If you don鈥檛 take the time to properly validate your business plan then it doesn鈥檛 matter how good your idea is say聽 co-founders Matt Fox and Dan Harrison.
Snaptrip provides the largest range of last-minute discounted UK聽holiday rentals. It sources the best UK cottage, apartment and lodge deals and brings them together in a one-stop market place, offering holiday-goers up to 60 per cent off.
Co-founders Fox and Harrison stress the importance of planning when it comes to starting a new business.
鈥淵ou might think you have the greatest idea in the world but if you don鈥檛 take the time to properly validate it, then chances are it won鈥檛 succeed,鈥� said Harrison, who co-founded the business in 2014.
鈥淵ou need to have the intelligence and conviction to find out whether the solution you鈥檝e decided upon is actually the best to fix the problem you鈥檝e initially seen.
鈥淭ake into consideration: is it a genuine problem for others, how many people are affected by the problem and is your solution actually better than anything else out there already?鈥�
Fox adds: 鈥淥nly then should you make the decision to either go for it or walk away!
鈥淓xecution counts for almost everything and this is really stage one of the plan.
鈥淚t will teach all budding entrepreneurs that the idea becomes a very small part of the success of a start-up.
鈥淓ven the very best ideas executed badly will simply not become a viable, sizeable business.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a clich茅 but think of all those people on Dragon鈥檚 Den who you initially think have a great idea but haven鈥檛 thought about the execution of the business or product in question.鈥�
The company has saved almost 100,000 people (and 12,000 dogs 鈥� the majority of cottages are pet-friendly) a combined total of nearly 拢1,000,000 on accommodation costs since its launch three years ago.
鈥淲e realised that there were plenty of last minute sites for hotels such as Last Minute, Travel Zoo, Secret Escapes and Late Rooms but nothing like that for the holiday rental sector,鈥� said Harrison.
鈥淲ith lots of unsold inventory in the sector, we decided to create a platform for providers of these properties to create compelling last-minute discounts to get them sold.
鈥淲e knew as long as there were was a consumer market for these sort of late deals, property rentals as opposed to hotels, then we would be on to something different and exciting.鈥�
The company is currently crowdfunding on Seedrs.