an application that would aggregate the best travel deals and tailor them to individual users through a browser add-on. Zuercher and Jim Kamnikar, CEO and co-founder, "spent almost two years, both prototyping and iterating on the product with a parallel path of fundraising."
FlyMuch will offer a scaled down version of that vision in its first phase, Zuercher says.
"The product as it's going to stand when we release it is all about getting and giving recommendations for travel things like hotels, dining and activities for your trip," he says. "What we're able to do is see inside your social network of who's relevant to ask about a destination. Maybe they live there or have been there. And then you can solicit any of those people, and we create your own unique page for your trip. Those people can come in and make recommendations, and the bonus feature is that you get access to all those things on your iPhone."
Zuercher says FlyMuch will build on that simple platform as it engages with people and builds trust. Eventually, features that tailor deals for individual users and other bells and whistles will be added, he says.
The initial mobile app will be limited to iPhone, but "pretty quickly be available for DROID and other platforms," he says.
The firm is closing in on a $1 million series A investment round, about half of which has been funded by Ohio TechAngels, Zuercher says. That has allowed FlyMuch to hire eight full-time employees with the goal of employing around 20 in the next couple of years.
Source: Brian Zuercher, FlyMuch
Writer: Gene Monteith