20VC How To Solve The Chicken and Egg Problem in Marketplaces How Important Is Differentiated Supply How To Prevent Leakage How to Create Marketplace Defensibility and more with Alyssa Ravasio, Founder & CEO @ Hipcamp

In this episode of the 20 minutes VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Alyssa Ravaccio, the founder and CEO of Hip Camp, a platform for booking unique outdoor stays. Alyssa shares her journey from various roles, including at the US State Department, to creating Hip Camp, which has raised over $41 million from notable investors like Sarah Tavill at Benchmark and Andrew at Andreessen Horowitz. She discusses the importance of owning and differentiating supply, solving the "chicken and egg" problem in marketplaces by focusing on existing demand, and leveraging network effects. Alyssa also reflects on the CEO's psychology, emphasizing the need for clarity of thought and emotional stability. She highlights the value of post-mortems for learning from mistakes and the critical role of investors in providing broad market context. Lastly, Alyssa envisions Hip Camp's expansion and its mission to foster a global community connected to nature.

• Harry Stebbings introduces the podcast and expresses concern for listeners during the coronavirus situation.
• Alyssa Ravasio, founder and CEO of Hip Camp, is introduced as the guest.
• Hip Camp's service and Alyssa's background are highlighted.
• Acknowledgment of Sarah Tavill and Sam Shank for their question suggestions.
• Promotion of Carter, Terminal, and Drift as services beneficial for startups and businesses.

You are listening to the 20 minutes VC with me, Harry Stebings. And I do want to say as the coronavirus situation worsens, from everyone here at the 20 minutes VC, we hope you're safe.

• This quote sets the tone for the podcast, acknowledging the global situation and expressing care for the audience.

...founders Friday brings another incredible founder to the hot seat today in the form of Alyssa Ravaccio, founder and CEO at Hip Camp...

• This quote introduces the main guest of the episode, Alyssa Ravasio, and her company Hip Camp.

• Alyssa discusses her love for the outdoors and how it influenced her life.
• She created a major about the Internet at UCLA, highlighting its potential impact on the world.
• Alyssa sees startups as a way to harness the internet to create a better world.
• Hip Camp combines her love for the outdoors with the power of the internet.

With hip camp, I was really lucky. I got to grow up spending lots of time outside...

• Alyssa attributes her love for the outdoors to her upbringing, which played a significant role in founding Hip Camp.

...I think it's the coolest tool that humans have invented, arguably since language itself...

• Alyssa expresses her fascination with the internet and its transformative potential, which is foundational to the concept of Hip Camp.

• Alyssa addresses the role of privilege in her ability to take risks.
• She acknowledges that her safety net reduced the personal risk of starting a company.
• Alyssa emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's privilege when discussing risk.

Well, when we talk about risk, we have to talk about privilege, right?

• This quote introduces the concept of privilege in the context of entrepreneurship, which Alyssa believes is crucial to acknowledge when evaluating risk.

• Alyssa shares her fundraising philosophy: build a business that benefits from capital but doesn't depend on it.
• She emphasizes the importance of being selective and working with the right people.
• Alyssa has turned down higher offers to work with partners who align with her vision.

...the really hard part should be not the fundraising part.

• Alyssa suggests that the true challenge lies in building a business with strong fundamentals, not in the act of fundraising itself.

...I'm not looking for the most money at the highest valuation. I'm looking for a partner.

• This quote highlights Alyssa's focus on finding the right investors who offer more than just capital, such as expertise and support.

• Alyssa explains the decision to raise a Series A five years after founding Hip Camp.
• She discusses the growth and changes in the company that led to this decision.

...a lot changed. So I started hip camp in 2013 as somebody with about ten weeks of coding experience as a solo founder.

• This quote provides context for the timing of Hip Camp's Series A round, indicating significant development and evolution since the company's inception.

• The initial phase involved learning to establish the website and understanding the business's purpose.
• Alyssa's guiding principle was to make it easier for people to get outside.
• The belief that easier access to nature would lead to a healthier, happier, and environmentally conscious population.
• The focus was on public lands for the first few years, with Hipcamp serving as an aggregator of public campgrounds.

"First year, a lot of it was learning how to get this website up and running, figuring out what we were really even doing."

The quote explains the initial challenges faced by Alyssa in setting up the business and finding its direction.

• Owning the supply is critical for controlling the customer experience and ensuring it aligns with the brand.
• The transition to working with private landowners in 2016 was a pivotal moment.
• The Series A funding coincided with the realization of a viable revenue model and mission alignment.

"The most important lesson is that owning your supply is really important because when you're building on top of someone else's supply, you can't influence it, you can't control it."

Alyssa emphasizes the strategic importance of owning the supply in order to maintain control over the quality and consistency of the customer experience.

• Differentiated supply is one of the three guiding strategic principles for Hipcamp.
• It is crucial for building a consumer brand in the crowded travel industry.
• Unique offerings on Hipcamp are not available elsewhere, creating exclusivity and partnership with landowners.

"One of our three guiding strategic principles for the company is around differentiated supply."

The quote highlights the significance of having a unique offering as a core strategy for standing out in a competitive market.

• Alyssa solved the marketplace's classic problem by focusing on making it easier to get outside.
• The platform initially aggregated public land information, which attracted organic traffic.
• The demand side was bootstrapped with public data before introducing unique private land supply.

"I solved the chicken and egg problem somewhat accidentally by staying doggedly focused on the problem of it's just too hard to get outside."

Alyssa attributes the resolution of the marketplace's initial challenge to a steadfast focus on solving a real problem for customers.

• Hipcamp's network effects are regional, similar to Uber or Lyft, and global, akin to eBay or Airbnb.
• Understanding the types of network effects is essential for marketplace founders.
• Building experiences that cater to these network effects can accelerate growth.

"Our network effects are very interesting, and I think network effects are something that a lot of companies think they have, but they might not actually."

Alyssa discusses the complexity of network effects and the importance of understanding and leveraging them for growth.

• Data network effects are driven by providing the best experience to users.
• Hipcamp redefines outdoor experiences with a variety of offerings.
• Community contributions, including host details and camper reviews, enhance data accuracy.

"When we think about data network effects, we're often leaning very heavily on our community."

The quote explains the role of the Hipcamp community in creating a rich and accurate dataset, which is a form of network effect.

• Preventing leakage involves ensuring that the platform provides significant value to its users.
• Strategic supply acquisition and fulfilling brand promises are key to retaining users.

"Yeah. So on the supply side, I mean, the best way to prevent leakage is to make sure that they're getting a lot of value from the platform."

Alyssa discusses the importance of delivering value to prevent users from bypassing the platform, which is crucial for marketplace integrity.

• Rural landowners benefit from new income opportunities aligned with their values.
• Retention rates for landowners are high due to the income alignment with values.
• Preventing leakage is about ensuring the company lives up to its promises.
• Defensibility is crucial, with the platform serving as a core business tool across multiple functions.

"Our retention is excellent from landowners because this is a way to earn income that is aligned with their values and that's not always easy to come by."

This quote highlights the importance of creating value for landowners that resonates with their personal values, which in turn promotes retention.

• Recognizing the shift from individual contributor to leader is critical for CEOs.
• The CEO's mental quality, emotional stability, and clarity of thought become paramount.
• Personal practices, such as sleeping without an alarm, contribute to a CEO's well-being.
• Adjusting wake-up times naturally with the body's rhythm and daylight is preferred.

"The quality of my mind is the most important thing I can bring to the company."

Alyssa Ravasio emphasizes the shift in the CEO role from task execution to providing leadership through mental clarity and emotional stability.

• Alyssa Ravasio advocates for trusting the body to wake up naturally.
• She adjusts her waking time according to natural cues like sunlight and bodily needs.
• Exceptions are made for important commitments, like early flights, where an alarm is set reluctantly.

"I just think it's crazy we let machines tell us when to wake up."

Alyssa Ravasio challenges the norm of using alarm clocks, suggesting that natural waking is more in tune with our bodies.

• Maintaining perspective that business challenges are rarely life-and-death situations.
• Personal hardships can provide perspective on the relative nature of business crises.
• Teamwork and solution-focused approaches are essential during critical moments.
• Blame culture is counterproductive; post-mortems are used for learning after the fact.

"It's all about the solution, it's all about arbitrage. It's all about, okay, what actually needs to get done now."

In crisis situations, Alyssa Ravasio emphasizes the importance of focusing on immediate solutions rather than assigning blame.

• Post-mortems are conducted when issues exceed a certain threshold.
• They vary in depth and can be a brief discussion or an extensive analysis.
• The process helps avoid blame during crises and fosters a learning culture.
• Managers are trained on using a template for conducting post-mortems.

"Having the post mortem as a pressure release valve and as a learning device that, you know, is coming later really encourages that kind of thinking in the moment."

Alyssa Ravasio discusses the role of post-mortems in promoting a proactive and collaborative approach to problem-solving during crises.

• Investors provide a broad market perspective to complement the CEO's deep focus.
• They offer insights on trends and strategies from other companies and industries.
• Introductions and connections from investors can be valuable.
• Specific investors can contribute uniquely based on their background and experience.

"I view investors as a huge part of our team."

Alyssa Ravasio sees investors as integral to the team, providing unique contributions and broad market insights to the company.

• Importance of emotional intelligence in investors.
• Investors should help rather than increase anxiety for CEOs.
• Time spent managing investors' emotions is not efficient for CEOs.

"I think having investors who can manage their own emotions is really important." "The less time I could spend managing the emotions of you as an investor, the better, because that's not particularly high leverage use of my time."

These quotes emphasize the need for investors to be emotionally self-regulated so that CEOs can focus on company challenges rather than investor anxieties.

• Humorous admission of self-medication to manage emotions.
• Light-hearted approach to maintaining emotional control.

"I personally sedate myself with enough Amarato that I'm never nervous."

Harry Stebbings uses humor to convey his personal method for staying calm, suggesting a relaxed approach to emotional control.

• Recommending "The Overstory" by Richard Powers.
• Recommending "Uncanny Valley" by Anna Wiener.
• Highlighting books that address culture, nature, and Silicon Valley.

"The overstory by Richard Powers... I would also highly recommend Anna Weiner's uncanny valley."

Alyssa Ravasio recommends these books for insights into human-nature relationships and a critical look at Silicon Valley culture.

• Storytelling as a superpower.
• Struggle with focusing due to excitement about various aspects of the business.

"Superpower is probably storytelling... Weakness is probably that I'm very easily excited."

Alyssa Ravasio identifies her ability to convey vision as a strength and her tendency to get overly involved in details as a potential weakness.

• Desire for a more holistic perspective in tech.
• Emphasis on long-term impact and solving global challenges.
• Silicon Valley's potential to address significant issues like climate change.

"I wish we would think bigger and longer term because as a society, we have an incredible number of global challenges that are facing us."

Alyssa Ravasio calls for Silicon Valley to adopt a broader, more impactful focus on global problems and long-term solutions.

• The first investment story involving friends and unconventional funding methods.
• The importance of belief and support from personal connections.

"Our first check into hip camp was my friend Jeremy Grosser... He heard that happened, ended up writing the check first by selling his Twitter handle, Sinac, for $13,000."

Alyssa Ravasio shares the story of Hipcamp's first investment, highlighting the role of personal networks and creative ways of raising funds.

• Parents as mentors with differing strengths.
• Valuing the combination of creativity and pragmatism.

"I think my biggest mentor is my mom and my dad... a deep appreciation for combining things that others think might be at odds."

Alyssa Ravasio credits her parents as her most significant mentors, appreciating their contrasting qualities and the balance they provide.

• Difficulty in hiring excellent recruiters, especially technical ones.
• The recursive challenge of recruiting those who recruit engineers.

"Engineers are incredibly hard to hire for. And then it's like the meta level hard to hire for are the recruiters."

Alyssa Ravasio discusses the complexities of hiring in tech, especially the roles that require hiring other hard-to-find talent.

• Plans for international expansion and community building.
• Ambition to redefine the relationship between humans and nature.

"Hip camp's next five years are going to be incredibly exciting... building a global community of people who care about the land."

Alyssa Ravasio outlines an ambitious future for Hipcamp, focusing on global growth and fostering a deeper connection with nature.

• Gratitude expressed for the opportunity to participate in the show.
• Acknowledgment of contributions from peers and industry professionals.

"Thank you for having me. It was fun."

Alyssa Ravasio thanks Harry Stebbings for the interview, encapsulating a positive experience on the show.

• Mention of various products and services relevant to startups and investors.
• Highlighting tools for managing equity, hiring developers, and conversational marketing.

"Carter simplifies how startups and investors manage equity... Terminal is a remote teams engine... Drift, a conversational marketing platform."

Harry Stebbings promotes several services that offer solutions for equity management, remote team building, and marketing, showcasing their benefits for the tech community.