Skift Turns One: A Year In, We’re All In

This then, is year one. A year after the start of our improbable quest to become the most pervasive brand in travel information, we’re all in. 365 days later, Skift is among the largest news and information sites in the travel industry, and aiming way beyond the top rank.

Building a business information startup in 2013 is a story I’ve recounted in detail before, in case you’re interested, but suffice to say, as a new brand and rank outsiders in the world’s largest industry, we’ve learned a lot of lessons. The lessons are a mix of micro and macro lessons, about building a startup as an outsider against the incumbents, and on a bigger level, learning the peculiar rhythms of travel industry.

I will recount these lessons in a separate post later this week, but for now, thanks to all of you, for making this year possible: the fellow community of Skifters, from our employees along for the roller-coaster ride to the angel investors who bet on us early, to the later investors who’re helping us scale and build a sustainable business.

And of course to the innovators, early adopters and influencers in travel who have become Skift fans over the last year and helped our rapid rise in the industry, it is you who we care about, rest is all noise.

The parallels between why we do this and why we travel are not lost on us. Our Tao of Travel’s just starting, we’re past the Version 1.0 stage.

“The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown…”
― Paul Theroux, The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road