Have you ever found yourself leaving a business trip with the unsettling feeling that you spent too much and learned too little? On this week’s episode of the Grow VC Everyone Funding Startups podcast,  Fred Caballero (@fredchannel), C0-Founder of StartupStay (@StartupStay), discusses how his venture hopes to end this feeling forever by connecting traveling entrepreneurs with local counterparts willing to host.

In this first episode of a two part series, Fred discusses the lean development of StartupStay and the preparation for its soft launch. Fred walks listeners through the various experiments he has conducted to “get out of the building” and test customer assumptions en route to achieving product-market fit. He also discusses how his own experiences using the StartupStay model have made him a better entrepreneur.

Fred will return to the podcast in the coming weeks to discuss the results of his soft launch – were his assumptions validated or does he find himself with the need to pivot? Stay tuned for this unique glimpse into the iterative process of product development.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking “play” below or through this direct link  (right click to save).

• What is StartupStay and how did you develop the concept? (01:33)
• How did you decide between an open platform vs. invitation only? (08:00)
• Is there a sufficient number of global startup ecosystems to support this concept? (10:35)
• Can you describe your experience staying with local entrepreneurs in Latvia? (15:30)
• How has traveling made you a better entrepreneur? (18:35)
• Can you describe your soft launch, the process leading up to it and what you hope to learn? (20:36)
• How can our listeners particpate in StartupStay’s soft launch? (28:50)

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Everyone Funding Startups. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions to [email protected] or connect on twitter at @rdavidwill. If you have any questions for Fred, you can reach out to him directly at [email protected]. You can also post your question as a comment below; I’ll be sure to ask Fred during our follow-up interview.