Momentum Ventures identifies successful business models and puts brilliant minds and natural leaders to work for amplified, competition-beating solutions. Deliberately focusing their innovation, the organization insists they are “not looking to reinvent the wheel”, but instead target thriving online industries that show no signs of decline. Their leaders are dedicated to absorbing the knowledge and skills in their environments, striving to carve out their own space, and they maintain that “passion is not optional”. With the online travel sector continually growing, Momentum Ventures has once again invested their enthusiasm and business processes into this industry with Alio.
Momentum Ventures CEO, Matt Keezer, discusses the initial consideration of the Alio opportunity. With the organization consistently exploring new opportunities for market and portfolio growth, he believes the expansion into the US market was their next logical move. “We know that our counterparts south of the border do very well, and we believed that we should enter once we felt that we could enter from a position of strength. With the experience of successfully launching FlightHub in Canada, we felt that the timing was right for us to take that next step and take on the American online travel space.”
Momentum Ventures is clear about the fact that they are not venture capitalists, owing to the belief that this investment space can typically be inefficient. With a team that feels connected to their work, Momentum Venture’s strategy is rather to invest in businesses and people in whom exceptional potential is evident. Says Keezer, “We take great pride in building all our businesses in-house in our Montreal office, and believe we have a lot to offer in terms of mentorship and business support services. At the end of the day, it’s about being hands-on with everything we do.”
Alio’s business unit leader, Peter LaPointe, points out that case studies and trials weren’t necessary for Alio’s business development, considering how much had already been learnt about the Canadian market and industry with the development and launch of FlightHub.
The potential in the US market for a full-service brand such as Alio was evident, and considering their wealth of experience, LaPointe affirms that Momentum Ventures was “comfortable going all-in with it.” With the future carefully mapped, the team built a successful strategy to exploit all likely potential, and of the progress of the overall development, LaPointe notes, “No surprises, really. We were well prepared to get into this marketplace.” The stable foundation of FlighHub smoothed the process and offered a tested strategy. Says LaPointe, “The only fundamental shift was that we decided to move onto the cloud using Amazon Web Services. That move allows us to scale our data needs as we grow, and helps avoid costly hardware expenses.”
Momentum Ventures has a host of successful businesses and a passionate team that continues to better and build their portfolio. Hop over to FlightHub Reviews for more details about this service, or if you think you might be their next leader, take a look at the Momentum Ventures Challenge for a chance to work with and be mentored by their winning team.
By Jennifer Klostermann
