David Urmann

David Urmann

Founder of Touristlink.com a social network that lets travelers connect with each other and with locals for tours, transport, cultural, language exchanges, friendships and more.

Website: Touristlink.com
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Member since October 18, 2011
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We envision Touristlink as the largest online community of frequent travelers and small travel providers. A virtual hub for travelers to get connected with each other and with locals for tours, transport, cultural, language exchanges, friendships and more. The rise of social media is empowering new ways for people to connect and to exchange services. The feedback we have gotten from the community on what we have developed so far has been amazing. Quote_down
  • About
Education
2009 Ohio State , PhD , Geology
I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I'm bursting with ideas!

My favorite startups:

Hipmunk, Airbnb, Peakery

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The most rewarding thing is that you can bring your big ideas to life. Plus you get the opportunity to bring a great team together and get them focused on a single purpose so that everyone shares the same idea and works passionately toward it. The frustration is sometimes covering all the details and making sure that they are all delegated and effectively communicated.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Getting too excited and not thinking through everything carefully. Startups only have a limited amount of resources so getting distracted can be a killer.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Focus on the most critical aspects of the main task. Make communication a priority for the team as its easy to assume that everyone sees things on the same path. Make sure your idea is big enough.

Full bio

Completed a PhD in Paleoclimatology from Ohio State in 2009. While completing my dissertation I moved from the US to India and bootstrapped my own business from 3  to over 80 employees. I exited this business in 2011 and launched Touristlink. I am an avid traveler and have to been to over 40 countries. I started Touristlink out of my passion for travel and raised seed funding for Touristlink in both Chile and Kenya.