Adventure Life: The Story Of The Startup

3Dec2009 Filed under: Entrepreneure Stories, Entrepreneurs Author: Bikash

COMPANY: Adventure Life
FOUNDER: Brian Morgan, 35
LOCATION: Missoula, Montana
2008 REVENUE: $11 million
EMPLOYEES: 16
START-UP YEAR: 1998
START-UP COSTS: $3,000 for two brochures and a laptop
BREAKEVEN: One year out on sales of $125,000
BIGGEST EXPENSES: $11,500 on advertising in 1999 and $33,500 in 2000. The biggest bite was print ads in magazines such as Outside and National Geographic Adventure.
QUALIFICATIONS: Fluency in Spanish. Relationships with trusted locals and longtime expats on the ground
LEGAL: Regulatory burdens fall on lodges and providers of transportation and other services in countries visited, rather than on the tour operator.

In 1998, Brian Morgan traveled to Ecuador to learn Spanish. He heard that Ecuador was beautiful. He liked the place. He trekked through the different terrains, sometimes near a volcano and sometimes through rain forest. It seemed that he wanted to live in South America. However, he came back after backpacking around Bolivia and Peru, and flew back to Missoula.

Then Morgan had an idea. Hear it in his own words – “I thought I could put a group of people together a few times a year and take them to Ecuador — show them the things that I found most spectacular”. So a business idea born.

He thought of “Adventure Life,” and envisioned leading travelers off the beaten path toward encounters with the land and culture. He saw tourists luxuriating in hot baths at a charming hotels and also roughing it in a villager’s plumbing-less home.

Morgan had just a couple thousand dollars in savings. He already accepted a software job. His startup work was done during evenings and weekends.

First of all he printed 200 brochures which advertised only a single excursion and deposited them in coffee shops and sporting-goods stores near universities. But the first attempt resulted in dismay. No one called. Travel agencies waved him away.

Morgan decided that travelers wanted more than one option and so he created his second brochure which offered three itineraries with six departure dates. He created a site for his new startup. The site was pathetic. Few weeks later, a graphic design student made it viewable by redesigning it. This time the formula worked. About 100 people booked the first year.

Morgan initially expected young backpackers to come to the tours. He also assumed that rudimentary accommodations and transportation would be enough. But he found something totally different- many of his clients were old and some were as old as 65. Morgan also found some problem with the mismatch between his expectations and the reality. He gathered his data from European company sites, but the fact that Americans take fewer vacations than Europeans he found out that they were ready to spend more on shorter trips.

Initially he lost money on some trips. ”I lost money on my first group in Peru,” says Morgan. “Once I got there, I was like, ‘Oh, my God; we cannot stay at this hotel.’ I had to spend an extra $100 per person to upgrade.” The rudimentary services he thought as enough were at good enough for himself and his travelers. Then he started booking rooms in classier hotels and also replaced bus travel by car services. That was his first year and the prices rose 25 percent to 30 percent.

Other Changes

Morgan previously decided that he would build a staff of expat tour leaders in the countries he wanted to start his travel iteranaries. The guides were supposed to guide the travelers in the challenging terrain and run tours themselves as the company grew.

But on his first tour itself, Morgan found out that local guides were far better than the North American counterparts because they were well versed in the flora, fauna, and culture of the region. Most of the local guides spoke indigenous tongues as well as Spanish and English. The local guides charged about twice as much per day as Americans, but they were fine with the idea of per tour rather than be hired as staff. So Morgan started to hire locals. To find out local guides he asked for referrals from people whom he met on his travels.

Like other startup entrepreneurs, he also had to spend lots of time in the field. Most of the year 1999, he spent Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Peru. He led tours and inspected hotels. During some days, he even inspected 12 hotels a day. His inspection of the hotels included inspecting the cleanliness and character. “You lift the covers and check the sheets and mattresses; check the bathrooms for mold,” says Morgan.

During this time, he also personally auditioned activities offered to clients. “In Costa Rica, I rappelled down all these waterfalls,” he says. “When I was done, I turned to my outfitter and said, ‘My travelers can never do this.’ ”

During his time abroad, his mother handled the presence of Adventure Life in the U.S. initially. After 10 months, he got an administrative assistant to handle the US presence, to help create new brochures and assist clients preparing for trips.

The business today

Over the years, Adventure Life has evolved a lot and its business has grown along with its interest in the environment and indigenous cultures. Presently AdventureLife gets about 40 percent of the sales from customer referrals and coverage in guidebooks and travel magazines.

Word of Caution

Morgan has few warnings for the entrepreneurs who want to jump in the travel industry. He says that building a company like AdventureLife may wear down even the most wanderlustful entrepreneurs. “I went through major burnout a few years ago and almost left the industry,” he says. “I lost all the original things I loved about travel.”

What did he do to keep going? He started to mentally frame his trips as opportunities to see old friends and explore places he will never take clients. “It was totally unexpected that sharing my passion with others ended up dampening that passion,” he says.

The business started as a pure passion and then slowly evolved into a business. There were failures, changes, disappointments, problems initially and along the way. But, Morgan overcame all these with his sheer determination and passion for travel. That’s why people always say that you need passion to start and becoming successful in anything.