#StartupsEverywhere: Oxford, Neb.
#StartupsEverywhere: Sally Bunnell, Co-Founder, NaviSavi
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Crowdsourcing vacation planning through user generated content
When Sally Bunnell saw the sun setting on traditional music content production, she pivoted to user-generated content in the travel industry. Her app, NaviSavi, gives its users the opportunity to share and plan destination vacations based on the video content they and others share. We sat down with Sally to talk about her company, her approach to content moderation, and her experience building a company in Nebraska.
Tell us about your background. What led you to NaviSavi?
I got my start in the entertainment business as a radio disc jockey. I worked my way through the industry and eventually became the youngest senior vice president at Razor & Tie Records at the age of 29. I oversaw the management and content of KidzBop. During my time there, I saw the rise of user-generated content (UGC) and realized I was going to be out of a job soon. First and foremost, because anyone on YouTube could make content that got more clicks and engagement with a shoestring budget than a six figure marketing ad campaign on broadcast. I started to travel the world for work in video production, and around 2013, UGC around traveling gained traction. The rise of the travel vlogs was my impetus for creating NaviSavi. Originally, I imagined it as a bookable travel show with UGC uploaded video content. After the record label was acquired, I left it and committed to creating NavSavi in 2019 when I successfully raised about $70,000 from friends and family. We settled on creating an app that would host travel-based UGC for people to plan their vacations.
What is the work you all are doing at NaviSavi? Who are your users/customers?
Our users upload a video of their vacation experience that is 30 seconds or less, and the location of that experience is pinned to our map of the world for all of our users to see. The user posting the video doesn’t need to be in it, and it doesn’t need to be all edited and fancy. We have built a platform where people can find new experiences for their next vacation. NaviSavi has integrations and an AI that allow for direct booking, so you can build your own itinerary and pull from all the experience our users have posted from your vacation destination to make it quick and easy to plan your trip.
How do you enforce your content moderation policies?
We have three people who manually approve uploads to NaviSavi. It used to be one, but I realized that if anything happened to that person, we would be in trouble; no one can just take that on as a second job and approve all that. They're pretty efficient, going through about 2000 videos a week. Only about 5 percent of video submissions on our platform don’t get approved. It’s more than just making sure that offensive or illegal content doesn’t get posted; we have to make sure that content isn’t being duplicated. I don’t want NaviSavi to have multiple videos of the same hotel room from different views.
Our content moderation policies are also influenced by the countries we operate in. Because of the international nature of our app, we have to be very flexible when it comes to operating in different countries. We have content that is suffering in Saudi Arabia in a totally different way compared to our content in London.
What was your experience founding a startup in Nebraska compared to your corporate experience in New York?
I've seen it both ways. Obviously, with Tech Stars, we had a lot of support. The state of Nebraska was also a great help. They have programs which help you navigate, cover, and expedite the process of filing patents–and all of those programs were free so long as our company hit the necessary benchmarks. In that way, it helped to be part of a small ecosystem, outside of a traditional funding hub. Even in larger middle America cities like Tulsa, the community really supports the ecosystem of startups; they come together and provide better opportunities for everyone. I think I would have gotten lost if I started in New York or Silicon Valley. Nebraska gives money, time, and experience to its founders. It's not easy to be a startup founder, but if you can do it in a supportive ecosystem that wants to help you solve problems, it goes a long way.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
There needs to be more money that can be accessed by any entrepreneur to try and build their idea. If I didn’t have friends and family to provide that initial funding and guidance from TechStars and the State of Nebraska, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. I went to so many venture capital firms and never saw a cent. They speak their own language, and if you can’t speak it or convince them that you’re one of them, you’re out of luck. It’s a boys’ club.
What are your goals for NaviSavi moving forward?
We’re looking forward to rolling out new features and partnerships for NaviSavi. We are locking in a distribution partnership through ViaSat and a TV partner to be the first interactive bookable travel show on connected TV, Apps, and In-Flight. ViaSat is one of the largest providers of internet connectivity. NaviSavi will be beamed into 60+ major airlines, not just for the TV shows, but the individual content - from destination guides, interactive maps, TV series, and also be the first buy onboard experience.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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