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Personalizing Travel with Jan Seale and Coabi Kastan of Out of Office

June 27, 2022

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:05 — 81.1MB)

We all know starting a new business is not easy. It comes with a long list of challenges that can be difficult for just one person to navigate. So what happens when you’re one half of an entrepreneurial partnership? Does it become easier or more difficult to navigate these obstacles?

Or guests today, Jan Seale and Coabi Kastan, are the co-founders of Out of Office – an app that facilitates travel by offering personalized inspiration, tips, and recommendations directly from your own inner circle of family and friends. 

In this episode, Jan and Coabi walk us through how they went about building their business, the lessons they’ve learnt along the way, and the ways in which they’ve successfully managed their partnership. They also break down how the Out of Office app works and why they believe it’s the future of travel.   

“We were oftentimes the only women in the room at the leadership table, or I was oftentimes the only black woman at that table. And so I wanted to make sure that as we grew at this organization that we provided opportunities for people that didn’t necessarily always get to have seats at the tables.” – Jan Seale

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, join the Entreprenista League today at entreprenista.com/join. We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

This week’s takeaways from Entreprenista:

  • The vision for Out of Office and what it facilitates (10:17)
  • How Jan and Coabi manage their business partnership (16:11)
  • How Coabi and Jan were able to source workers without initially being able to pay their salaries (26:12)
  • How Coabi and Jan chose their investors (36:46)
  • Jan and Coabi’s team-building strategy (38:11)
  • How Coabi and Jan have incorporated the world of influencing into their business (44:34)
  • Jan and Coabi’s business monetization strategy (47:01)

Resources Mentioned:

Our Favorite Quotes:

  • “We talk a lot about places like Yelp, or TripAdvisor, and those things can be helpful, but they’re so impersonal. And there’s no way for you to calibrate your tastes on those kinds of sites. And so, we solved that with Out of Office.” – Jan Seale
  • “It is so important to know which areas of the business, which functions, each of you will own if you’re in a partnership.” – Coabi Kastan
  • “For the most part, we stayed really focused on owning whose lanes are what, and so it makes our life so much easier. Even to this day, when we’re in meetings or with our investors, we still use that same cadence, and that’s ‘who owns what?’” – Jan Seale
  • “Being an entreprenista is taking a risk not being afraid to fail, and then doing something you love, and that you’re passionate about, and putting your heart and soul behind it.” – Coabi Kastan

Connect with Jan Seale and Coabi Kastan:

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level:

Join our Entreprenista League community of women founders! You’ll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day, special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels, and MORE!

Whether you’re looking to scale your existing business and want to make the right connections, or you’re thinking about finally taking the leap to launch your business, we’re here to give you access to a community of women who will celebrate your every step, and with whom you can share the candid reality of building a business from scratch.

Join the Entreprenista League today at entreprenista.com/join. We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

PNC Celebrates Women Business Leaders

Each year, PNC celebrates women business leaders by hosting Women in Business Week. As co-founders of SocialFly and Entreprenista, Courtney and I were invited to join the lineup of this year’s keynote speakers!

Join us on Thursday, May 12th at 1p.m. Eastern Time for our keynote event, but you won’t want to miss any of the webcasts. This year’s all-virtual line up is absolutely inspiring.

To register for PNC’s Women in Business Week webcast event, head over to PNC.com/businesswebcasts – we can’t wait to see you there!

Become An Entreprenista!

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