Melissa Biggs Bradley, Founder of Indagare
Melissa Biggs Bradley is the founder and CEO of Indagare, a membership-based luxury travel company. By bringing together curated content, an engaged community and the ability to receive expert advice, Indagare has established a new way to plan and book memorable experiences. Since Indagare’s founding, Melissa has been recognized as a pioneer entrepreneur in the luxury travel space. Indagare was named as one of Inc’s fastest-growing companies in the US and one of Crain’s fastest-growing companies in New York.
How do you go from an idea to being one of the fastest-growing companies in the US! I sat down with Melissa Biggs Bradley to learn how she made it happen.
“The idea is one thing, but the execution relies on teamwork and different kinds of people.” It’s essential to hire good people and those with different strengths and skillsets than your own, complimenting, and challenging one another.
I challenge you to one: read the book that Melissa recommends on the podcast called Give and Take by Adam Grant. He is a Wharton professor who quantifies and analyzes the success of “givers” vs. “takers” in different careers. Two: Listen to the entire episode of the Badass CEO podcast with Melissa because she has some really thoughtful and also badass advice. And lastly, three: follow the meaning of Indagare, discover and seek out your entrepreneurial path. Take the plunge.
Find Melissa Biggs Bradley and Indagare
Episode Contents
- From Travel Editor to Changing the Industry
- Differentiating Indagare in a Saturated Market
- How Indagare Had to Pivot Due to COVID
- Can You See Yourself Thriving In Your Dream Role?
- Keep Learning and Build A Support System
From Travel Editor to Changing the Industry
Mimi:
Melissa, thank you so much for coming on today. So where did you get the idea for Indagare?
Melissa:
Well, you know, I had been in the travel editor at town and country for more than a decade. And while I was there, I started to feel that there was a better way to help people plan the best possible trips, rather than just giving them information and articles. And one reason for that was our space was just limited. And then as soon as a magazine came out, the information could be out of date and there was no way to update it, but I was very intrigued with the internet and the possibilities of having unlimited space and updatable information. And I also knew that the best tips that I received often came from other passionate travelers. So I felt that if I could offer an online resource with really quality articles that offered inspiration and information, but combined it with a community where you could crowdsource and ask questions, Then we could empower people to have better trips. And, and I did try to start that within Hearst, they weren’t interested in the internet at that point and doing anything digitally. And, you know, we didn’t launch with, with travel experts to actually design and deliver trips. We added that very quickly though, after we started listening to our customer base and they requested more hands on help.
Mimi:
That’s really interesting. I didn’t realize you just started out without being an actual travel advisory company. So at the time were you one of the only ones online doing that then for the travel industry?
Melissa:
You know what, there was a lot of information, but it wasn’t curated information and it wasn’t really anything by real credible experts. So, you know, for us there was TripAdvisor, but you know, again, that was crowdsourcing, but with no real curation or expertise.
Mimi:
Wow. Okay, great. Now, where did you come up with the name Indagare?
Melissa:
That was trying to find something that wasn’t already owned online in part, but also wanting something that meant something. And so it was very hard even back in 2007 to buy a .com name of any letter combinations. And we did have to buy Indagare from a squatter, but it means to discover or seek out in Latin and everything that we cover has been vetted firsthand by our team. So it combines what we offer, which is discovery and what we do, which is scouting.
Differentiating Herself in a Saturated Market
Mimi:
Right. Gosh, I didn’t realize that’s what it meant. So that’s, that’s really interesting. I like the name. And so when you did start out and you went into actually advising for trips and planning, there were other, obviously other people out there. So what made you different? It seems like it was a saturated market in the travel industry. It wasn’t embedded, but were you one of the first high-end kind of travel advisory companies or were there already others out there?
Melissa:
I mean, there was American Express basically in the platinum desk, which was a theory that didn’t really actually work. But you know, it’s funny because you often hear about founders having kind of a light bulb moment. And in some ways I did, because I was the travel editor attached to country. I’d been there for more than a decade. My husband and I have planned to go to India for our 10th anniversary. And he had to cancel because of a deal at work just a few days before we were going to go. And he said, okay, you know, we can’t go for 10 days, but I can give you a long weekend, but it’s gotta be closer than India. So all of a sudden I had to come up with a trip and we wanted to go someplace that we hadn’t been before. So we decided to go to Prague and I wanted every minute that we spent there to be really well used and not wasted on a bad meal or a bad guide, and the hotel choice was the easiest part, but the rest of it really wasn’t. And so, you know, I was sitting in an office surrounded by travel books with contacts, you know, for tons of travel people at my fingertips. And it was still really hard to plan out a weekend with a great jazz bar and the best shops. And, you know, we had an amazing experience with guide. Who’d been part of the velvet revolution and, you know, and I knew that that kind of experience wasn’t something that only I wanted. So I wanted to solve that solution. But then after we launched, what I realized was that the internet and the online travel agencies like Expedia had actually killed the mom and pop travel advisors along with airlines, not paying commissions. So just at the moment that there was this explosion of travel opportunities where flights around the world were cheaper than ever. And there were more hotels. And I mean, there’s more than 50 hotels at five star level in the Maldives, people were supposed to be planning their own trips. They were getting this message that you should be able to do it yourself when there was so much more information and choices. And so the industry was saturated, but not with a solution that a discerning traveler really wanted.
Second-guessing Yourself and Imposter Syndrome
Mimi:
That’s really interesting. Cause you think now it’s like common place, right? You could find other companies doing it, but back then, not that long ago, it didn’t exist, which is crazy. So what was the hardest part about starting Indagare?
Melissa:
You know, there’s lots of hard parts. I think the hardest part though, was taking the plunge actually, because I had a great job at a wonderful company and, you know, and people thought I had the dream job as the travel editor of town and country. I was being, you know, sent off to Europe and Africa and staying in amazing hotels and working with people that I really admired from photographers to editors. And, you know, so it was like, who would give that up for something that was completely untried? And as you said, like didn’t really exist then even though there some models of it now. So I certainly went through second guessing myself about whether or not this was something that I should do, but I also had stopped feeling like I was learning in my job. I felt like I could do it in my sleep. And I did believe deeply in the power of travel to really change people’s lives and expand their perspectives. And I didn’t think that I was doing that as well as I could as a print editor. So I really believe that there was a solution that would really help, but I think in some ways the most important part of getting started after I’d taken the plunge and decided to do it was, was choosing the team of people that I did it with.
Mimi:
What was your criteria to partnering with them or hiring with them?
Melissa:
Well, I had worked with some people at Town and Country. The first two hires that I made were people that I had worked with at Town and Country. And I chose people who have totally different strengths and skill sets than mine, but we compliment and challenge each other really, really well. And so, I mean, we still work together. And I think for me, that was really the most important thing was understanding that the idea is one, but the execution relies on teamwork and on different kinds of people.
Mimi:
Well you obviously picked the right people if they’re still with you after all these years. So yeah, that’s good. Getting your name out there is often very difficult with any company that starts in getting clients. Did you find trouble with that or because you’re already in the magazine industry and you had a lot of contacts, it was, it was pretty easy.
Melissa:
No, I maybe it was probably easier than if we had, if I didn’t have a reputation to begin with, but I took a very grassroots approach, which I think is really the best way. And it’s still the way I think of our community of customers. I think of every single person as a friend of a friend of a friend. And, you know, I think if you really focus on your customer and doing the best job by then, you’re going to grow word of mouth and it’s the most authentic way. And I think it’s the deepest, most loyal way to have happy customers be the kinds of people to then spread the word. And so, you know, for me, I think there’s lots of marketing tactics people can use, but it really boils down to what you’re delivering and how committed you are to your customer.
Indagare Had To Pivot Due to COVID – A Halt in Travel
Mimi:
That’s a good point. So now with the travel industry completely coming to a halt, how are you weathering that? How are you pivoting? Like what has changed in your business model at this point?
Melissa:
Well, I mean the pandemic has hit us and many others, but certainly the travel industry, like a freight train. And I was in Paris on March 12th on my way back to the States, right? When they were closing the borders. And I was with a bunch of my colleagues who I’ve known in the industry for a long time. And, you know, since 9-11 and SARS, there’ve been lots of things that had impacted the travel world, but you know, nothing like this. And so, you know, lots of airlines have gone bankrupt, hotels and beloved businesses are probably never going to reopen. And, you know, we feel lucky because our team is all healthy and safe and we have had to lay some people off, which has been heartbreaking because our culture is very much one of a family, as much as, you know, we call it our work family. But, you know, as soon as we realized that our members weren’t going to be able to travel for an extended period of time and we had to cancel, you know, millions of dollars worth of bookings throughout the summer. And the year we did immediately start to think about, okay, how can we continue to inspire them, to explore and figure out how to bring in some revenue, but also attention to our partners around the world because they were suffering enormously, our guides that we have incredible relationships with. And so we launched this virtual travel program, which includes it’s called the Indagare global classroom. And it includes a camp which connects kids to guides to teach them about everything from Greek mythology and Harry Potter in England and pizza making and backyard safaris. But it’s really been mostly for our adult members and it’s unbelievable programming around education and virtual tours, you know, behind the scenes of Versailles and incredible gardens in the South of France and lectures with the best Egyptologists in the world, showing them the pyramids and new discoveries. And, and then we also launched a podcast, which is a series of conversations that I’ve had with inspiring people I’ve met in my travels to discuss how, you know, they’ve found their sort of purpose and passion. And it’s people like the Nat Geo filmmakers, Derek, and Beverly Joubert and India Hicks and the travel writer Paul Theroux. And this last week we had a three star Michelin chef Chris Costa from Meadowwood. So we’re obviously also focusing more on domestic travel and kind of special opportunities like a members only house rentals exchange kind of program. So we’re just, you know, being really close to our customers and finding out what are they interested in. And a lot of it, what they’re interested in in terms of content is health and safety and travel inspiration. And so we’ve just pivoted to follow what they’re looking for.
Thinking Like A Journalist and Crowdsourcing Ideas
Mimi:
Right. That’s great. So we obviously I’ve been on a couple of your trips, which I have thoroughly enjoyed, and it’s probably been the one that we did through Italy was one of my favorite all time trips ever. So I thank you for that. It was, it was amazing. And you had amazing, like my truffle hunting day in the afternoon of like was actually in the morning and then we went back and cooked with the truffles that we found in Italy. But where do you find, you know, when you started out, like, obviously you didn’t have a ton of contacts on the ground in every location that you wanted to go to. So how did you go about finding and vetting each of those contacts?
Melissa:
Well, again, I was very much thinking like a journalist because you know, it starts with doing the research and the networking and then trying people out. And, you know, I laugh with people and say the glamorous job, whether I was an editor or in this incarnation is Indagare is people see the good stuff. You know, we only share the things that are wonderful, but you kiss a lot of frogs to find the Prince. So it really is, you know, we probably defined your truffle guide. We probably scouted with three or four that took a bunch of dogs into the woods and couldn’t find the truffle and it was a disaster and we would never recommend them. So it takes an awful lot of just on the ground research, and working and networking and, and using not just our contacts with people on the ground, in the different countries, but that’s what I loved about this whole crowdsourcing idea is our clients are an incredible, our members, incredible source of great contacts. I mean, so many of our guides have come because someone like you had a great experience in Italy and said, by the way, when I was in Berlin, you know, last year we met this incredible guide who knew everything about World War II history, and you’ve got to look him up. And so we do, we look them up and we use a lot of the resources we get from our members.
Mimi:
That’s great. Now, how do you keep track? Just going down to like the trivial thing, like keeping track of details, if it’s, if it’s your industry or somebody else’s keeping track of clients or networking, how are you keeping track?
Melissa:
So when we first started, I mean, it was writing things down on paper and, you know, on very basic documents as we’ve, company’s grown and, you know, we have thousands of members and, and, you know, dozens of team members and we want to keep really rich history. We are on, you know, wonderful tools like Salesforce and, you know, we use Salesforce as our CRM. We use HubSpot for digital marketing. So we definitely try to take care of Slack for internal communication. There’s a lot of tools that we use that help us keep track of all the information and classify it and be able to slice and dice it in the ways that you want to.
Your Dream Has To Match Reality – See if You Belong In The Role You Want
Mimi:
That’s great. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Slack. So I need to look into that. Do you have advice for someone who’s looking to start in this industry? And do you think like someone who’s an entrepreneur should have experienced before starting their own company?
Melissa:
Well, I think for someone who wants to start in the industry, the most important thing is to figure out whether your ideas of what being in that industry are like match the reality of it. And so you have to work in it and see if you feel that you belong. And, and I always think of, you know, in high school and college, I really wanted to be a writer and I worked for a while. And then I went to graduate school and creative writing, and I had the opportunity to live sort of the solitary life of a writer for two years. And I hated it. And so, you know, this industry is really people focused. It’s incredibly dynamic and it’s wonderful. I mean, you get incredible people. You’re always learning every single day is different. And some people think they want to be in the travel world and then they come and they work either for us or for similar companies. And they realize every single day is different. You have no idea what you’re going to be thrown at no matter how organized you are. You can show up at work one day and somebody missed their plane, or there’s been a typhoon in Southeast Asia, and you’ve got to try and re you know, figure out how to get somebody someplace else. And if that kind of unpredictability and sort of on the fly problem solving is not your thing. You probably aren’t actually going to want to be in this industry as much as there may be elements of it that you like. So I think that is sort of just a key thing for any sort of industry wide thing. And then in terms of, you know, an entrepreneur, I think, first of all, I think everybody today has to be entrepreneurial in their thinking, no matter what role that they’re in, because careers are changing so quickly, the world is changing so much that, you know, you have to be adaptable and creative and sort of solutions oriented to figure out how to survive and thrive. You know, and I look at so many people in the world that I know who’ve spent years building businesses, whether it’s restaurants or hotels or travel companies on the ground who are seeing their businesses completely wiped out and they may not come back. And so how do they reinvent themselves? And I think everybody should be always thinking, how can I innovate and change? But I also think that ultimately being an entrepreneur, it’s not just a job because it’s, it requires so much more focus and time than a job. And when I was a travel editor at town and country, I could check out at the end of the day or over the weekend. And it, wasn’t my responsibility that the organization continued to thrive and go on when you’re an entrepreneur, the entire enterprise, and all of your stakeholders ultimately depend on the decisions that you make. And so you can’t ever turn off. So I think you gotta be doing it, not just for the paycheck or a pay off. I think you have to do it because you almost don’t believe that you could be doing anything else with your time. And that’s sort of the way I feel like I got into this, I got to travel at a young age. I see how it changes people’s lives. The best memories of my life are often when I’m traveling. And so I feel this privilege and responsibility to be able to do that for other people. And I think it, it helps if it feels like it’s your calling.
Getting Outside and Balancing Being a CEO and Mom All At Once
Mimi:
That’s really well said. I love that. So how, I mean, obviously there’s moments when it’s very stressful. So do you have any special way or favorite ways that you distress after work or throughout the day?
Melissa:
Yeah, I mean, for me being in nature is incredibly restorative and my home base is New York. So I live near central park, but as much as I can get outside and sort of be reminded of how wide the world is and be restored by just natural landscapes, I find incredibly relaxing, but also reinvigorating. I also will confess them and I love a great deep tissue massage that really helps. But in general, it’s, it’s really, you know, being with friends and family and, and discovering new places. And I don’t distress so much as I recharge. And traveling to different places. And in that literally can be a different restaurant around the corner, but just seeing new things recharges me. It’s not true for everybody, but it definitely works for me.
Mimi:
Yeah. I’m the same way. I always like to have new things and keep kind of moving. So I appreciate that. Okay. So you’re a mom and also an entrepreneur and you and your company, or you’re a badass CEO. So how do you keep everything kind of going and on track? Like, is there any special or you’re a paper person or digital person, any, any tricks that you can give Any other person that’s struggling a lot?
Melissa:
I mean, I’m obsessed with, to do lists. My kids are so sick of me trying to get them to, but I really, really helps me. And I have, you know, sort of like daily to do lists weekly to do lists quarterly to do lists. I use Trello, which is like a great digital app that helps you organize your calendars or your boards as they call them. So I can have different to do lists and Trello boards. And that really helps me. I’m also, I do definitely structure my days really carefully in terms of calendars. So, you know, I kind of know exactly what I’m doing Monday to Friday nine to five for weeks ahead. And I’ll block time in those to do, to do lists or to catch up on certain things. But yeah, I do find I’m in some ways, not a process person, I’m more creative, but I need process to organize me.
Mimi:
Right. A common theme is, is time blocking, right? Where you have it written, you’re in your calendar and you kind of do everything at once and group everything kind of together. So I want have people like your, like your kids or my kids, how they get through the day without having to do this. I cause I’m going to do this person too. And I can never understand when someone doesn’t have it to do list. I’m like, how do you know what to do?
Melissa:
Very possible. My kids actually have them, but they don’t call them that because it would be like conceding that maybe I was right about something.
Have A Great Network of People And Keep Learning
Mimi:
That’s true. I didn’t look at it that way. Okay. So final question. If you were to give any advice to someone who wants to start out or is in the midst of starting out, I had someone contact me yesterday who is a also fellow CEO. And she’s like, I love listening to your podcast. Cause like I’m on days where I’m kind of bummed out. It keeps me going. I know I’m not alone going through this. So is there any advice that you would give anybody?
Melissa:
I think the thing that I love the most about it in many ways is the constant learning and you know, and that’s what you’re doing. You’re giving people a community and more resources to learn from. I love sort of listening to other people and learning from them. And you know, again, to me, it’s, it’s so much about having kind of a growth mindset and since you’re constantly solving problems, that’s one thing. But a lot of the problems that we’re solving other people have done before us. And so having a great network of people that you can turn to for advice, who, as you said, you know, can make you remember that you’re not alone in the struggles of trying to figure things out. And that can be anything from, as you said, the, you know, how do you organize your day to, you know, what kind of financial tools you’re gonna to use or what kind of new systems you’re going to put your team on? What kind of healthcare you’re going to offer them? I mean, there’s just a lot of stuff that as an entrepreneur, you can often feel so alone in. And so remembering that there is a great network of people who can offer advice, constellation, tips, other people I think is really key. And there’s no question I’ve been lucky to have great sort of angels show up along the way to help point me in the right direction or give me the confidence to make certain changes that I wasn’t sure about. So, you know, I think having that, that great network is so key. And I was really lucky because I had great bosses and mentors over the years. And all of them shared this belief that if you show up with integrity in every interaction, that’s how your reputation is built. And I’ve seen people over the years who were really focused on the people ahead of them who could move them forward and didn’t pay any attention to the people who maybe weren’t, they didn’t think would serve them. And which always kind of shocked me, but you know, I really believe that karma exists and that you can pay it forward. And if you are constantly coming from a place of generosity and respect, not only are you going to have a better life, but you’re going to find these helpers along the way that are going to give you a hand. I mean, there’s that great book Give by Adam Grant. Who’s a professor at Wharton and he basically quantifies what I’ve always sort of subjectively. I knew it was true that like to do the right thing by people comes back to you. But he literally analyze the people who were the takers and the givers. And he calls them that in, in all sorts of different careers, he looks at medical, the medical field, he looks at banking. He looks at the Silicon Valley and the takers think they’re smarter and more strategic about taking advantage of situations. But ultimately it was the givers who ended up always doing better. And it was really because they built a network of people who wanted to help them succeed.
Mimi:
I love that. I love that. Cause I re I love this book called the go giver. So that’s what I thought you were going to say. And it’s the same idea how you should always, I don’t remember the author I should. Oh, it’s always about like, it’s about the same thing about, you should always be thinking about what you can help somebody and do something instead of what they can do for you.
Melissa:
Yeah. And in our office, we always say, make a deposit before you make a withdrawal.
Mimi:
That’s well said.
Melissa:
Yeah. And it’s interesting. Good, because that was a tenant that I often found people coming into our organization didn’t understand. They thought sort of thought like I’m going to evaluate like whether or not this person is useful to me. And I was always like, don’t look at it that way, assume that you can learn something from everybody and that you can do something for everybody. And if you do that, then you would be surprised at how many doors will open up for you.
Mimi:
It’s true. I love that philosophy. That’s what I try to live by.
Melissa:
You feel good? I mean, you go through life, actually feeling good about the way you’re living your life, as opposed to sort of being suspicious of what can I get out of this person? That to me is just a really sad way of looking at the world.
Mimi:
No, it’s true. This is, this is amazing advice, Melissa. Thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate it. You had some really great comments and takeaways and I know everyone’s going to love it. So I appreciate it.
Melissa:
Thank you so much. I love talking to you, Mimi.
Mimi:
I know this has been great. Thank you. Thank you for joining me on the bad-ass CEO podcast. If you enjoy today’s episode, please leave a review and see you next time. Thank you.
