Lessons learned from Trvry

Living between countries gives you a chance to notice needs that might be easy to miss if you’ve only lived in one place. Trvry started with one of those observations during my MBA program.

In 2017, I kept seeing friends and family ask the same questions: “Does anyone know someone flying to the US?” or “Who’s traveling back home soon?” They wanted to send a gift, documents, or something that needed special care. Meanwhile, travelers often had room left in their luggage. What if they could use that space to help someone and cover part of their flight cost?

I researched the idea and found a few startups approaching it in different ways. Some focused on domestic trips by road. Others connected people traveling internationally, especially between the US and South America. I began sketching out a marketplace that would connect senders with travelers, talking to potential users, and getting quotes from software shops.

I understood technology, but my coding skills were limited. I also didn’t have the money to hire a team or a fundraising network to lean on. If I wanted to test the idea, I needed to build something myself.

That search led me to Bubble. In about a week, I had a prototype. It was an eye-opening moment: an idea I thought would take a team and a significant budget could become something people could actually see and react to.

I put up a landing page and a waitlist, shared the idea on social media, and asked people about it in person. A couple of friends who drove people to the airport helped gather feedback from travelers, too.

The conversations quickly moved past the product. People wanted to know: How would I know what I’m carrying? Can I trust the sender or the traveler? What happens if something goes wrong?

We explored ways to address safety and trust. But the questions about operating across borders were harder. We couldn’t find a path that felt clear and workable enough, especially given the potential risk to travelers and the limits that would place on growth.

So we moved on.

Trvry never became the business I imagined, but building it changed my direction. It introduced me to Bubble and showed me how quickly I could turn an idea into something testable. It also taught me that getting a prototype into people’s hands is only the beginning. The conversations that follow can reveal whether the business itself makes sense.