Workbnb Winning Season Part Two
Yeves Perez, Workforce Champion
??Techstars ‘22 | CEO at Workbnb, a unique travel Xperience for traveling workers | Proud Supplier to the NFL ?? | Black Excellence Society Member | Currently Fundraising for Pre-Seed Extension ??
Not a day goes by where I don't read the writing on the wall. Workbnb, Inc | Techstars '22 is beyond investable, and with a sprinkle of Techstars ' unicorn dust, our travel tech startup will contribute some answers to the travel industry's 1.4 Trillion dollar question.
When will business travel return to its glory days?
I envision business travel in 2020s to be dominated by three major forces:
Why do I believe this to be so?
In a recent article titled "In Search of Corporate Travel’s Elusive Recovery," Matthew Parsons writes:
Just as a flurry of new late summer forecasts for a full business recovery hit — again with no real consensus — a story was gaining a lot of attention that Google, once the giant of sending people out on the road in a Google-outsized kind of a way, was?cutting back its travel budgets?for what it called only “business critical” trips.
In a separate article, Skift reported, "A leaked memo has reportedly warned that any social functions, full-team offsites and employee travel to in-person events that have a virtual option shouldn’t be approved by Google managers. The company also told some senior managers that it will hold a high bar for what should be considered business critical travel."
In a statement provided to The Information, Google said: “We recently shared guidance about taking a responsible approach on expense management, including travel and events. Different product areas and functions are implementing this in a way that works best for their teams, given their business needs.”
I believe this "business critical" is code for infrastructure, which equates to engineers and specialists traveling to data centers, which smells like thousands of 3-6 month workforce "business critical" trips over the next 5 years. Especially in diaster zones. And last time I checked, Google data centers and fiber infrastructure are not located in large Metros (I hope this answers your question Sean McCroskey ). I'm sure a few of my contacts at Google like Duanne Gilmore could co-sign to my assumptions/ forecast.
The Era of Mid-Term Workforce Rentals
Allow me to present a prime example of one "business critical" use case for?Workbnb, Inc | Techstars '22?and why we will build a billion dollar company. The?Greater Orlando Aviation Authority: Orlando International (MCO) and Executive (ORL) Airports?reported below that over 1,600 contractors and subcontractors built Terminal C, but with current housing constraints and workforce housing limitions our estimate is more than 45% of the workforce crews stayed at hotels and motels for 6-9 months or longer to complete the job. (Photo credit: GOAA)
The truth is no other booking platform cares to focus on the needs of blue collar workers and a shift in the short-term rental industry is way over due. Mid-term workforce rentals are more sustainable and will experience higher demand vs vacation rentals.
And, no matter how you slice the pie, "business critical, essential, or remote work" the future of business travel belongs to future of work companies like Workbnb that focus on an underserved niche and excel at eliminating waste and making significant impacts on operational efficiency. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to L.R. Weeden, CM-Lean, LCI-CPC , a lean construction advocate and 20-plus construction veteran, about our go-to-market plans for the Workbnb App, and his only feedback was how I could make our message stick similar to the benefits of lean construction. I can do that!
Photo Credit: GOAA
Photo credit: GOAA
As we prepare for the final stages to launch the Workbnb App,?Daj’Anique (Daj) Staples,?Rakia Finley,?Copper & Vine Studio, Co.?and I are working around the clock to prepare the user journey to work smoothly in anticipation for 85 airport termal upgrades of similar scale across the US receiving funding from the Infrastructure Investment Act and that’s not including road, water, and power infrastructure upgrades scheduled.
We’re extremely grateful for?Tré Baker?and?Techstars?backing our vision to improve the lives of millions traveling for work. Our next steps is to deepen our relationships and leverage channel partners to accelerate our growth beyond our wildest expectations. Our advisory team?Peter Mullen,?Lawrence Watkins,?Pedro M. Frias,?Tom Young,?Brett Calhoun,?Frankie Arvelo,?Vinod Sharma,?Carrington M. Carter, and?Kelly Roark?are going to be put to task to prepare us for the onboarding/ growth stages.
I also wish to thank David Cohen and Rupa Athreya for the encouragement provided during your visit to Build in Tulsa Techstars Accelerator !
Photo Credit: GOAA
The?Orlando Economic Partnership?and?Nicole Euler?+ team are well informed of our launch plans in Orlando, Florida (a top 5 market) for our beta launch coming soon! And shout out to?Matthew Parsons?and?Skift?for breaking our story.
Below are some of my top 3 Updates from the past weeks at Techstars:
# 3 - I also had the pleasure to meet Rashaad Lambert from Forbes The Culture and attend several events in and around Tulsa!
# 2 - Our legal team led by José Padilla + Alexander J. Atwood at Padilla Law PLLC have completed the formation of Workbnb Lab Tulsa, which will be raising capital soon!
#1 - Our team is truly enjoying building in Tulsa!
Photo Credit: Daj’Anique Staples
Photo credit: Workbnb, Inc | Techstars '22
The next update is in two weeks! Follow us on Paperstreet : Workbnb, Inc Paperstreet link
Strategic Revenue Leader | Innovation Evangelist & Advisor | Commercial GTM & Operations Growth, Startup to Scaleup
2 年Fantastic read Yeves - you are tapped into the pulse of what's happening with the American workforce!
Founder of BLCK, Innovator, Cultural Catalyst
2 年Congratulations
Great work Yeves!!!