I am always intrigued to find out the stories behind successful companies. Even the largest company had to start somewhere and the path to success is rarely smooth or even planned.
To take a case in point, VRBO founder David Clouse and his wife Lynn started VRBO.com (Vacation Rental by Owners) as a way to help rent their ski condo. As the site grew it took up more and more of there time until it became a full time job. VRBO was a pioneer in the "vacation rentals by owner" industry, quickly becoming the market leader, before eventually being acquired by Homeaway.
David had spent a number of years as a programmer in the hospitality industry and initially was simply using his skills to save money on rental agents. In the early days, websites were fairly primitive and VRBO was initially no exception, with no graphics and limited functionality. However, through hard work and a keen business sense, David and Lynn built a very successful business.
VRBO is still sometimes criticised for his fairly basic user interface .... but you can't argue with brand and business success.
If you are interested, you can out find more about the background to vrbo.com and other successful internet companies at Interviewbooks.com
2 comments:
Too bad they sold out to HomeAway....now it's just another indistinguishable rental website. I have been a VRBO subscriber for several years, but no longer happy with the product
I agree with anonymous. Owners should try the niche websites that cater to owners only so they are not hidden between all the management companies and agencies that Homeaway prefer to have.
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