Several months ago before traveling to Austin, Texas for the interactive portion of the famed South by Southwest Festival, I loaded up on new apps and tools that I thought would be beneficial for the trip. One of the sites I ended up joining during this process was gtrot, a social sharing site for your up coming travel plans. I entered in my Austin trip, and immediately was able to see friends that had been there, friends that had overlapping trips, and friends that live in the city I was traveling to. I was also sent emails of deals in the Austin area from all the social deal sites, such as Groupon, the week before my trip. This feature is incredibly awesome, and I’ve used it for almost every trip I’ve taken since.
After doing more research, I discovered that one of the co-founders of gtrot is
Brittany Laughlin. Since we’re all about female entrepreneurship at Girls in Tech, I reached out to Brittany to see if she could answer some questions for us, and give us some insight on how she got started and what advice she has for other girls interested in tech startups.
If you have a degree, in what field is it?
I have a BS in Marketing and International Business from Stern and a minor in Film & TV from Tisch, both from New York University.
What led you to get involved with the career you are in now?
I knew I wanted to work in a fast paced environment but I wasn’t actually sure which. I had a lot of interests so it took some weeding out. I found that I kept being drawn into stories about technology and realized the fact that I spent all of my free time and money on travel meant I probably should look there. I did a ton of research, looked at the market, built a plan to build a service I wanted and tested to see if the market needed. I joined forces with my Cofounder Zach Smith in May of 2010 to build http://www.gtrot.com.
Who has had the biggest influence on your career?
My parents were both entrepreneurs and have always been supportive of me. Seeing companies built from scratch growing up always interested me. I always knew I wanted to start my own business but I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to be. I joined American Express after I graduated to work on new product launches and customer acquisition. Pretty quickly I realized I was a better fit for a smaller company but the economy was pretty shaky. My parents gave me some great advice “Stay on your current path until you find another one.” I saw a lot of friends and colleagues laid off and although I wanted to explore other options, I was patient. I saved money, got paid to learn and built some great relationships at American Express. Once I had the plans for gtrot in place and money to live on, I took the leap. My family and friend’s support to leave a great job for the unknown made the transition all the easier.
What would you say, is the most important tool you use on a day to day basis?
I’m completely dependent on technology. I travel a lot for business so my phone and laptop are absolute musts. In terms of software, beyond the great suite of Google products-Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar – I’m a huge fan of Dropbox. It’s so nice to be able to share big files with my team no matter where I am.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your career?
Don’t be afraid to try out a lot of things in order to find the right one. It’s completely okay to test-drive ideas and industries. My friends heard a lot of my different ideas for how to impact green tech, contribute to the film community and make fashion easier to find. I put big ideas out there, started vetting them and realized what did and didn’t work for me. In the end, I found the one that stuck and I’m so happy I put in the effort to chase it.
Do you have any advice for girls entering technology related careers?
I think with any industry, it’s important to be excited about what you’re working on. There are tons of great resources to get up to speed on industry news, technology improvements, market leaders and so much more. Take advantage of all of that information to make the best product decisions and to be part of an incredible community. Learning as much about the industry also helps you realize whether it’s the right place for you. Find the segment that interests you and get involved.
How do you think we can best encourage more females to enter the technology sector?
I think the technology industry is one of the most exciting places to be. It is filled with hard working, smart people that truly want to change the world. Whether your skill set lies in design, development, marketing, business development or financing there is an opportunity for you. Find people already involved and reach out with questions and insights. I’m always happy to meet with new people excited about technology. The internet is now a huge part of our lives, I think introducing technology as a career to young men and women will help grow a diverse community in the future.
A huge thanks to Brittany for her time and sharing her wisdom with us! To learn more about gtrot or to start adding trips, visit www.gtrot.com
