Build to Sell

A professional coaching service for travel CEOs

“Startups are f_ _king hard. Get a founder coach – someone to give you unbiased advice. I did it late, but it was such an important thing to give you, that life-coaching type of advice. It’s a disservice to you if you don’t have one around. It’s pretty insane building a company. You’re going to have highs and lows, and that’s just before breakfast.”

Sam Shank – Former CEO Hotel Tonight, Sold to Airbnb est. $500M

-I’d like to invite you to join Build To Sell, my private coaching service for travel CEOs, founders and C-level executives.

If we’re not building to sell, then what the hell are we doing.

I believe I have a unique view into the travel industry that gives the CEOs I coach a competitive advantage in the market. I’ve been a travel founder, CEO of an OTA and a boutique lodge. I’ve been an early stage investor, investing in 20+ travel startups and a successful seller of multiple travel businesses. I’ve experienced and seen many angles.

My colleagues call me a Super-Connector. I literally have ears to the ground. I gain insight to what is going on in the market on a daily basis talking to other deal makers, travel CEOs, heads of M&A, heads of corporate venture, VC’s, angels and financial buyers of businesses.

TSI Private Symposiums. Matt Zito with CEO Trip Ninja Sold to WebJet, CEO 30Secondstofly Sold to AmexGBT, CEO Award Wallet, CEO Thomalex

I leverage a global network of 500+ buyers of travel businesses, 300+ investors in travel technology and tap into a homegrown email database of 5,000+ and 6,000+ LinkedIn followers. I am very active on LinkedIn and post 3x a week to engage with other travel CEOs.

In addition to Coaching, I can help you raise capital, grow the business through business development partnerships and ultimately sell the company.

You drive the ship. I help you maneuver the icebergs. You’ll receive unbiased and independent support and encouragement.

The world’s most sellable travel businesses are built by CEOs making one smart decision after another.

Coaching Benefits for Travel CEOs & Founders

Help in developing, marketing and selling new B2B travel products and services.
Help you make better decisions by analyzing your current business situations, providing insight and fresh perspectives based on a lifetime of building successful travel businesses.
Help the company grow revenue and profitability by identifying core challenges and new opportunities.
Leverage my global network to help you raise capital, form new business partnerships, commercialize technology, acquire businesses or sell the business.

Don’t go it alone. Building a travel company is hard. How to get started.

Step #1: First, email me matt@travelstartups.co (Subject: Coaching) Tell me a little about yourself, your company and what you are looking to achieve. Highlight a few areas where you think you need help. What are some of the decisions you’ve had to make recently?

Step#2: I will read your email and then email you back with my calendar to setup a call to talk and see if the service is a good fit for you. I will go over the service offered and fees.

Build to Sell:

Focus on 3 core areas of the business per month.

Weekly calls (45 mins-1 hour), followed by 3-5 hours of work per week for a total avg. of 15-20 hours per month.

Private 1:1 via Zoom or Phone, Emergency sessions if needed.

Email ongoing support

Monthly fee

Testimonials

Special thanks to Matt Zito, who acted as the M&A Broker on the deal. The GoQuo acquisition took 6+ months and was very arduous. Matt kept both sides talking and we eventually came to an agreement that was best for both parties.

Trideep Aggarwal

CEO, TWAI

Matt has become a true partner for our business that we rely on to make introductions with strategic partners, potential customers and investors. Joining TSI was one of the best decisions that we could have made to take TraknProtect to the next level.

Parminder Batra

CEO, TraknProtect

When I first thought about building a travel technology startup, I didn’t realize how complex the industry really is. From connections with key suppliers to a thorough analysis of market opportunities, Matt has been instrumental in helping NeoJets find our product/market fit.

Bruno Santiago

Co-founder, NeoJets

Matt is a driven entrepreneur with expert domain knowledge in the travel vertical. He is a master at networking and pushing forward the business development, sales process which is the life blood of any startup!

Kelly Tompkins

CTO

Matt could not have come along at a better time for us. We found it very challenging to find people with deep experience in building and scaling successful B2B and B2C travel start-ups who had seen the challenges from both the perspective of co-founders and investors. Having already dealt with the big players in travel, Matt was able to help guide us in finding our product market fit and bringing us to the next level. With Matt as an advisor we feel we are in a much stronger position to take advantage of this. Thank you Matt for all the advice and support you gave to us.

John lee

CEO

Matt has found the companies in his amazing ‘rolodex’ of online travel companies who value our technology the most, and he has advocated to these companies effectively for us. In addition, Matt has come up with insights to improve our product for travel companies that we would not have come up with on our own.

Mike Lanza

Innovator

Matt has given us practically instant access to a network of advisors, peers, partners, customers, and potential investors that we could not have built on our own. The TSI team is always available to help, and we have benefited greatly from their experience in navigating the travel industry.

Bala Chandran

CEO

Matt has a strong and fairly deep understanding of the travel industry and is a keen entrepreneur. His experience with online travel and working with a variety of businesses gives him a strong understanding of the inner workings of the complex travel landscape.

Stephen Joyce

Strategic thinker, leader, people developer, communicator.

We partnered with Matt and TSI to accelerate our access to travel tech innovation and ensure we could transform and quickly iterate the local travel experience. An ambitious goal that couldn't be served by a single solution but required a broader industry perspective across many experience touch points to create a "Smart Destination". With TSI as a key partner, we were able to identify and establish strategic relationships with innovative companies building up critical parts of our “experience" ecosystem. This led to an initiative with a TSI portfolio company to create a unified booking platform for small hospitality and activities solving a critical gap in the discovery and promotion of local services.

Thierry Lehartel

EVP Business Development