It should come as no surprise that one of the best-kept secrets in the online travel business is the takeoff of a new company called iJet.
What else would you expect from a venture piloted by a former National Security Agency operative, staffed in large part by retired spies, and headquartered in Annapolis, MD, a magnet for current and former intelligence workers?
“I guess intelligence professionals know how to stay below the radar screen,” says Paul Stiles, iJet’s founder and chief executive. “We wanted to keep a low profile until we had something to talk about, until we were ready to go public.”
The time is nearly there. In February, iJet begins an in-house beta test of its service, which uses intelligence-gathering techniques to collect information relating to a trip. iJet’s formal launch is expected at the end of March.
As of now, the venture seems on course to meet its schedule. In a market where funding for online-related travel companies has all but dried up, iJet secured $10 million and expects to raise another $10 to $15 million in early 2001. That’s not bad for a business founded just over a year ago, and which has had to compete with a crowd of other companies for the attention of investors.
The iJet idea is to monitor the Web for travel-related information published by governments, traditional guides and news organizations, culling the data into customized reports. Stiles is betting that the information-gathering system, which is modeled after the one government intelligence agencies use, as well as the immediacy of the data, will make iJet a must-have service for travelers.
The company will initially sell its reports to travel agents through their GDS, but Stiles says he hasn’t ruled out offering the service directly from the company’s Web site.
How did iJet get this far? Stiles says several strategies have served him well as he’s steered iJet from concept to a company:
Don’t lose sight of the destination. To build what it calls “the first intelligence agency for the travel industry,” iJet started by focusing on the end-result: a 24×7 service capable of sending the latest information about any aspect of a trip, from security to weather to flight updates, to a traveler. By doing that, it avoided the mistakes that afflict many other online travel startups – second-guessing the original business model. “It’s an incredibly exciting idea, but you have no idea how complex it is,” says Stiles. Indeed, while the “what” question is settled, the company continues to ponder many of the “hows” as the date of the first beta test approaches.
Location, location, location. Even though the Internet is a major component of iJet’s distribution, the company’s offline location has proven to be a significant factor in its success. By choosing Annapolis, Stiles was able to attract scores of highly skilled employees with extensive intelligence backgrounds. Many of his new hires are retired from the government. “They’ve never had an outlet like iJet for their skills,” he says. “I think it shows that where you’re based still counts.” True enough. Had iJet tried to build a team like this anywhere else, it probably wouldn’t have been able to.
Use the method; lose the madness. While iJet will use intelligence-gathering techniques that the U.S. government fine-tuned during the last five decades, it’s avoiding the top-down management practices that sometimes cripple America’s intelligence infrastructure. “I think it’s our openness that makes us work. We make sure there’s communication between everyone. We’re more like a sports team, in some respects, than an intelligence agency,” says Stiles.
Ignore the pundits. Stiles attended every major travel industry conference in the early going, and he quickly concluded that it was safe to discount most of what the so-called experts said. “You have to trust your gut instincts to lay out what’s the best path. Don’t be a sheep – I mean, how are you going to lead if you’re a sheep?” he asks. When he hears the talking heads advising him how to manage a given issue, he generally disregards it – although he’ll allow the industry-watchers to define the challenges for him. “One of the strengths of our company is that we’re coming at this from an outside standpoint. We want to keep that fresh perspective,” he says.
It will be months before we know if these strategies have worked. But the preliminary results look promising and if nothing else, they seem to indicate that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to managing a startup online travel company.
Ultimately, that may turn out to be one of iJet’s most valuable lessons to the industry.
✓ Get the latest travel news, tips and commentary from Elliott’s E-Mail, the subversive newsletter from industry gadfly Christopher Elliott. You’ll travel like a pro. Sign up here. It’s free.
Sign up for my 
