Sally Bunnell will be the first to say building a startup isn’t easy. But the Oxford, Nebraska native has a track record of finding a way to follow through on her ambitions — from the entertainment world to the travel industry. 

“It’s like always having an unsatisfied feeling partnered with the anxiety of thinking someone else could be doing this now,” said Bunnell. “This is my idea. I can’t keep letting time pass me by.”

Bunnell is the founder and CEO of NaviSavi, a travel tech startup founded in 2018 to help people plan trips through short, unedited videos uploaded by fellow users. Based in Bunnell’s hometown, NaviSavi has earned international awards and recognition from conferences and competitions abroad. The startup’s accolades include being awarded Startup of the Year from both the World Aviation Festival 2024 and Touristech Startup Fest 2024. 

Other award highlights include:

• Industry Person of the Year from the 2024 Traverse Creator Awards
• Emerging Business Model Award Finalist from the Tourism Innovation Summit 2024
• Innovation Pitch Winner from the London Travel Massive Innovation Night
• Trailblazer Award Finalist from the Trailblazer Awards 2024

NaviSavi has developed its current MVP and B2B2C model into a self-described “travel marketplace.” General travelers use the app to plan and book trips. Experienced travel content creators earn revenue for their posts. And vacation destinations worldwide get access to relevant marketing material.

User-generated content is king

In December, the platform launched its user-generated content licensing portal, allowing businesses to access and use travelers’ captured videos.

“User-generated content has become a cornerstone of decision-making in travel, profoundly shaping how customers choose destinations, accommodations and experiences,” said Silvia Avilés, event director of the Tourism Innovation Summit. 

Providing a breakdown of recent trends in travel, she said the impacts of advancing technologies and post-pandemic realities had increased customers’ demands for personalization, flexibility and convenience. 

“Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and TripAdvisor have elevated the importance of reviews, photos and authentic narratives shared by other travelers,” Avilés added. “Modern consumers place greater trust in content created by their peers, perceiving it as more relatable and authentic than traditional marketing campaigns.” 

Kevin O’Shaughnessy, co-founder of the travel startup CityHook and leader of the Dublin chapter of Travel Massive — a global networking organization for those in the travel industry — further described the evolution of the customer journey. With the rise of social media and AI prompting, aspiring travelers are creating itineraries outside typical search engines.

“They’re not coming through generic landing pages,” said O’Shaughnessy. “They’re coming in with a richly contextual, content-driven, personalized way of getting into an ideation funnel and then a booking funnel.”

Bunnell said she saw the rise of user-generated content’s significance during her career in the music industry in New York City. While working as a producer and creative director for popular brands and artists like Kidz Bop and Selena Gomez in the 2000s-2010s, she witnessed stars posting videos from their smartphones with promising click-through rates at a fraction of the price they were paying for commercials.

Anyone can be a content creator

NaviSavi was initially shaped by Bunnell’s passion for travel; she’s visited 113 countries. It became a reality because Bunnell recognized a powerful opportunity in the creator economy. She started reaching out to traveling content creators to grow the platform’s video library. Bunnell gives creators, and any app user, an equal-opportunity source of revenue via the app. NaviSavi pays $1 per approved video, plus royalties from any sublicensed content.

“Brands don’t want to deal with a bunch of individual creators because it can be a nightmare on their accounting system,” said Bunnell. “We basically act as an agent, managing the in-between and client relationships with the creators.”

Such traveling content creators include Meredith San Diego. Going by her personality online  that was inspired by the popular character Carmen Sandiego, she said life traversing both world borders and media landscapes can be a challenge — especially with finding the time to engage audiences and potential clients. 

“A lot of people are really looking for ways to earn money while traveling until they can get themselves secure,” said San Diego. “Any app that’s out there that actually offers content creators money for what they are doing, even if it is just $1, that’s massive.”

With more time on their hands and money in their pockets for hostel stays and budget backpacking, San Diego said creators can dedicate themselves to inspiring others to see the world. 

NaviSavi’s B2B content-licensing portal has access to more than 125,000 geolocated videos from around 180 countries submitted by 5,000 creators, according to a company spokesperson. 

Coming back to Nebraska

Bunnell said her move back home to Oxford from New York was sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. From living in a tiny apartment with two roommates to finding herself in her childhood home, she said the return allowed her to connect with friends, family and the networks within the state. 

“It was like one of those Hallmark movies: big city girl moves back to a small town,” said Bunnell. “And the comedy show was me basically living with my parents for the first time since I was 18.”

Nebraska presented less access to capital and global connections than what she experienced in the startup networks of New York. The ecosystem’s smaller size also meant the community was more generalized compared to larger markets offering multiple industry-specific cohorts with industry-specific needs. However, Nebraska did offer a collaborative and welcoming environment for her to navigate. 

“There were a lot of programs, but they were very, very hidden,” said Bunnell. “There are all kinds of grants, investors and opportunities through the universities, and I had to put those pieces together.”

Launching the platform in 2021 at the College World Series, Bunnell said she couldn’t rely solely on her support in Nebraska. Facing looming closure and resistance to her original B2C model from investors in a post-pandemic world, she turned to outside resources, like the Build in Tulsa Techstars Accelerator in 2023 and global travel industry conferences, to develop her company and its presence. 

Going the distance

Those in the travel industry’s networks, like O’Shaughnessy, emphasized the importance of being present in the physical spaces where people come together.

“You can be on the road from October to May and then everybody beds down for a tough few months of trading during the summer, but conferences can go all year,” said O’Shaughnessy. “Whether it’s aviation, travel retail or distribution, you’re at a conference to do business.”

It was at these conferences that Bunnell discovered the different competitions she wanted to enter. She also met industry leaders and creators to work with, like San Diego, who brought up her personal disdain for how expensive such events can be. 

“How much is that exposure worth your budget?” posed San Diego to attendees.

To stay active in these networks and connect with her team working abroad, Bunnell said she’s more of a digital nomad now, jumping back and forth as a part-time Nebraska resident and part-time London resident. In a press release, Bunnell said early this year NaviSavi will announce the names of 15 corporate clients they’re working with — ”some of them among the biggest names in travel.” 

John Grange, co-founder and general partner at MOVE Venture Capital, said that it can be difficult to assess the success of a startup in its early stages where there isn’t much substantial proof of profitability. But when investing in NaviSavi, Grange said they looked more at Bunnell herself, her background and the work she’d already done landing content and conversations. 

“So much of business and fundraising — like life — is networking. You don’t know where you’re going to end up, but you just start taking meetings and meeting people and stuff happens,” said Grange.

“Sally literally travels the world. She knows everybody and meets everybody and has a new business opportunity presented to her like every week.”