Eleven requests, without marketing

Eleven tour operators and agencies have asked us whether they can use our software.

That sounds like a sales problem. It is a decision.

Six of the eleven are DMCs in Central Asia, five are agencies in Europe. Two completely different roles in the same value chain.

A DMC delivers services on the ground. An agency sells to the end customer. Whoever brings both onto one platform is building a marketplace.

And a marketplace only works if it is settled beforehand who owns what.

Who owns the customer data when a DMC creates a quote on our platform? Whose name is on the document? What happens when both sides want to sell the same trip independently?

You answer these questions before the first contract, or you answer them in court.

We could have connected the eleven long ago. The revenue would be welcome.

But a marketplace whose rules only emerge in a dispute cannot be sold in two years and cannot be repaired in three.

• Demand before the product is a good sign. It is not a reason to skip the product.
• If you leave rules open with your first customers, you negotiate them later against existing expectations.
• The most expensive contracts are the ones signed out of gratitude.

When did you last turn down revenue — and was it right?