Kevin Moreno
(Photo Credit: Kevin Moreno)
Name: Kevin Moreno
Current Job: Founder/CEO at Hüsto
Favorite restaurant in town? Town Hall
Favorite thing about Cleveland? No traffic! (and memories of LeBron)
Q: Kevin, you are still in school and run a startup, how do you balance your time? For me, it is all about utilizing capacity, planning, and making sacrifices. Knowing that I must divide my time between school, Hüsto, day-job, social life, meals, gym, and sleep means I need to utilize every minute to the most of my ability. When it was time to study, I would clear my brain of anything else and lock in on the task at hand. When it is time to work on Hüsto, I do the exact same. I am also meticulous about planning my days. I often outline each half hour of the day in my notes so that I can focus solely on that activity. When I started doing this as a freshman, I realized how effective I can be across the 24 hours in a day. Now, of course, things go wrong, and I had to make corrections along the way. Whether it be quickly scarfing down a meal, cutting a workout short, or editing a pitch deck during lecture, it is rare to ever have a day without cutting some corners. Planning ahead, however, is how I have been able to juggle the tasks at hand.
Q: Why did you start Hüsto? I first became interested in the travel industry when my father, a regular business traveler, mentioned how terrible a hotel booking experience was. He taught me from a young age that any successful business is aimed around solving a problem. So being a naïve freshman, I dug into the world of online travel agencies (OTAs). I quickly became obsessed when I noticed that hotels and airlines were very vocal about their concerns with the current OTAs. So, sitting in my dorm room, I asked the obvious question: if the three major stakeholders (customers, hotels, and airlines) are looking for something new, why has no one solved this? Hüsto’s solutions are seemingly obvious, which is a great thing! In the tech world, it is often the solutions that, when looking back, appear obvious which have the greatest impact.
Q: Despite being in school, you were able to raise a few hundred thousand in fundraising. How did you convince investors to give you money even though you weren't full-time? So far in our fundraising journey, we have decided to raise strictly from strategic, private investors because we found that many institutional groups who claim to be “early stage,” actually demand later stage structure (i.e. graduated from college, recurring revenue, direct industry experience, etc.). Notwithstanding, we knew as we entered conversations with the private investors that we had to go above and beyond our biological age. Given that our investors are 30+ years older than me, our ideas and arguments had to be bulletproof. We found that if you come to the table with a sound, logical business plan that can stand its ground against industry veterans, the question of being in college is often forgotten. Plus, we typically engaged investors who have started (or managed) companies from a very young age. If they could go back and invest in themselves, I bet they would.
Q: Do you plan on staying in Cleveland once you graduate? If yes, why? If no, why? Given that I graduate in only five months’ time, it is hard to anticipate being somewhere else in the short term. Though it is a pivotal moment for myself and the company, I do not view graduation as the event that sparks a move. Discussing this with the team over several months, we want to set up an HQ once we have the recurring revenue to support it. I am open to several locations, but I will be pitching the team on Cleveland. It’s an amazing city with strong potential. Regardless, I will be democratic about such a big decision and open the conversation to the entire team.
Q: When COVID ends, where is your first vacation and why? While we have our fingers crossed for a vaccine, I already have my first post-quarantine trip to Austin, Texas, lined up. I chose Austin for a few reasons: 1. I have never been there, 2. I hear their food is as authentic “Texas” as one can get, 3. The tech scene is sprawling. Going off that last point, I want to see, firsthand, what is making Austin boom. With an exodus from California, I believe Austin serves as a great location for the new Gold Rush in tech talent. Importantly for Hüsto, I am interested to see what lessons Cleveland can learn to attract those exiting.