Episode #211: Elia Wallen — Building a $2B travel platform by serving SMBs

How a founder built a multi-billion dollar company in an overlooked market.
For operators deciding whether to chase hype markets or serve ignored customers.

Elia Wallen is the founder and CEO of Engine, a business travel platform that grew out of his earlier company Travelers Haven. What started as a corporate housing service expanded after customers repeatedly asked his team to book hotels for traveling workforces. Looking closer revealed a gap between consumer OTAs and enterprise travel management companies that left SMB travel largely unmanaged. In this episode, Elia explains how Engine built a $2B+ company by focusing on SMB customers, running high-touch outbound sales, and staying disciplined on capital while competitors raised and spent aggressively.

What you’ll hear

• Why SMB travel was a large but ignored market between OTAs and enterprise TMCs
• How Engine built growth through outbound “smile and dial” sales to smaller businesses
• What broke when Engine expanded from hotels into flights and cars
• Why Elia turned down additional capital and avoided hiring a traditional CMO

Chapters

• 00:00 — Finding an overlooked gap in business travel
• 02:30 — From Travelers Haven to Hotel Engine
• 03:41 — Why SMB travel stayed unmanaged
• 04:16 — Building an outbound sales motion for SMBs
• 06:25 — Expanding from hotels to flights and cars
• 08:18 — Why Engine took less capital than it was offered

Links & resources

Guest
Elia Wallen — Founder & CEO, Engine
Engine website

Mentioned
Engine new customer offer — $250 off when you mention “Frank Growth” to your account executive

About Frank Growth

Frank Growth is a podcast about how companies actually grow—real operators, real constraints, real decisions.
Hosted by Jason Shafton.

Promotional links

• Work with Winston Francois: https://wf.team/podcast
• Subscribe / Follow Jason: Jason Shafton on LinkedIn