

How Hipmunk (YC S10) Almost Became BouncePounce.com And Other Strange Tales - SriniK
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/06/how-hipmunk-almost-became-bouncepounce-com-and-other-strange-tales/

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hop
Just used Hipmunk for the first time, wow was that easy. Once they get the
airlines on board directly, instead of via Orbitz, they will sail to the moon
with this. A lot of "why didn't I think of this" is going through my head.

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benatkin
> However, in order for Hipmunk to be “not horrible,” the site will have to
> quickly expand its database which currently only includes flights from
> Orbitz.

It would be nice if TechCrunch gave a little more separation between narrating
and the author's opinion. I'm pretty sure the above is just the author's
opinion.

I disagree with it. There are a sizable number of people who only check
Orbitz, so an improvement on the Orbitz search is welcome. I sometimes only
check Expedia, and I only like Expedia a tiny bit better for booking flights
(though when I'm also booking a hotel, I like them a _lot_ better).

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danilocampos
There's a particular comment there I found interesting:

 _There is value in Hipmunk no doubt, but I still can't get over that they are
just hooked into a single affiliate offer and were able to get $1 million in
angel funding, two posts (and video!) from TechCrunch on what is really only a
feature but is being pitched as a complete business._

Only a feature.

I just want to shake people sometimes.

It's not _just_ a feature. It is _the_ feature. Buying a plane ticket is the
single biggest element of making travel decisions. The experience for
discovering the optimal balance of carrier, connections and price is, let's be
clear, one of _the most important, expensive and stressful_ elements of
planning a trip.

What Hipmunk has demonstrated here is that they are in the business of making
an important, universal process much easier. They've demonstrated a very
specific insight for solving the problem.

So if they can, from day one, make _money_ doing this while hinting at their
unique insight, that shit is magic for anyone looking to make an early bet on
a consumer product. Imagine what they'll be able to do with the rest of the
travel space.

Who wouldn't want in on that action?

There's a pretty clear pattern of success for businesses who turn up and
remove the bullshit from useful but sloppy product categories: Google,
Facebook and Mint, for example.

~~~
tonystubblebine
I also don't understand why people are giving them a hard time for raising an
angel round while having supposedly so little. They have one founder who's
already proven himself and another that was writing books for O'Reilly at age
16. And it's not like angels are expecting that you have a finished product,
let alone a finished company at that stage.

I think it must be some reaction to getting so much press so early (Pogue
wrote a glowing review in the NYT).

~~~
Gibbon
They sold 70,000 tickets in the first three weeks with $3 per ticket in
revenue from Orbitz. A million in funding seems entirely justified.

~~~
mcargian
source?

~~~
Gibbon
[http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-
start...](http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-
startups-76-with-steve-huffman/)

~~~
mcargian
He stated they have $70,000 per day in revenue. Depending upon average ticket
price that is more like 6,000 to 8,000 tickets during this period. Still an
incredible success, but not 70,000 tickets.

