After graduating from college in 2004, Brien Shanahan, as many new graduates do, found himself in a job that was not in line with his career. Looking for more, Shanahan made up his mind to learn Spanish and move to a different country in search of meaning and adventure. In what was supposed to be only year long trip in Chile, Shanahan found what he was looking for. Prolonging his stay in Chile, Shanahan realized the opportunities available and the problems that could also be solved in the country.
It was supposed to be a one year trip max...I realized there was a lot of opportunity with business. You just walk around with your eyes open and say ‘What doesn’t work? What can be fixed?’ and that’s how we came into this problem that we are fixing.
Spending some time traveling within the country, Shanahan came to a realization. With buses as the main form of transportation in Chile and many other surrounding countries, Shanahan realized there was a means to make transportation easier.
Buses are the primary means of transport between cities, in most of Latin America and in developing cities overall...Booking bus tickets was a nightmare, it didn’t work with our foreigner cards, we had to wait in lines at terminals...we said this could be improved.
While in development of a platform, Shanahan and his team began looking for guidance. Though they had done some work with a marketing consulting company, Shanahan knew they needed more. Combing through the list of incubators available, Shanahan found the Founder Institute and found a place for his startup to grow.
We realized that’s kind of what Founder Institute specializes in: Getting you started and giving you the next boost. It gets your idea clarified and create steps moving forward. We got in, had a great semester and really advanced.
Developing tech and research while in the Founder Institute program, Voyhoy was at first only a means to start giving transparency to the market. Shanahan and his cofounder started scraping information, until they were eventually able to book bus tickets on the site. The platform would become so successful that they were able to branch out their tech to Europe. With more and more of of the platform’s potential developed, Shanahan also developed a way to handle the European market with sister company Resertrip.
Voyhoy.com is now a bus, flight, and train ticket booking engine that is growing quickly across Latin America and Europe. They are currently the first Chilean-born company to be accepted to Techstars. Voyhoy has already raised over $450,000 in funding, having already expanded in Europe, they aim for continuous expansion. With the World Health Organization expecting 7 out of 10 people on the planet to live in cities by mid-century, companies like Voyhoy are set to provide better means of transportation for future generations to come.
Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over 2BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
