Traveling is a great experience, but how can it be better?
That’s the question that sparked the beginning of Trvlar, a travel app designed to connect friends when they’re in the same location.
The idea came from reflecting on my own travels – the best ones were always those where I reconnected with friends, experiencing places through a local’s perspective rather than just checking off tourist spots.
Let me take you back to how it all started.
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Ambitions
After a chance lunch with my university friend Aly in Toronto, we discovered we both had entrepreneurial ambitions.
Despite the pandemic putting a halt to travel, we spent months discussing how to improve the travel experience.
We realized that as our networks grow and spread across the world, it would be valuable to know when friends are visiting your city or when you might overlap in a destination.
5 Key Lessons
From that initial spark to building and eventually shutting down Trvlar, here are five key lessons I learned along the way that might help other aspiring entrepreneurs.
Just Start
We all have countless ideas bouncing around in our heads.
The difference between dreamers and entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs pick one idea and actually start.
When we first thought about Trvlar, we could have easily dismissed it, thinking Facebook already served this purpose.
Instead, we did market research and spoke to friends who love to travel.
Their enthusiasm confirmed we might be onto something worth pursuing.
But, what really got us feeling like this might actually work was getting 1,000+ people to sign up to our waiting list.
The truth is, you’ll never know if an idea has potential until you take that first step.
Pick the concept that excites you most or aligns with your skillset, and just begin.
The momentum from starting will carry you further than perfect planning ever could.
Commit for the Long Haul
Ideas are exciting in the beginning, but the initial enthusiasm inevitably fades when you hit the first roadblocks. That’s when commitment becomes crucial.
With Trvlar, we faced numerous technical challenges and moments of doubt.
What kept us going was our commitment to give the idea a fair chance – dedicating at least a few months before deciding whether to continue or pivot.
Give yourself and your idea enough time to prove its worth.
Commit to a specific timeframe – say, six months – before you even consider switching to something else.
This prevents the common entrepreneurial trap of bouncing between ideas without giving any the chance to truly develop.
Learn to Be Scrappy and Resourceful
Building a start-up means working with limited resources. Being scrappy isn’t just a necessity – it’s a competitive advantage.
For Trvlar, we didn’t have a massive budget for marketing or development.
Instead, we leveraged our personal networks, learned to code some basic elements ourselves, and found creative ways to spread the word.
We built the minimum viable product that could still deliver value while keeping costs low.
Resourcefulness means finding solutions without the luxury of throwing money at problems.
It means learning new skills on the fly, calling in favors, and sometimes sacrificing sleep to make deadlines.
This mindset stays valuable even if your startup eventually secures funding.
Partner with Complementary Skillsets
One of our biggest challenges with Trvlar was not having a solid tech co-founder from the beginning.
Our progress was slow, and we spent precious time and resources outsourcing what could have been handled in-house with the right team member.
Building a startup is rarely a solo journey. The most successful ventures combine people whose strengths and weaknesses balance each other out.
If you’re a visionary with marketing skills, find a partner who excels at operations or technical development.
The right partnerships multiply your capabilities without multiplying your costs.
Our lack of a technical co-founder ultimately contributed to Trvlar’s challenges – a lesson I won’t forget in future ventures.
Get to Revenue ASAP
The most crucial lesson: validate your idea through distribution channels and actual revenue before investing in product development.
With Trvlar, our mistake was focusing on perfecting features without first establishing how we’d reach customers and generate income.
In retrospect, we should have mapped out distribution strategies and implemented a simple revenue model from day one, even if it wasn’t our ultimate business plan.
Revenue isn’t just about sustainability – it’s the most honest form of validation.
When people pay for your product, they’re confirming a real market that exists.
This early validation provides not only momentum but also the resources needed to grow strategically.
Before building anything elaborate, ask: “How will we reach customers, and will they pay for this solution?”
Without this foundation, you’re building on assumptions rather than market realities – a common startup pitfall that’s easy to avoid with the right prioritization.
Conclusion
While Trvlar didn’t become the next unicorn, the entrepreneurial journey itself generated valuable lessons and personal growth.
Each venture, successful or not, builds your business acumen and resilience.
For those considering the startup path, remember that your different perspectives often reveal market opportunities invisible to others.
By combining personal insight with market testing and these five lessons, you’ll be better equipped for the challenges ahead.
I’ll leave you with this question: “What idea have you been sitting on that deserves a chance to become reality?“
I would love to hear your thoughts – feel free to send me a message on any of my socials.