Summary: Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey are the entrepreneurs behind Adioso.com, the world’s only fully-flexible, natural language flight search tool, making it simple for travellers to find cheap flights and cool destinations. With the backing of some of Silicon Valley’s finest they are determined to make Adioso the world’s leading flight search and destination info site for backpackers and casual travellers. Want to find the cheapest flight from Melbourne to Sydney on an evening next? How about escaping from Melbourne to “anywhere” in October for under $150? Or where can I go overseas for $500? If I take some time off in late January can I get to Thailand for under $420? Or maybe you just want to find the cheapest fairs to a nice beach? Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey met as colleagues in the helpdesk at the pioneering Australian ISP OzEmail in 1999. A common bond was formed over their interest in internet piracy, outlandish business ideas and the Hurstbridge train line. They launched their first startup together in 2002, a billing system for ISP’s called “Hostexchange”, leaving the safe confines of full time work in 2003. The business soon diversified into website development for a range of businesses from rock festivals to motorsport tracks and Christian TV evangelists. In late 2006 Tom and Fenn took a trip to Thailand just as the age of discount airline price-wars was gathering pace. The experience opened their eyes to the inadequacies and opportunities in flight search for budget travel. Tom was yet to be sold on the concept but Fenn took it upon himself to build a working prototype for a new style of flexible flight search engine in his spare time through 2007. In January 2008 Adioso was launched from an internet cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam, quickly establishing a loyal following of backpacking enthusiasts and grey nomads, and building just enough traction to make the idea worth pursuing seriously. Cut to earlier this year where after being accepted to a startup funding & mentoring program in Mountain View, California, Tom and Fenn moved the USA for three months to work on Adioso full time. At the end of the program in March they presented the second beta version to a room full of leading Silicon Valley identities, quickly securing a further round of seed funding from a range of prominent angel investors. Now back in Melbourne they continue to develop the site and prepare for a full public launch and a return to Silicon Valley later in the year. You can follow the exploits of Tom and Fenn in building Adioso here and book that next holiday now. http://adioso.com/auhttp://twitter.com/tomhowardhttp://twitter.com/fennbhttp://twitter.com/adioso
