Rachel Crampton never dreamed of being an entrepreneur, but she built a B2C tech platform without raising a dollar from investors and while still working full-time.

In this episode of Founder Stories, host James Green sits down with Rachel, founder of Juurnee, a marketplace connecting long-haul travellers with companions who will fly cheaply or freely in exchange for helping out on the journey.

For senior professionals who have spotted a real problem in their industry but cannot afford to gamble their career on it, this is what de-risked entrepreneurship looks like.

00:00  -  The viral Facebook post

02:30 — Meet Rachel: a flight with three kids under four that started a business

05:00 — Why incubators wouldn't work: the quit-your-job problem

08:00 — Finding DQventures and what changed

10:30 — Why B2C is hard, and how Rachel cleared that bar

12:15 — Why she chose revenue over raising money

14:30 — The pivot: from commission to lifetime subscriptions

16:30 — The Google Sheet MVP that taught her the business

20:00 — From manual service to real tech platform

22:30 — How a Channel 7 feature broke her Slack

26:30 — Choosing the right developer on a real budget (meet Toby at Blue Mongoose)

34:30 — The biggest learning: an MBA on steroids

36:30 — Would she do it all again?

37:30 — Outro and where to find more episodes

Find out more about Juurnee

Follow Rachel on LinkedIn

• Watch this episode on DQventures YouTube Channel
• Thinking about leaving your corporate job to start your own business?  Apply to DQventures
• Follow James Green on LinkedIn 
• Follow DQventures on LinkedIn