Truly Spain to sweep you off your feet with unique experiences
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” - G.K. Chesterton
Almost all of us have a list of places to see, and a bucket list of things to experience. Some of us want to be a part of La Tomatina, while others desire to dive through the vastness of the sky. While backpacking takes it to the extreme side and tours are at their best nothing but "tours" -- they do not provide the experience and feeling of exploration. Truly Spain is here to solve this problem. A travel-based startup, Truly Spain provides great experiences for people traveling to Spain like flying in a WWII fighter plane, driving you dream car, attending a Spanish League Football match or a local festival -- pretty much anything that the country has to offer.
Founders
Truly Spain is the brainchild of Carmen and Ricard -- Spanish nationals and former students at ISB (Indian School of Business), Hyderabad. Their college friends approached them for travel tips to Spain thus giving them an idea to launch a startup with. Carmen is an engineer and later did her MBA from ISB, she leads the Indian desk and is the managing director. Ricard is from Barcelona, he holds an expertise in finding out new places and experiences. Always up to date with latest trends, secret spots, activities and places in Spain, Truly Spain stands out from its competitors.
Business and team
At present, Carmen is focusing on India, Brazil and Russia as their target market. Each of them is led by a local person or somebody who knows the market really well. Truly Spain works on both B2B and B2C models. They are a six-member team, including founders who take care of target markets and research and development.
Experience
Completely focused on experiential travel and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, they offer really interesting travels like trips to Torneo Godó, which is a unique opportunity to see great tennis stars in action, including Rafa Nadal, and Sònar Festival which is one of the most important summer festivals in Europe. Or you can go through your own ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ circuit, which covers the movie itinerary, including La Tomatina.
Challenges
Talking about the challenges, Carmen says, “When it comes to travel, there is a lot of resistance to players. In India and Russia, there aren’t any companies which are offering our standard of service. However, there are companies that offer substitutive services and people wonder ‘why would I change? It might be better, but it could also complicate things.’ We tell them, try us and you will see. If you don’t try, you will never know.”
Things have become better over the course of time as they have established themselves in this space.
Lessons learnt
The most important lessons which Carmen believes will help every entrepreneur are:
1) The more you practice selling, the better. There are many desired skills for an entrepreneur, but selling is essential. If you don’t want to sell, don’t become an entrepreneur.
2) Focus. There are a limited number of things you can do well. So you’d better choose the most effective ones.
3) Listen to your intuition.
Visit Truly Spain here.