Alex Malebranche is a father, husband, and globally experienced tech professional. Following stints with Amazon, Amazon Web Services, and Plume, he founded PlaneAhead, the first company to take advantage of the removal of airline change fees.
Before his beginning his career in tech, Alex served in the United States Army for over 6 years as an Intelligence Analyst.
What is PlaneAhead all about?
PlaneAhead is solving the problem that we’ve all just had to accept over the years. How do I get the best airline price? Well, PlaneAhead tracks your airline itinerary after you’ve purchased it. As we monitor your flight, if it decreases in price, we exchange the ticket for you. Same carrier, same time, same flight. No change except the lower price. Once we make the change, we send you the airline credits you receive back from the airline from the difference of the change, so you can use that credit for your next trip.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
My background is intentionally diverse. What I knew growing up is that I need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. In fact, when I started business school, I picked my undergraduate degree based on the subject I thought I was least capable of doing, Accounting. That is always my mindset, and it serves me well at each stop in my life and career. After serving in the Army and graduating college, I worked for Amazon in operations, Amazon Web Services in cloud sales and project management, and Plume in project management and customer delivery.
The company started while I was on paternity leave for my second child. Because of my family’s background of limited financial resources, I typically track my airline tickets on Southwest in order to see if I can save money. Then I thought, “I’m sure people like me (millennials and families) that are tight on time and budget would love if someone did this for them”. Add to that to the major airline carriers removing change fees permanently, it made for a huge opportunity that was not being catered to.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
The top 3 skills to be an entrepreneur are clear to me. The capacity and willingness to learn, passion for your subject, and humbleness.
Entrepreneurship is going to test your every fiber. As the founder of a business, you need to sell, market, troubleshoot IT, strategize, on and on. Eventually, you’ll seek help, but until that day, it’s you. You’re going to need to go to the school of Google and YouTube and teach yourself. I spent a lot of nights in the beginning watching videos of how, so be a sponge.
Passion will make the long days and nights worth it. Most entrepreneurs will get to the point of burnout in their minds. Can I do this? Will this even be successful? Is the time I spend on this even worth it? The answers will always be yes when you love what you’re working on. Now there are plenty of people that start businesses to make money, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, when you stand face to face with VCs, investors, customers, and give your pitch, that “it” factor that they look for to push them over the edge in giving money to someone they don’t know, is authenticity in the business owner. You lack that when it’s about the paycheck.
Lastly, are you humble enough to know when to ask for help? Do you know what you don’t know? As an entrepreneur, you’ll get a reality check multiple times a day about how much there is you don’t know. Can you take that onboard and pivot? Does that mean I need to spend time learning it, should I hire someone, do I need an advisor with experience? Don’t be afraid to look in the mirror and assess your capabilities.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
It’s solely about education. The great thing about being the first is that you have the whole audience’s attention to be gained. The bad part is no one knows what you do, and they don’t have an easy comparison to help them understand you. So, our growth is going to be directly correlated to how well we explain our value to customers and we’re going to be investing in tools that will help us do that.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
The answer no one likes, but is true here, is that we don’t have competitors. At least, directly. Now, naturally people are going to see us and think of what about Hopper, Expedia, Travelocity, Booking.com, and more? All companies, to this point, are tailored to an industry that does not allow changes without a fee. They are based on predictive models, negotiated rates in advance. Basically, best guesses. We don’t guess. When the flight goes down, we change it. It goes down twice? We change it twice. That doesn’t yet acknowledge that when you save on the current flight, you also save on the next because you get the airline credit back after each change.
How has the pandemic and Lockdown affected you or your new business?
Travel is obviously greatly limited throughout the pandemic. In fact, I’ve been asked why I would even start a travel company in the midst of this. Simply put, this pandemic has created an opportunity for my company to even exist. Yes, this company could’ve existed solely for Southwest in the past because they’ve never had change fees, but now with the pandemic forcing the elimination of change fees, there’s a large opportunity to serve hundreds of millions of travelers in making travel cheaper, easier, and more customer centric.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenges are educating others about our business. I previously mentioned this in regard to consumers, but it spans investors, advisors, even family members that I’ve asked to help the company. What helps me overcome this is persistence and consistency. This problem, like many others as an entrepreneur, takes time and there is no shortcut. I continue to learn about my business, my numbers, my value to the industry and I’m consistent in that message to those I speak to. It builds credibility and trust in the PlaneAhead brand.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
Right now, I’m learning A LOT about a lot of things. At my stage, a point of emphasis for me is fundraising. What is the process like? Who is involved? How does it work? As the founder, it can be very easy to focus solely on the day to day, or the product itself, but you’re also the long-term strategic leader. It can’t just be about today, it has to be about 3, 6, and 12 months from now. Fundraising and venture capital is going to be crucial in the growth of PlaneAhead, so I need to be well equipped to steward the business in a direction that is best for its long-term health.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Empty your mail inbox every day. This is for 2 reasons:
Seeing a full inbox can feel overwhelming
We see that notification number on our home screen, and we feel an impulse to check it. Is that a problem I need to solve? Is there an emergency? Important investor? Keeps you always thinking about the job when you should value time to rest and recharge. That rest and recharge will make you more productive the next day because it is so limited when you’re an entrepreneur.
You build a reputation of reliability
As an entrepreneur, you’re contacting a lot of people, most of which have no history with you. Emptying your inbox ensures that there’s a 24-hour turnaround on all or most of your communication and that builds trust. It also gives you a to-do list every day for you to successfully complete.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs?
I think the 2 must-haves are one’s you’ve heard of before. It’s foundational learning for all entrepreneurs; The Lean Startup by Eric Reis and Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. Sorry, I broke the rules and gave you 2, but entrepreneurs are rule breakers!
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
I love what I do. I am an avid traveler because I understand the value of seeing the world. I learn about different cultures, I educate myself about who people are and where they come from, and that impacts my everyday life. I also love the food around the world. My desire to share that experience is what continues to motivate me.
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
Act. It’s as simple as that. You don’t know how far an idea could go unless you put your time and energy behind it to make it happen. Don’t overthink or over plan. Start and be adaptable as progress in your idea. Get feedback! Your customers will drive the success of your business. Remember, ideally, you’re solving their problem, so ask them how you did.
How can readers get in touch with you?
Firstly, check out our website planeahead.us, and learn more about how PlaneAhead is changing travel for customers right now! You can also follow us on all of our social media accounts to get to know who we are as a company. We’re on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and we look forward to engaging with you.
Finally, feel free to reach out to me personally through InMail on LinkedIn. We’re excited to see you around the world!
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