105: Disrupting the Transportation Industry with Millions of Users in 4 years with Polina Raygorodskaya from Wanderu

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Something that most entrepreneurs struggle with the most is coming up with an idea for a startup. They'll study business forecasts and look at unique trends trying to find the next big thing. What most entrepreneurs forget though is that the most disruptive startups in the world were created to solve a single problem.

Which is what exactly Polina Raygorodskaya was looking to do when she founded Wanderu, a platform that allows you to find, compare and book bus and train tickets anywhere within the United States. In just 4 years Wanderu have grown their database to over 5 million users. It turns out there were other people that were facing the same problem as Polina.

A long time entrepreneur Polina came across the idea for WanderU while constantly commuting back and forth in New York. Often having to travel by bus or train she quickly found out, to her surprise, that there was no single database to allow commuters to easily find and book bus and train tickets.

Sensing a startup opportunity she closed down her PR firm and began to build Wanderu.

Despite having little experience in the travel industry Polina was undeterred and together with her co-founder they built North America's leading ground travel search platform. Today, Wanderu is now partnered and works together with the leaders of their industry like Greyhound, Megabus, and Peter Pan Bus just to name a few.

In this interview you will learn:

• Tips on how to get started in the travel industry, even if you don't have any experience
• Importance of finding the right team that shares your vision
• How to find and connect with the best advisers and influencers to help you build your startup
• When to sacrifice profit for growth
• Secrets to creating a valuable network that'll sustain your business in the long run
• & much more!