084: Camplify – the Airbnb of Caravan Hire and the RV Share Economy (w/ Justin Hales)
Summary: Justin Hales is the CEO and Founder of Camplify, the Airbnb of caravan hire & RV sharing community. Camplify is Australia's largest caravan hire and RV peer-to-peer sharing community, connecting owners with holidaymakers across the country sharing all types of caravans, campervans, motorhomes and camper trailers to enjoy a getaway in. Camplify gives RV owners the opportunity to earn extra income - anywhere between $280 and $2100 per week - while they aren’t using it themselves. As for their hiring members, they get to experience the joy of camping without having to purchase their own RV.<br> <br> During the interview, Justin shared how in 2 years the Camplify platform has grown from just a small fleet of rentals to over 2,500 placing the company at the top of the fleet market in its niche of renting out caravans and RVs, an amazing effort in such a short space of time.<br> <br> The genesis of the idea<br> <br> Sounds a bit cliche but it all started with a seemingly small conversation with Justin and his wife talking about how cool it would be to go on a caravan holiday. Their conversation was triggered while the couple was walking their dog over and noticed a parked caravan in their neighborhood. Having spent his childhood in caravans this was an exciting prospect and so Justin looked for a place where they could hire a caravan for a holiday but found it quite difficult to find a single provider that he could go to and hire from. As a result Justin found a gap in the market and created a space that was like an Airbnb that got all the hundreds of caravans that sit around in people's driveways doing nothing most of the year and create a sharing economy market place for owners and holidaymakers to share.<br> <br> Working on the idea<br> <br> * Justin found a startup incubator program that was looking for innovators and applied to be considered for the program, which included some basic idea testing, putting up a 'crudely built' website and a power-point deck.<br> * After a stringent review of 500 applicants, Justin progressed into the final 40 that made it to the "Pitch Day".<br> * Following a successful outing at Pitch Day Justin was offered a spot in the 12 week startup accelerator program.<br> * This was an intensive accelerator program on how to set up and scale a startup which became the backbone of launching the Camplify business following that 12 weeks<br> <br> Justin's key take ways from the 12 Weeks accelerator program<br> <br> * Understood the customer more<br> * Tested more variables<br> * Learned about different marketing strategies<br> * Learned how to build good products that had a great market fit, using lean methodology<br> * Started building a brand and acquiring customers<br> * Leaned on the network in the program to raise capital for Camplify which was well received and helped fund the initial Camplify launch<br> <br> Customer targeting<br> <br> * The initial market most people would lean towards in the caravan and RV space was the grey nomad market (grey nomad (plural grey nomads) (Australia) A retired person who travels independently and for an extended period within their own country, particularly in a caravan or motor home - <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grey_nomad">wiktionary</a><br> * But through testing Justin found that while the grey nomads was not going to be their target market to consume their services, they were going to their target partners as RV owners sharing their RVs on the Camplify marketplace<br> * From detailed testing and building customer personas, the ideal customer that emerged was families who were not prepared to outlay $60,000 for an RV but still wanted to holiday in one from time to time, and this was found to a buoyant and growing market<br> <br> The No Money Survey - Just Sweets (...Lollies/Candy)<br> <br>
