tripBuddy Founder Tawheed Abdul-Raheem (left) and Alex Fero (right), Head of Marketing and Business Development.
tripBuddy Inc. is one of many innovative startups in the 2018 reSET Impact Accelerator, a program geared toward entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development.
Founder Tawheed Abdul-Raheem told Innovation Destination Hartford about what makes his startup innovative and discussed what he hopes to gain from participating in the accelerator.
INNOVATION DESTINATION HARTFORD: Describe your company. What makes it innovative?
TAWHEED ABDUL-RAHEEM: tripBuddy Inc. is a startup designed to facilitate commuting and traveling for individuals without access to a car. We’re an innovative company because we encourage carpooling and ride sharing by providing the platform for those who drive to pick up other individuals on their traveling route with the goal of decreasing time and expense of commuting.
IDH: When and why did you start your company?
TAWHEED: The story behind tripBuddy dates back to 2008 when I arrived in the United States to study for my undergraduate degree. There were multiple occasions when I needed to leave my undergraduate campus to go to the store, but realized that transportation such as the college shuttle was unreliable.
Most of those times I would find many other students at the store as well, but I was too shy to ask for a ride. I wished a platform existed to connect me to other students. This encouraged me to devote my senior thesis to the creation of an application that would effectively track his campus shuttle bus.
Fast forward a few years, I was faced with a less than optimal situation once more, having to commute about an hour and a half each way daily to get to my new job in a city a bit too far from home. This transportation experience, along with many others, led to the development of tripBuddy in 2016. The application intends to facilitate commuting and ride sharing for those who do not wish to take a train for two hours.
The tripBuddy family hopes to engage users, drivers, and riders to hopefully one day contribute to the reduction of traffic.
tripBuddy screenshot
IDH: Why did you become involved in reSET Accelerator program?
TAWHEED: We got involved in the reSET Accelerator program because we felt it would give us the opportunity to expand our business to the Greater Hartford area. Additionally, we felt the program might provide us with resources and networking opportunities that would help us grow the company.
IDH: In what ways is your company making a social impact?
TAWHEED: The goal of tripBuddy is to minimize commuter traffic and present a platform for commuters to meet, while riding together. The backbone to tripBuddy is the riders and drivers, so our role is to provide the most efficient medium for these interactions to occur—all while improving commuter/travel time and expenditure. Our company creates more human-to-human interaction, while also reducing costs, like many other companies have done in recent years.
IDH: What has been your biggest challenge as a startup?
TAWHEED: Our biggest challenge at tripBuddy has been the expansion to more users, because for our startup to be self-maintaining we require more riders and drivers.
IDH: What resources do you need most to move your company forward?
TAWHEED: I hope to create partnerships with other companies that would lead to the promotion of my company, therefore expanding my users.
IDH: Any advice for other startups?
TAWHEED: Sales is a numbers game—to increase your chances of success, make sure you reach out to a ton of potential customers.
Learn more about tripBuddy Inc.
VISIT: www.thetripbuddyapp.com
FOLLOW: Facebook and LinkedIn
Find out more about startups participating in the 2018 reSET Impact Accelerator: