# SquadTrip Financial Model All-in-one SaaS platform for SMB travel agencies to manage group trip bookings, payments, marketing, and CRM. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/squadtrip - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/squadtrip.xlsx - Category: Fintech - Model type: Marketplace / GMV - Funding round: Pre-seed - Funding: $1.5M - Founded: 2023 - Geography: USA (85,000 US travel agencies cited as addressable pool) [DECK, slide 7]. - Customer: B2C ## About the company SquadTrip is an all-in-one platform for SMB travel agencies organising group trips. It combines bookings, payments, marketing, and CRM so operators can run group travel businesses without stitching together separate booking and customer-management tools. The company has a tiered model: a free plan with a 3% transaction fee, a $69 premium plan with a 2% fee, and further paid tiers. This gives it both recurring subscription income and a payments-like revenue stream tied to travel bookings. The model should forecast agency customers, plan mix, users per account, booking volume, average trip value, and transaction-fee yield. Subscription MRR, payment revenue, payment costs, agency churn, and expansion through additional seats or marketing products should be tracked separately. ## What's included - 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions - Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule - Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking - Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check - Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR - Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention ## Product & value proposition - "Group Trips Made Easy" - sells itself to travel agencies as a tool to sell more and save time. - All-in-one platform covering: Lead Gen, Booking Mgmt, Payments, CRM, Doc Mgmt, Communication, Marketing Hub, Website Hub, Sales Hub, Inventory. - Traveler-facing portal plus agent portal; white-label trip pages. - Origin story: founders ran their own travel company (CDE Antigua, ~2017), processed 3,000+ bookings and $5M in travel sales before launching SquadTrip. ## Market - Problem frame: 85,000 travel agencies losing $26B revenue/yr due to manual workflows. - Target customer: 10,000 SMB travel agencies (US) × $10,000 avg ACV = $100M revenue opportunity. - SAM stated as $3.8B. (Note: the slide shows both "Market Size" and "SAM" labeled as $3.8B - likely the same figure used for both, with the $100M being the near-term serviceable opportunity from 10k agencies.) - Positioning: mid-market travel agencies; deliberately avoids large-scale (AMEX Travel, Chase Rewards) and small consumer trips. ## Revenue model - Dual revenue streams: subscription fees + variable transaction fees on bookings processed through the platform. - Three tiers: - **Basic (Free):** Booking Hub, 1 seat (+$30/mo per additional), 3% transaction fee. - **Premium ($69/mo):** Booking Hub + customized styling + Marketing Hub, 2 users (+$30/mo per additional), 2% transaction fee. - **Pro ($299/mo):** Full suite (Booking Hub, Website Hub, CRM Hub, Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Communication Hub, Integration Hub), 5 users (+$20/mo per additional), 1% transaction fee. - Avg ACV range: $2,000–$20,000; target avg ACV $10,000. - GTM channels: (1) Partnerships with travel consortia, (2) Inbound content marketing, (3) Referral program (1 free month per successful referral). - Channel partnerships: Q1 dedicated to standing up initial partnerships projected at $6M rev/yr. - Ideal customer: US travel agencies with <$10M annual sales, part of a travel consortia. ## Traction & metrics - Total GMV processed: $2,400,000. - ARR: $82,000. - Paying subscribers: 65 (+50% MoM). - Free-tier agencies generating revenue on platform: 127. - Pipeline / future billable transactions: ~$700,000 (+25% MoM). - GMV bar chart (slide 8 image): Q1-2022 ~$25k, Q2-2022 ~$200k, Q3-2022 ~$400k, Q4-2022 ~$475k, Q1-2023 ~$650k, Q2-2023 ~$1,000k (projected) - consistent with $2.4M cumulative. - Investors: Techstars, Forum Ventures, Atento Capital. - Prior travel business: 3,000+ trips, $5M in travel sales before founding SquadTrip. ## Unit economics - CAC: "Cost to build software, referral program, and pay founders ~$100k/mo" - stated as blended CAC description rather than a per-customer figure. No per-customer CAC given. - Transaction fee take-rate: 1%–3% depending on tier. ## Competition / moat - Named competitors: WeTravel, Travefy, Group Collect, Youli, Travel Joy. - Differentiators claimed: (1) Built specifically for travel agencies (not consumers); (2) UX/UI & ease of use; (3) All-in-one solution vs. point solutions. - Competitive matrix covers: Booking Hub, Website Templates, CRM, Communication, Sales Hub - SquadTrip claims full coverage; competitors have gaps. - Moat: founder-operator domain credibility (ran own travel company); Shopify-alum and TripAdvisor-alum advisors. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - CEO: Darrien Watson - SaaS Product Leader. - CTO: Stevon Judd - Engineer / Tech Architect. - Head of Growth: Donovan Brown; Head of Sales: Dean Watkins; Product/CS: Megan Fenner; Designer: Charles Engelen; Devs: Abdul Basit, Salman Tariq. - Advisors: Maia Benson (ex-Shopify, Growth); Maksim Magao (co-leads $500M auction at TripAdvisor). - Team background: Tripadvisor, Travel+Noire, Shark Tank, Shopify, Techstars, Blavity, Accenture connections; 20+ years combined travel + SaaS experience. - Round: $1.5MM pre-seed - CLOSED. - Use of funds: 46% Team & Product Dev, 40% Marketing & BD/Sales, 14% Operations. - Target milestones from this raise: $2.5M revenue, 600 paying subscribers, 18 months runway, then 2 years of runway by end of Q6. - Key product milestones: Launch CRM, email features, referral tracker. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** B2B SaaS + marketplace GMV model. Revenue has two distinct streams - recurring subscription MRR (tiered pricing) and transaction-fee revenue tied to GMV flowing through the platform. Both need to be modelled separately and then combined. This is the standard vertical SaaS / embedded payments archetype. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 8 quarters (Q1–Q8) post-raise, matching the deck's own projection horizon. Monthly granularity within each quarter is preferred so cohort timing is visible; collapse to quarterly for outputs. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value / Tag | | -- | -- | | Starting paying subscribers (Q1) | 65 | | Net new paying subscribers per quarter (Q1→Q8) | ~25 → ~525 per deck chart - use as targets; interpolate intermediate quarters | | Target paying subscribers by Q6 | 600 | | Free-tier agencies (pipeline) | 127 at deck date; conversion rate to paid 15%/quarter - consistent with 65 paid from early funnel | | Avg subscription revenue per paying customer (ARPU) | $150/mo - blend of $69 Premium and $299 Pro, weighted ~70%/30%; consistent with $82K ARR / 65 customers ≈ $1,262 ACV = ~$105/mo; deck implies $2k–$20k ACV so blend is likely skewed toward larger agencies over time; start at $105, grow to $200 by Q8 | | Transaction fee take-rate (blended) | 2.0% - blend of 1%/2%/3% across tiers; start at 2.5% (more free/basic early), compress to 2.0% as Premium/Pro mix grows | | GMV per paying agency per quarter | $9,000 - implied by $2.4M GMV across ~65 paying + 127 free users; paying agencies likely process 2–3x more; refine once cohort data available | | Monthly burn | ~$100k/mo | | Runway from $1.5MM raise | 18 months | | Revenue target (end of raise deployment) | $2.5M total | | Churn rate | 3%/month on paying subs - no churn figure in deck; use 3% as conservative SaaS benchmark for early-stage vertical software | | Gross margin on subscription | 70% - typical for vertical SaaS at this stage; no COGS breakdown in deck | | Gross margin on transaction fees | 80% - platform take with minimal incremental cost | | Sales & Marketing % of revenue | 40% (matches use-of-funds allocation) - declining as referral flywheel matures | | R&D / Product % of revenue | 35% in early quarters, declining to 25% as team stabilises | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - **Base:** Net new subs per quarter follows deck's own Q1–Q8 chart; 3% monthly churn; blended ARPU $105 growing to $175 by Q8; GMV per agency grows 10%/quarter. - **Bull:** Subscriber growth 20% faster (channel partnerships hit); churn 2%/month; ARPU ramp to $250 driven by Pro tier adoption; GMV/agency 15%/quarter growth. - **Bear:** Subscriber growth 30% slower; churn 5%/month; ARPU flat at $105; GMV/agency flat. Tests whether $1.5MM runway holds without hitting $2.5M target. - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. **Assumptions** - all toggleable drivers in one place; scenario switcher (Base/Bull/Bear). 2. **Subscribers** - cohort waterfall: new subs added per quarter, churn out, net subscribers, cumulative; split by tier (Basic/free, Premium, Pro). 3. **Revenue** - subscription MRR × subscriber count + transaction fee revenue (GMV × take-rate); monthly, collapsed to quarterly. 4. **GMV** - gross bookings volume by quarter (actuals Q1-2022–Q1-2023 from slide 8 image; projected Q2-2023 onward). 5. **P&L** - Revenue, COGS (hosting, payment processing), Gross Profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA. 6. **Cash & Runway** - opening cash ($1.5M), monthly burn vs. revenue, months of runway remaining; flags zero-cash date. 7. **KPI Dashboard** - ARR, paying subscribers, GMV, MoM growth rates, blended ARPU, net revenue retention (placeholder), burn multiple. 8. **Sensitivity** - Subscribers vs. ARPU → ARR; Churn vs. Conversion rate → runway months. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the SquadTrip financial model free? Yes. The SquadTrip model is a free Excel download with live formulas. ### Can I change the assumptions? Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.