Flashback to the success story of GetYourGuide

Everything started during the venture challenge course in ETH Zurich in 2007. Johannes Reck, CEO of GetYourGuide, built there the basements of his company. Now, he employs 80 people, has offices in Zurich, Berlin and Las Vegas and recently raised 25 million dollars.

In 2007, you participated to our venture challenge course in ETH Zürich. What motivated you to apply?
I was always interested in getting more insides of how to build up my own company. Venture challenge sounded like a great event that provides you with the fundamentals of how to run and build up a start-up.
 
What is your best memory during this course? What did you get out of it?
What I got out of it is a great company called GetYourGuide. We have developed from a startup into a company with more than 80 employees and offices in Zurich, Berlin and Las Vegas. The fundament for GetYourGuide was built in the course. I can still remember the moment we present the idea and I thought – this can really be a big thing!
 
Why would you recommend the course to other startups?
It is a great way to meet people that are passionate and inspired. People that want to make projects happen. It is a course that provides you with a lot of useful business and legal knowledge. You get in touch with experts in the startup area, get to meet investors and learn from speakers that are sharing insides of their experience.

After participating to the venture challenge course, what pushed you to launch your startup?
We just felt that GetYourGuide was a great idea and decided to get started. We quickly got very positive feedback from the suppliers in the market, adjusted the business model along the way and were surprised how quickly everything developed into a “real” company.
 
How did you differentiate your startup from the competitors?
We are the Internet’s largest booking platform for travel activities that offers more than 25,000 attractions, tours and activitiesin upwards of 2,400 worldwide destinations.
Our marketplace offers the customer a great variety of all suppliers and tours offered. The customer can therefore compare different suppliers in the same destinations. Suppliers that are interested to get listed can apply and offer their products through GetYourGuide.
 
You recently raised 25 million dollars, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are looking for investment?
Focus on your customers, product, market and opportunity. If you can clearly define these things, investment will naturally follow.
 
What are your next milestones? What will you do thanks to the 25 million dollars?
Right now there are exciting times for the travel activities sector. With this new round of funding, we  will be able to accelerate our growth and strengthen our global leadership position. We will focus on extending our footprint in new markets and building out our already strong mobile offerings.