# Viator: Rod Cuthbert

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2024-10-14
- Length: 1h 09m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert

## Summary

Rod Cuthbert, founder of Viator, explains how a failed contract with travel technology giant Sabre in 1997 led to the creation of an online booking platform for tours and activities. After securing funding from Carlisle Ventures, Cuthbert and his team pivoted from a B2B model to a consumer-focused marketplace, introducing premium 'skip-the-line' experiences at major attractions like the Vatican. The company survived near-bankruptcy in 2005 by raising capital through a serendipitous connection with an investor, eventually growing to $300 million in gross bookings before being acquired by TripAdvisor for $200 million in 2014.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=0) Introduction: Rod Cuthbert and Viator
- [4:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=285) Early Career and the Sabre Contract
- [22:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=1371) The Sabre Layoff and Birth of Viator
- [28:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=1715) Naming Viator and Early White-Label Growth
- [40:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=2419) Innovation: Skip-the-Line Tours and Premium Experiences
- [45:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=2748) Cash Flow Crisis and the Carlisle Ventures Investment
- [53:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=3218) The Look Tours Theft and Leadership Transition
- [1:00:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert#t=3641) The TripAdvisor Acquisition and Lessons on Luck

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Viator (product)
- Sabre (company)
- Expedia (company)
- TripAdvisor (company)
- Carlisle Ventures (company)
- Look Tours (company)
- Rome to Rio (company)
- U.S. Bank (company)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-14-viator-rod-cuthbert. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.