Interview with Andri Heiðar Kristinsson, CEO and Co-Founder at Travelade

Starting a business is a big achievement for many entrepreneurs, but maintaining one is the larger challenge. There are many standard challenges that face every business whether they are large or small. It is not easy running a company, especially in a fast-paced, ever-changing business world. Technology advances, new hiring strategies, and now, political changes coming with the new administration, all add to the existing business challenges that entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives have to deal with.

Maximizing profits, minimizing expenses and finding talented staff to keep things moving seem to be top challenges for both SMBs and large corporations. We have been interviewing companies from around the world to discover what challenges they are facing in their businesses. We also asked each company to share business advice they would give to a younger version of themselves.

Below is our interview with Andri Heiðar Kristinsson, CEO and Co-Founder at Travelade:

What does your company do?

Travelade helps do-it-yourself travelers discover and book authentic local experiences. We have one of the largest collections of travel content and experiences in off the beaten path tourist destinations such as Iceland and Bosnia. Travelade enables travelers to find things to do and see that are tailored to everyone’s personal travel taste – from tips on photographing the wild horses of Livno in Bosnia to snorkeling between two continents in Silfra, Iceland. Our Travelade Wanderlists let travelers design their dream trip by saving ideas to their Wanderlist. You can mix and match free things to do on your own along with guided experiences provided by trusted local operators.

What is your role? What do you enjoy most about your role?

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Travelade. It’s an amazing privilege to be able to combine my passion for travel with what I love doing professionally. Since I have ties to both Silicon Valley and Iceland, it’s fascinating to be a part of the startup world in both countries. My team and I love building consumer technology products for millions of users. Being able to help travelers explore exciting new destinations is truly rewarding and running a fast growing startup is incredibly fun since no day is ever the same.

What are the biggest challenges in your business right now?

Our biggest challenge right now is managing our growth. We are making smart choices about where we invest our time and effort. We recently raised a $1.6 million seed round and are using our funding to support our expansion into several new destinations this year. In order to tackle that challenge, we are using a highly data driven model to decide decide which countries would be the best fit for Travelade and our travelers to explore next.

If you could go back in time, what business advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?

I would tell my younger self to ask more often for help and advice. As you grow more experienced in running businesses (Travelade is my second startup), you start realizing what your strengths and weaknesses are. Knowing where you are rock solid and where you need to grow is critical to understanding how to successfully grow a company. Equipped with that knowledge, you are able to mitigate risk by attracting people who complement your own skill set. Having the right team and a strong set of advisors in place is what sets your company up for greater success.