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If you want to start a business, then business class may be the best place to start. Not Business 101, mind you, but the front part of the airplane. by Jordan Yerman illustration Pablo Luebert
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an investor or someone who just likes to watch, cruising altitude is where the action is. Delta Air Lines baked networking straight into its Innovation Class concept, a 2014 campaign designed by agency Wieden+Kennedy New York, which the airline billed as “a mentoring program at 35,000 feet.” Industry experts and budding entrepreneurs could apply via LinkedIn for a business-class flight where they’d have the opportunity to run some ideas past the likes of chef Sean Brock or Eric Migicovsky, the creator of the Pebble smartwatch, en route to prestigious events such as TED or the James Beard Awards. Turkish Airlines’ Invest On Board and Virgin Atlantic’s Pitch TV turned startup pitches into business-class in-flight entertainment features. While crossing a continent or ocean, an investor could
Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an investor, cruising altitude is where the action is.
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check out a cavalcade of ideas. While Pitch TV is no longer active, Invest On Board is still going strong. For the investor, the experience can be a bit like starring as a venture capitalist on Shark Tank or Dragons’ Den, but without the pressure. For the entrepreneur, the appeal is even more clear: Your pitch deck will be inches from the eyeballs of a captive audience of high-flying decision makers, and you only have to record that pitch once. The road to startup success is littered with failures both spectacular and banal. This makes in-flight pitch success stories that much more exciting. For example, TaxiStartup emerged from
the Invest On Board program, and provides app-based technology to help established taxi companies compete with upstart disruptors such as Uber. Cofounder and chief commercial officer Eugene Suslo credits the Turkish Airlines program with finding TaxiStartup its first seed investor, a crucial step in a startup’s life cycle. For those who see the startup scene as a spectator sport, Virgin Australia has you covered. The antipodean airline has inked a deal with That Startup Show, so Virgin’s passengers can watch the popular comedic talk show series, which features Australian entrepreneurs looking to launch the next legendary unicorn.
Airline Passenger Experience Association