Wanderfly

Wanderfly was a travel recommendation platform founded in August 2009 by Evan Schneyer, Christy Liu, and Jorge Trujillo. The New York-based startup aimed to simplify travel planning by providing personalized suggestions based on user interests and budget, rather than starting with a known destination. The platform was designed to feel more like an inspirational travel magazine than a conventional booking engine.

The founding team brought diverse expertise to the venture. Evan Schneyer, who served as CEO, was a serial entrepreneur with experience in building companies and leading product development from concept to market. Christy Liu, the Director of Marketing, had a background in brand planning and strategy, and her love for travel was sparked by studying abroad. Jorge Trujillo rounded out the team as the CTO. The initial idea was straightforward: create a site that offers travel ideas based on personal tastes and spending limits, a concept Schneyer noted was simple in theory but complex in technical execution and business strategy.

Wanderfly's platform functioned as a recommendation engine, suggesting over 1,200 destinations by analyzing their characteristics and matching them to users' stated passions. It integrated content and services from various partners, including Hotels.com for lodging, and pulled information from social platforms like Facebook and Foursquare to enhance recommendations. This approach allowed users to discover, plan, and book entire trips, including flights, hotels, and activities, through a single interface. The company secured $1.4 million in funding across two rounds, including a $1 million Series A in February 2011, from investors such as Charles River Ventures and MentorTech Ventures. This capital was intended to fuel the development of social planning features, mobile applications, and strategic partnerships.

The company gained significant traction, earning accolades such as being named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Brilliant Companies in 2011. A key milestone was a partnership with The New York Times, which integrated Wanderfly's recommendation technology into its online travel destination pages. In October 2012, approximately three years after its inception, Wanderfly was acquired by TripAdvisor for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was an "acqui-hire," with the Wanderfly team joining TripAdvisor to help enhance its social travel planning capabilities. However, less than a year after the acquisition, in July 2013, TripAdvisor announced the closure of the Wanderfly site as a standalone service. Keywords: travel recommendation engine, personalized travel, trip planning, travel discovery, Wanderfly, Evan Schneyer, Christy Liu, TripAdvisor acquisition, social travel, travel tech, destination search, trip inspiration, travel startup, online travel booking, travel content integration, New York startup, venture capital, travel partnerships