CC Pioneers
The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

Collaborative Consumption Pioneers & Protagonists

Pioneer Headshot

Cathy Tao, co-founder of Tourboarding

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The easiest way to explain Tourboarding is…
is the world’s first peer-to-peer travel barter site that allows travelers to obtain accommodation and tour guiding from local hosts using their language skills as currency.

The idea came from…
my partner and co-founder Ken Chen leaving his job at Nike in China to travel the world. He was frustrated by the high cost of travel and English language lessons (which he needed to facilitate world travel). One day he had an epiphany to pair up these two groups of people into “TourBoarding” exchanges: (a) The hundreds of millions of Chinese who want to be fluent in English or a second language, and can’t afford the high cost of tuition; with the (b) hundreds of millions of people around the world who wish to visit China at an ultra-affordable cost.

Tourboarding is important because …
it promotes cooperation among diverse people. It addresses the language barrier that prevents people in the developing world from getting ahead. When people can’t converse, they can’t communicate. With no communication, nothing much happens. It is that basic. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook gets it. That’s why he’s learning Chinese.

Favourite Tourboarding success story so far…
I am happy that the site has not only benefited the Chinese, but others from the developing world, such as those from Eastern Europe, who are using TourBoarding to gain entry into China and make a good living teaching English.

The biggest challenge to overcome is …
there is this perception in much of the world that the Chinese don’t innovate, they only copy. They point to the Chinese produced versions of eBay, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. TourBoarding is here to disprove that.

A unique fact that surprises people is…
we spend very little on paid advertising. TourBoarding’s membership growth has been mostly organic. We’ve achieved growth despite the fact that social networking channels like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are blocked in China.

When I told my friends about the idea for TourBoarding, they said …
it’s a simple but powerful concept. Why didn’t I think of it first?

It’s 2015 and Tourboarding has become …
become the “Kleenex of language-financed travel”!

Another example of Collaborative Consumption I admire is …
Busuu - it’s a wonderful peer-to-peer online language learning community where people can teach each other their native language.

Archive of Collaborative Consumption Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews

Pioneer Headshot   10 Questions for Benita Matofska, founder of The People Who Share

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Marta Nowinska, founder of Swapsity

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Ryan Rzepecki, founder of SocialBicycles

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Jamie Wong, founder of Vayable

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Theo Kitchener, founder of The ShareHood

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Kelly Scales, founder of Bid & Borrow

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Campbell McKellar, Founder of Loosecubes

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Marcio Nigro, founder of Caronetas

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Jess Ratcliffe, founder of GaBoom

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Philipp Rogge, founder of frents

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Tim Hyer, founder of Rentcycle

Pioneer Headshot   10 questions for Barbara Pantuso, founder of Hey, Neighbor!

Pioneer Headshot   Ella T. Gorgla, Founder of I-ELLA

Pioneer Headshot   Cathy Tao, co-founder of Tourboarding

Pioneer Headshot   Mike Karnjanaprakorn, cofounder of Skillshare

Pioneer Headshot   Juha Koponen, Founder of Netcycler

Pioneer Headshot   Michelle Shearer, Founder of MamaBake

Pioneer Headshot   Leah Busque, Founder and CEO of TaskRabbit

Pioneer Headshot   Ron J. Williams, founder of SnapGoods

Pioneer Headshot   Stephen Rapoport, founder of Crashpadder

Pioneer Headshot   Anthony Eskinazi, founder of ParkatmyHouse

Pioneer Headshot   Drummond Gilbert, founder of goCarShare

Pioneer Headshot   David Mahfouda, Founder of Weeels

Pioneer Headshot   Andreas Randow, Founder of StudioShare.org

Pioneer Headshot   Emma Jamvold, Founder of SwapItBaby

Pioneer Headshot   Dave Llorens, CEO of One Block Off The Grid

Pioneer Headshot   Orli Cotel, co-founder of Swap for Good

Pioneer Headshot   Owen Rees-Hayward, Co-founder of Thingloop

Pioneer Headshot   Juliette Anich, Co-founder of The Clothing Exchange

Pioneer Headshot   Keara Schwartz, Founder of Share Some Sugar

Pioneer Headshot   Hans Schoenburg, co-founder of GiftFlow

Pioneer Headshot   Meriel Lenfestey, Co-founder of Ecomodo

Pioneer Headshot   Steve Sammartino, Founder of rentoid.com

Pioneer Headshot   Micki Krimmel, Founder of NeighborGoods

Pioneer Headshot   Shelby Clark, Founder of RelayRides

Pioneer Headshot   James Reinhart, Founder of thredUp

For a complete archive of CC Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews click HERE.



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