This week on Coffee with Calyptus, we sat down with Angus Hardy, Co-Founder and CFO of Holibob, Angus shares hard-won lessons on resilience, financial discipline, and customer obsession. He explains why motivation grows through effort, why founders must plan for chaos, and how ground-level hospitality shaped Holibob’s mission. We also explore how Holibob’s new MCP AI infrastructure is unlocking smarter, more personalized travel experiences.
You started Whiteout Ski while still at university and then launched Holibob shortly after. What did the early entrepreneurial struggles teach you about resilience that no business school could?
One thing that is not explained enough is that motivation increases in line with the effort you put in. Motivation for building a business does not begin at a high point and then drain like battery as you come across various hurdles. You do need enough motivation to stop what you are doing and start a business, but you do not need to begin with the drive required to build a billion dollar company. Once you have taken the first step, most of your motivation comes from immersing yourself in the challenge of solving a difficult problem and creating something meaningful.
Another lesson that can only truly be learned through experience is the importance of moving forward even when everything seems hopeless. I remember calling an advisor during a particularly dire moment when I genuinely could not see the business surviving. He said, “Angus, I do not know if you are going to make it through this, but these periods are what separate those who succeed from those who don’t.” Even when all hope seems lost, the most important thing is to show up the next day and give it everything you have. You never know what might happen.
From working as a chalet host in the Alps to building a B2B travel tech platform, how did those ground-level hospitality experiences shape the way you think about customer experience at Holibob?
Our mission is to connect the world to incredible experiences. When our chalet guests returned home, it was not the flight or the bus transfer they would tell their friends about in ten years, but the amazing day on the slopes, an incredible mountain lunch, or a memorable afternoon at Aprés. Holibob exists to create a better way to enjoy extraordinary experiences and make unforgettable memories. This is the reason people travel and go on holiday, and we believe it can be delivered in a more accessible and intelligent way. Like in the chalet, at Holibob consumer experience is at the heart of everything we do.
You've worn the CFO hat at two different startups before turning 30. What's the one financial decision founders consistently get wrong that you wish more people understood?
Nothing happens as expected. You’re creating something completely new, there’s no one to look at and ask how did this happen last year. It’s looking into the looking glass and seeing your own ugly reflection looking back at you and shrugging their shoulders. So, hope for the best but contingency plan for the worst.
More practically, I would say don’t put the cart before the horse rings true in 4 out of 5 cases. Partners, internal forces or something else will tempt you into hiring or bringing in new solutions due to expected development in the business e.g. a cascade of new clients, must have requirements for deployments etc. You can do more than you think with what you have and you’ll be better off for it, from both an efficiency and bank balance perspective.
Holibob is described as "the e-commerce engine for experiences." How has Holibob reimagined what’s possible for experience vendors and travellers alike?
Great question. People are increasingly spending more on experiences than on physical goods, and 80% of millennials see experiences as the core part of their vacation. Despite this, the majority of holiday experiences are still booked offline.
Seventy percent of people book an activity within 72 hours of doing it. Convenience and relevance drive this behavior, since not every experience suits every traveler and if it isn’t easy to book, you’d rather spend your time drinking a Margarita.
Today, consumers are underserved in their ability to book fantastic experiences close to their time of travel. Holibob changes that. Through our B2B2C model, we empower travel brands to leverage their knowledge of consumers and provide the infrastructure and intelligence to cross-sell experiences.
Much like the insurance industry attaches products to flights, accommodation or holiday packages, Holibob cross-sells leisure activities. If you’re a travel brand with customers, speak to us and we’ll cross sell experiences, giving customers a great memory and generate you revenue at a zero cost of acquisition. This is a $350 billion global market and one which is coming online at a rapid rate. Holibob is on the cutting edge of that evolution.
You recently launched an exciting MCP feature! Can you tell us more about that and what the power of this AI infrastructure means for your users?
Large language models are powerful, but they have two major limitations. Their knowledge is frozen at the time of training, and they cannot interact with the outside world. This means they cannot access real-time data or perform actions like booking a meeting or updating a customer record.
An MCP is an open standard designed to solve this. It provides a secure and standardized language for large language models to communicate with external data, applications, and services. It acts as a bridge, allowing AI to move beyond static knowledge and become a dynamic agent that can retrieve current information and take action, making it more accurate, useful, and automated.
For partners and AI platforms, this means effortless integration, access to advanced AI-driven personalization, and the ability to deliver a best in class booking experience with minimal effort through Holibob. For travelers, it enables a frictionless, intuitive journey, powered by Holibob’s MCP, where every recommendation feels uniquely relevant, making it easier than ever to discover and book experiences they will love.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Coffee with Calyptus. Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep building what matters. Explore more editions and insightful articles at https://www.calyptus.co/blog.
