Assertion certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Sullivan: FlightFox Closed Its Canadian Office and Fired Everyone

Lauren Sullivan · EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan · Feb 28, 2017 · at 13:20

Lauren Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of FlightFox, discusses the difficult operational setbacks the company endured while trying to scale.

0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.5s

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“We had a big office in Canada for a while and had to fire everyone because, you know, it just wasn't working.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

FlightFox operated a large office in Canada for a period and had to lay off the entire staff because the operation was unsuccessful.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

How this resolves

Verification couldn't pin this to a public evidence class, so it stays on the record with its date, unassessed rather than guessed.

not yet assessed: in the resolution queue (grounded fact checks run in waves; this one's next)

Mentioned

Canada FlightFox

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More from Lauren Sullivan

Disclosure

Sullivan: FlightFox Has No Contingency Plan for a Travel Downturn

“We haven't thought, thought through that.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 11:35 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Sullivan: FlightFox Charges Per-Trip Fees Unlike Commission-Based Competitors

“So our revenue model we charge a fee for every trip which is unlike all of our competitors who make most of their money from commissions.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 2:14 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Sullivan: FlightFox Trimmed Travel Experts From 5,000 to 20

“We only have 20 today. At our peak, we had like 5000 but we kind of just hand-picked the best ones from that group.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 6:49 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Sullivan: FlightFox Takes 35% Cut, Experts Keep 65%

“No, we, ah, so Roland will get 65%, and we get 35%.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 7:22 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Disclosure

Sullivan: FlightFox nets only $15-$20 per consumer booking

“Well, so say for you know, we only make 35% on 50 dollars, so we're getting, like, 15, 20 dollars per per person, and the, you know, the normal person travels once a year, maybe, on a holiday.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 8:23 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Disclosure

Sullivan: FlightFox pivots to weekly high-spend corporate travel clients

“So we've started going after companies and organizations where they spend, you know, they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on travel and, you know, they're booking travel every week kind of thing.”

Lauren Sullivan Feb 28, 2017 ▶ 8:54 EP 584: FlightFox YC Founder: We Talk About When To Quit All The Time, $700k Revenue, Making Travel Way Easier with CEO Lauren Sullivan

Sullivan: FlightFox Closed Its Canadian Office and Fired Everyone

More from Lauren Sullivan

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