From an idea to a thriving business.

'Hi Stefan, you're going to Marrakesh in 60 minutes...'

In early 2012, Stefan from Concept7, got on a plane to Barcelona for a UX conference. The Friday after the conference, he had no plans and he phoned our office manager. Whether she would book a trip for him on that day, without telling him where he was going. A text message with the flight number was enough...

At the airport, he discovered that his trip was going to Marrakesh. It was going to be a crazy weekend. He had nothing planned and was more open to people and things. So he drove to the Atlas Mountains with a taxi driver and spent the afternoon there with a Berber family. That got him thinking. There are more people like him. People who don't want to plan everything and like unexpected things best. It surprised Stefan that he always has to fill in where he wants to go when he travels. Wouldn't it be great if the destination was just unknown?

Who is waiting for this?

Sounds nice, but are there really people waiting for this? People who book a trip and pay money for it, when the destination is unknown? And who are these people, what do they want? Does the idea already exist and how will it be implemented? A thousand and one questions ran through us.

We delved into the travel market and did research. We found no company implementing the idea of destination unknown. Perhaps there is no need for it then. But we did not want to be seduced by competitors' behaviour and tried to look at the overall market in a different way. We felt things could be different, but where were the opportunities?

MBTI

About 55% of people have a preference for "judging" according to the MBTI model, we know from our knowledge and experience of MBTI (Myer Briggs Type Indicator). People who are judging like to plan and give little room for improvisation. The current travel market seems quite suitable for these people. It is possible to view hundreds of reviews in advance of every conceivable location in the world. You can gather endless information and compare experiences on sites like Google and Tripadvisor. How far is the sea? Where should I go? What should I do? The need to go on holiday when you don't know where to go seems non-existent or insignificant for these people.

From MBTI, we also know that 45% of people are predominantly "perceiving". This is the opposite trait to judging. These people value freedom and give impulses free rein. They are likely to be open to a holiday with the destination unknown. This is where we were in the right corner. We read and wrote on holiday forums. We shared the idea with as many people as possible and got a lot of feedback and questions.

We also conducted a survey, which was eventually completed by more than two hundred people. People even spontaneously offered to help build the concept (for free). We printed out the surveys and read each one. We wrote down all the questions, comments and things we noticed on separate post-its. We got more and more grip on the idea and insights into the needs and behaviours of people booking holidays. The concept then called 'destination unknown' might have a good chance of success.

Who pays €800 for Product X?

We had a lot of feedback and concrete ideas and we were looking for conclusions. To the real potential of our idea. Who are these people who would book a holiday with us? And why. It's not that you're going to sell pens. You're talking about a lot of money and a product of value.

We wanted to know what people thought about our idea. One of the questions in our survey was: 'How likely are you to book a trip where your destination is unknown, but the price and departure period are known?' You could answer with a number on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is very unlikely and 10 is very likely.

Those who gave a 9 or 10 had almost no questions about the idea. They prefer to tell as little about themselves as possible so that the holiday is a big surprise. They are made for this concept. It's about 20 per cent of people. They are interested in our idea from two needs:

• The desire for adventure.

• Avoiding choice stress.

This was an important insight. We thought our idea would particularly appeal to people with a thirst for adventure, more it turns out that it is also of interest to people who want to avoid stress. Our idea thus ties in with a current theme: the paradox of choice. We have so much to choose that making choices - big and small - causes us stress. Not having to think about your holiday destination can be a huge relief for many people.

For whom it is not

In the group of people who gave a rating of 0 to 7, the objections do matter to us, but we still don't adjust the concept accordingly. It is not a bad thing to be uninteresting or less interesting to a large group, as long as there is enough potential in the group that is enthusiastic. Moreover, for all individual objections, we asked ourselves whether we could remove them (What clothes do I take with me, I do want sunshine when I go on holiday, et cetera.) This was possible in almost all cases.

We wondered how to get the group of neutral people (We assumed those who gave an 8.) excited. What would they like? What do they need to book though? How can we convince them that this concept is for them? After long discussions, we were left with 50 questions that come into play when people book with us. This became the basis of our FAQ on the website. We had answers to many questions, but some we still had to work on.

Another question in the survey was: 'Do you think we should continue developing this idea?' And wow, 96% of respondents answered 'yes' to this! However, this does not mean that these people would also book with us. We know there is a difference between what people say during research and what they do in practice. The best way to find out if this was feasible was to just start as soon as possible.

April 2013: The first booking

In April 2013, we made our first booking! It is our very own Stefan and he is going on a surprise trip with his mate Emile. They are going to experience travelling via destination unknown. They drank ice-cold red house wine in Milan. Too dirty for words, but what a great experience!

We spent hours with the first booking. That is still a focus for the business model for a while. But we knew that and we already have scenarios in place for this.

What incredible fun it is to book a holiday for someone else. The whole world is suddenly part of the possibilities, within the constraints you have been given. This is what we will be doing soon: Pick an awesome experience for someone. Every single time. No wearing out leftover plane seats or scoring cheap travel deals but looking for a beautiful location with an open mind.

Not a product but a mindset

Almost daily, we sketched ideas for the 'destination unknown' site and stuck them on a big brown sheet. We wanted to go live as soon as possible so we could learn from the concept. At the same time, the concept had to be very well executed. Holidays are not cheap and people often spend a lot of time figuring them out. Do people trust us enough to leave this to us? The tension between 'live as soon as possible' and 'execute as well as possible' is something we struggled with.

We initially created a simple site. We made sketches, interaction designs and designs and translated them into a working website. You could indicate what type of holiday you want, when you want to go and where you absolutely don't want to go. Finally, a few travel stories and a 'booking funnel'.

We were not satisfied with the name 'destination unknown'. And it is essential in this concept. 'Unknown' has a negative association. It is a feature of the holiday, but not the reason to book. We looked for the essence of our idea. We want to be an organisation that brings the uninhibited back into travel. Offering a solution for people who don't want to google their holidays to death. We want to give adventure and freedom to those who don't (can't) experience it now. We feel the essence, but articulating it and translating it to others is a chore. And to come up with a good name 😅

A name that captures the essence

We wrote a contest for eighty dollars on naming force. A website where a large group of people come up with lots of names based on a small briefing. After a week or two, we had 1280 (!) names. But actually there wasn't 1 among them that really excited us.

We brainstormed. A lot. Eventually we came up with the name SRPRS, the word SURPRISE without the vowels. Where 'destination unknown' emphasises the negative side of the concept, SRPRS articulates the cheerful, adventurous side. The surprise. The name invites further explanation of the concept. Later, we added the .me. That completed it for us. This is how we carry on through life, SRPRS.me!

A name does not sell a mindset

The name of our concept was a reality. And the idea behind it was also crystal clear to us. We wanted to sell a mindset rather than a destination: one in which you are open to new experiences and live your own, authentic holiday.

However, the existing site we had created did not match our new understanding. We decided to throw it away and start again. Back to the drawing board. To the core of our idea and a rock-solid translation online. We started from copy.

An English-speaking copywriter wrote a manifesto for us that states who SRPRS.me is, what we stand for, what we sell and where our strengths lie. She managed to put the concept down very cleanly and strongly in words. We made srprs.me more and more into a brand with a certain mentality. A movement you want to belong to.

Hiring people

The concept began to take more and more time. By now, about 25 people had booked with us, all friends or acquaintances who had heard of us through word of mouth. These people knew us and therefore had confidence in us. These first trips helped us hone the concept but it also took a lot of time. We discovered that if we wanted to get serious about this, we needed someone working on this full-time.

We asked Tim, who had graduated from Concept7, if he wanted to run the startup on a day-to-day basis. He became product owner of srprs.me and worked together with people from Concept7 to develop the new website and further develop the new visual style and tone of voice.

Then it was time to go live. On 4 March 2014, SRPRS.me went live. It was a minimal website with no cms but a rock-solid foundation, a distinctive visual style and a killer tone of voice. This allowed us to move forward.

Live met MVP

Once the brand idea was clear, things moved quickly. We went live with a minimal website without cms, but with a rock-solid foundation. The site had to radiate a movement and make statements. Since going live, we have been constantly changing and improving. Moreover, every booking was done manually by us, including communication with our customers.

Before we developed a system for bookings, we wanted to discover bugs and learn from our users. Every trip is unique, we do not offer ready-made surprise packages.

First unknown booker!

Through Facebook, we had already built up quite a community of people following us. Many people were interested in what we were doing: turning the travel market on its head, offering a new way of travelling, selling a mindset. But were they willing to pay for it? The family and friends who had booked with us so far trusted our blue eyes but would complete strangers do the same?

When our first booking came in through the site, which included an unknown name, we all did a dance of joy together. The bottle of champagne in the fridge had been waiting for this moment for a while. Cheers!

From going live, we took the first six months to optimise our product. To find out what people thought was cool about it and what we could improve. Slowly, we started building traffic and established good customer service. We are constantly testing, gathering feedback and improving. We interview everyone we send on trips and really listen to what they tell us. We learn a lot from this. Also how not to do it.