Kayak.com is a meta travel search engine style website that provides the user with the best possible travel deals available online at a given time. The travel site has since gone onto become a household name similar to Google or Facebook. It’s not surprise though at such a complex startup would require the assistance of additional fellow entrepreneurs. For this and more we take a look at entrepreneur Paul English in the spotlight this week. We’ll look at just how he did it and highlight what lessons any upcoming entrepreneur can learn.
Summary:
Name: Paul English
Age: 47
Location: Boston, MA (USA)
Claim to fame: Kayak.com (Travel search engine website designed to help find the best deals being offered.)
Initial cost: NA
How He Did It:
Paul English was born and raised in Boston, MA. He attended UMASS Boston where he received his Bachelors in Computer Science in 1987 and later his MS in Computer Science in 1989. Paul went onto work various engineering and product management roles at different large corporations in the Massachusetts area over the next several years. Paul would go onto launch a startup in 2004 with a few others co-founding what we all know as Kayak.com. Kayak.com is a travel search engine website designed to aggregate travel data from all over the web into one site providing the user with the best possible travel deals at a given time. Kayak.com was launched publicly in 2005 and has since gone onto grow significantly. Kayak has raised over $200 million in funding to date and has made one successful buyout of another travel business.
Lessons Learned:
- Teamwork is one of the best ways to get a successful startup launched.
- Always be looking for new ways to grow your knowledge and experience.
- Don’t let failure get in the way of trying new things.
- Remember to always plan and then take action!
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Daniel Ek.
Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article in this ongoing series. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the success of this week’s entrepreneur and his entrepreneurship characteristics. Also, please let me know if you have an entrepreneur you would like to see featured here in the weeks to come.
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