The Vanlife App by Sēkr was built to help every road traveler find their way to free camping, resources and outdoor community. With social features that allow you to find and connect with other travelers nearby and detailed user reviews, The Vanlife App will guide you to your next best adventure.
Sēkr
Meet Sēkr
Sēkr is a mobile platform that aggregates the best campsite locations, amenities, and reviews. Find, book, and stay on private and public land for your next vacation in the great outdoors. Whether you are camping for the weekend, going on an epic road trip, or living full-time in an RV, Sekr helps you find your way.
Why is your company the best option to solve the problem you're solving?
Outdoor Travel (i.e., Camping/RVing) is a gigantic industry that has been completely averse to technological advances, resulting in one of the largest, most fragmented markets that exist in the US. The founding team at Sēkr is made up of outdoor industry-leading professionals, who not only understand the challenges that all campers and RVers face, but know how to fix them, and we've amassed a strong community of millions of people who need what we're building.
What nuggets of info make you interesting? Why do people care about what you're doing?
Traditional vacations like cruises, resorts, and airplane travel are less appealing than ever, even dangerous. More people are turning to camping and RVing than ever before, but what they're finding is that it takes hours of research to be told the campgrounds you can find are sold out. If you've ever planned an outdoor trip, you know this experience well. Sēkr is changing this, so that you can experience the illusive outdoor experience you're dreaming of.
What else do you want us to know?
Here are some key strengths and milestones to date: 1) Strong Community: 3 million reach on Instagram, 30+ events with 10K+ attendees, 400+ brand champions signed on (ambassadors) 2) Techstars Anywhere 2020 3) Traction with beta (bootstrapped): Revenue: $30K YTD, +$10K new monthly sponsorship revenue. Users: 700-900 Weekly active, 120% growth since January. Premium subscriptions: 1500+ paid users, 14% conversion to paid, 84% 9month retention.
BEHIND THE COMPANY
CEO/Founder: Breanne Acio
What is your company's secret sauce?
Our team is made of community leaders in outdoor recreations with a ton of domain experience. Growth is our unfair advantage; we've developed a small army of brand champions through our advocate marketing program. Over 400 influencers have applied to the program -- people who believe in our brand so much they want to promote Sēkr on their own channels for free. This is the power of the movement we've created.
What inspired you to start/run this company?
For years, my partner and I have been sharing our travel experience through social media and building community. People were constantly telling us, "You're living my dream," and as flattering as this might seem, it actually made us sad, which in turn inspired me to help as many people as I could to live their own dream. I started by building an RV rental company and then a campervan manufacturing business. After all of this experience and listening to people's problems, I realized that the best way for me to help the most people improve their quality of life is by connecting people with the resources they need to do it. So that's where Sēkr was born.
What's the best entrepreneurial advice you've received?
There are 2 steps to raising capital: (1) build a great business, and (2) tell people about it.
What sets your company culture apart?
We are a fully distributed team of outdoor enthusiasts and we've built a thriving culture of passion, accountability, and collaboration that I've never seen before. As a communication professor, I have applied all of my learnings to building this team, but the culture is beyond what I could have ever imagined. We are building something AMAZING together that allows us to feel like we're contributing to the greater good, even when we're tired and frustrated. We lift each other up and make each other better professionally, but also as people.
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