Page 23 - The 10 Most Innovative Startups in Travel 2019
P. 23
• Founded in: 2016
• Founding Members:
impressionable age I was strongly genuine concern to keep our Vishwas B. Raj
influenced by the mountains and outdoors pristine. There are a
the initial seeds were sown. I lot of companies out there who • Office Locations: Bangalore
continued organizing smaller trips are very commercially driven (12 months) and Leh(seasonal
for school friends as I grew. and tend to take huge groups of office - 4 months)
After my graduation in Engineering people into the mountain. This is • Company Strength: 3 (We hire
crass commercialization of one
from Bangalore, I worked in the of our biggest natural assets - The part time workers and interns on
corporate for about 2.5 years. I did Himalaya. Rampant groups and contract basis)
long hours and worked pretty hard. big numbers, is already affecting • Total Funding: Self Funded
It was one of those countless days these fragile eco-sensitive areas.
spent travelling up and down to There is a strong need to curb and Loans from friends/
Electronic city and sitting for hours down on this practice. family
in front of the computer screen • Website: https://
that I realized, I needed a drastic Next challenge is on price wars, adventuresindbad.com/
change. That was my moment which has mainly risen due to
of epiphany and decided to look some companies running huge
inwards and seek and pursue what volumes. On the internet it is
I truly enjoyed doing. The answer difficult for the average guest to b. Most of our mountain crew is
lay in the outdoors, the mountains realize what is on offer. They are highly experienced and versatile
and travel. I took the plunge. gullible and in a price sensitive having worked across many regions
in the Himalaya. We have given a
Since 2008, I have been in the market they tend towards lot of importance to hiring skilled
companies selling cheap trips
adventure industry full time and without realizing that the quality and empathetic crew who are better
have worked with top adventure of delivery and their personal prepared to take good care, prevent
travel outfits based out of Ladakh experience takes a big hit. any untoward incidents and respond
and Rishikesh. better in crisis situations.
For the initial 5 years, I was There is also an exodus of under c. Our food is a delight on trips and
more into whitewater rafting and qualified people with limited we pride ourselves in being able to
kayaking. Post that, I shifted to experience opening shop in serve different cuisines. We see it
trekking and climbing and would this sector. There seems to be a more as a safety feature than luxury
spend easily about 150 days in a very low entry barrier and end since keeping guests hydrated and
year on field. I have had the good customers do not realize this well fed is very important in the
fortune of kayaking down gorgeous when everybody seems to have mountains to avoid altitude sickness
rivers, hiking through splendid a fancy website and an array of
Valleys in many regions of the trips displayed. A lot of folks Exquisite Services
Himalaya and climbing small running the show don’t even Our priorities on safety and guest
summits. I have led an outdoor understand the dangers lurking experience in the mountains has
life for long living and working around the corner while operating served us well. Guests who signup
with buddies who belonged to the inexpensive, big groups in the are assured of a memorable trip
mountains. mountains. This has led to a rise and a partner for their adventure
in accidents and subsequent knee
I have been leading high altitude jerk reactions from governing needs. We already have a lot of word
treks between 4000 to 6000m in bodies and governments and of mouth, repeat customers and
many regions of Indian Himalaya how they perceive adventure referrals which have started working
and Nepal for many years now companies. for us.
and across seasons. In Sep, 2016 I Carving out as a Differentiator We are slowly shifting our focus to
decided to shift from North India not so crowded Himalayan routes to
to my hometown in Bangalore and a. Our principle from the start enhance the mountain and solitude
start my own setup - Adventure has always been on lessening experience for our guests.
Sindbad to quench my wanderlust our footprint in the mountains We are also trying out different
and continued thirst for exploration by concentrating on small group theme based travels - Photography
and adventure. travel. We restrict our group sizes Workshops in the mountains,
The Major Challenges in the to 10-12 guests, thereby focusing Mountain Marathon Tours and
Industry on running safe trips, enhancing Family Adventures, some of our
personal guest experience of each
The biggest challenges the outdoor guest and reducing our carbon experiments in the past 2 years. We
industry faces today is a lack of footprint. see a lot of interest developing for
such trips.
│SwiftNLift│August 2019│ │23│
