Travel Startup Team Slide Examples: 8 Real Pitch Decks
How travel startups present their team in a pitch deck: experience at booking sites, hotels, airlines and tour platforms.
Travel Team Slide: Show You Have Run Part of the Travel Business
Investors in travel startups see many founders who love to travel. What they look for on a team slide is different: someone who has worked inside the business of travel, at a booking site, a hotel group, an airline, a tour platform or a holiday rental marketplace, and who therefore knows how suppliers are paid, how bookings are won and why margins are thin. This guide uses eight team slides from eight travel startups, from a two-founder tour marketplace to a clubhouse operator with a staff list drawn from Hilton, Etihad and Selina.
TL;DR
Name the travel companies your team worked at and what they did there. Kangarooo's CEO was a lead designer at Viator, and its CTO created one of the top day tours in Melbourne on Viator, so the founders know the platform from both sides. Lola lists its CTO as Paul English of KAYAK. Onda's COO came from Hilton and Etihad, and several staff came from Selina. Holiday Online's CEO spent seven years at Rightmove, and an advisor helped acquire HolidayLettings.co.uk. OutTrippin opens with "3 travelers from 3 different continents", but the experience listed is in advertising, software and consulting, which shows why travelling is not the same as travel industry experience.
Eight travel team slides
Strongest first. Each example quotes the slide and notes what an investor can and cannot learn from it.
Kangarooo team slide — slide 11
Tours and attractions marketplace for travellers in Australia. Slide titled "Team".
Kangarooo deck, slide 11. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: One founder built the largest tour platform's product; the other sells tours through it.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: If you have sold through the platforms you now compete with, say so.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: Forest Ray, CEO and Co-founder: "Lead designer at Viator", "12 years of experience in UI and UX design", "Passionate traveler, does regular trips around Australia". Luke McDaniel, CTO and Co-founder: "Senior Developer at Google", "9 years of experience in IT, product development; Java, C++ and Swift expert", "Creator of White Line day tour, one of the top day tours in Melbourne on Viator".
Presentation choice: Experience on both the platform side and the supplier side is rare and directly relevant.
When it does not fit: Leading with travel passion when you have stronger lines below it.
Clubhouses for digital nomads. Slide titled "The Team".
Onda deck, slide 21. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: The operating team, not only the founders, comes from hotels and a comparable nomad hospitality brand.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: Group staff by function and give one past employer per person.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: Leadership: "Bill Graf, ONDA CEO, HIG Capital, Harris Williams"; "Bernardo Verweij, ONDA COO, Hilton, Etihad". Product and development staff from "Selina, Gensler", "CJI Group" and "Selina". Sales and marketing: "Eva Bourreau, ONDA Director of Development, Hotel le Bristol, Selina". Advisory board: "Zach Rapaport, Hospitality Development Advisor, Life House, Selina".
Presentation choice: Grouping by function shows depth across the business.
When it does not fit: Small italic employer names that are hard to read on a screen.
Holiday home listings and bookings. Slide titled "Team".
Holiday Online deck, slide 11. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: Listings marketplace experience applied to holiday homes, plus holiday park sales experience.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: If your experience is from a neighbouring industry, name the link to travel.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: "Experienced, passionate, hard working and down to earth. Blend of first timer entrepreneurs alongside online industry pros." CEO Shameem Golamy: "7 years at Rightmove leading their international business. Launched global property portal Properstar.com". Sales and Marketing Manager Caroline Ellis: "senior roles in award winning holiday parks & top hotels". Advisor Robin Wilson: "13 years in senior positions at Rightmove. Played a key role in acquisition of HolidayLettings.co.uk".
Presentation choice: The advisor's holiday rental acquisition links property listings directly to this market.
When it does not fit: Adjectives such as "down to earth" that take space from facts.
Search tool for booking flights with points and miles. Slide titled "We've assembled the right team to build and lead the future of point.me".
Point.me deck, slide 14. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: A full team with clear roles, but the claimed expertise is not backed by any company names.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions; no past employers on the slide.
What a founder can adapt: Add one past employer or achievement under each name.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: "A powerful combination of points and miles expertise, senior product development experience, and entrepreneurial spirit". Photos, names and titles for eight people: CEO and founder, president and co-founder, heads of product and engineering, and directors of product development, strategic partnerships, growth and client services.
Presentation choice: Roles cover product, engineering, partnerships and service, which shows completeness.
When it does not fit: Claiming expertise without showing where it came from.
Intui Travel deck, slide 16. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: Travel experience is present but described as years, not as companies or results.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: Replace years with the companies and what was achieved there.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: CEO: "25 years of experience in IT-Tech, Marketing, eCommerce, B2B eTravel". CFO: "25 years of experience in Finance, Marketing, HR". Head of Affiliate network: "5 years of experience in e-travel". Chief of Customer relation: "15 years of experience of Management international tourism". Key Source manager: "7 years of experience in international relation". Two outside firms for IT development and SEO. "Top management with 77 year of experience".
Presentation choice: Several people have stated travel industry backgrounds.
When it does not fit: A summed total of years, and contractors shown as team members.
Entrepreneur Resorts deck, slide 13. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: Strong hotel credentials at board level, with no operating team shown.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: Put the people running the company first and the board second.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: Lisa Bovio, Director: "most recently Chief Marketing Officer and member of the Executive Committee at luxury resort chain Aman. Previously, she was SVP Global Sales & Marketing at Kerzner International and Commercial Director at Lastminute.com/ holiday autos." Dennis Dubois, Director: "Senior Director of Finance for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, overseeing 1,400 hotels including the Radisson chain", previously at Hyatt for 16 years. "The Board of Directors contains over 100 years of world class expertise".
Presentation choice: Named hotel groups and specific roles are exactly the right kind of detail.
When it does not fit: A team slide made only of directors.
Travel planning. Slide titled "The OutTrippin Team".
OutTrippin deck, slide 4. Exact stored slide matched to this analysis.
Our analysis: A capable team whose headline is travel as customers; none lists work at a travel company.
Evidence and limitation: Company descriptions.
What a founder can adapt: Lead with the most relevant work experience, not travel passion.
Supporting analysis
What the deck claims: "3 travelers from 3 different continents"; "A travel blogger, a techie & an ex-consultant". CMO: "8 years advertising & marketing with BBDO & Oglivy, 2 years travel blogging". CTO: "Technical co-founder at schoooools.com, wedoist". CEO: "IT & Management Consulting with Ernst & Young".
Presentation choice: Clear, friendly layout with one line of experience per person.
When it does not fit: A headline about being travellers, and misspelled company names.
Whether each slide names travel companies, shows the operating team and says what people did.
Example
Travel companies named
Operating team shown
What they did
Kangarooo
Viator
Yes
Yes
Lola
KAYAK, Farecast
Yes
Employer only
Onda
Hilton, Etihad, Selina
Yes
Employer only
Holiday Online
Holiday parks, hotels
Yes
Yes
Point.me
No
Yes
No
Intui Travel
No
Yes
Years only
Entrepreneur Resorts
Aman, Kerzner, Radisson, Hyatt
No, board only
Yes
OutTrippin
No
Yes
Yes, outside travel
Key Takeaways
Name the travel companies each person worked at.
Say what they did there, not just their title.
Show who runs the company day to day, not only the board.
Love of travel does not count as experience.
Summed years of experience tell investors little.
Build your travel team slide
Answer these for each person before you design the slide.
Company. Which travel, hospitality or marketplace companies has this person worked at?
Work. What did they do there that matters for this business?
Role. Are they full time, an advisor or a director?
Gap. Which part of the travel business does nobody on the team know yet?
Copyable framework: [Name], [role]: [past company], where they [what they did].
Illustrative example 1 — written by us
Before: Passionate traveller who has visited 40 countries.
After: Head of supply: four years managing hotel partnerships for a booking site in Southeast Asia.
What improved: Our illustrative rewrite; the details are invented for the example. It replaces travel as a customer with travel industry work.
What this guide adds
The general team slide guide covers any startup. This guide covers travel, where profit depends on relationships with hotels, airlines and tour operators, on winning bookings cheaply through search and booking sites, and on handling seasonal demand. Investors look for team members who have done those jobs before.
How we read each slide
We read each stored slide image and quote the text on it. We have not checked anyone's employment history, and we make no claim that any slide affected a fundraising outcome.
The experience travel investors look for
Booking platforms: work at sites such as KAYAK, Viator, Lastminute.com or Booking.com shows the team understands search, commissions and the cost of winning a booking. Lola and Kangarooo show this.
Hotels and operators: work at hotel groups, resorts or airlines shows the team understands supply, pricing and guest operations. Onda (Hilton, Etihad) and Entrepreneur Resorts (Aman, Kerzner, Radisson, Hyatt) show this.
Adjacent marketplaces: running a listings site in another industry can transfer well. Holiday Online's CEO came from Rightmove, a property listings site, and applies it to holiday homes.
Supplier experience: having sold through the platform you now compete with or sell into is rare and strong. Kangarooo's CTO runs a day tour listed on Viator.
Loving travel is not experience
Many travel decks describe founders as passionate travellers. Kangarooo's CEO is a "Passionate traveler, does regular trips around Australia", but the slide also gives his Viator role, which is what matters. OutTrippin leads with "3 travelers from 3 different continents" and "A travel blogger, a techie & an ex-consultant"; the experience lines show eight years in advertising with BBDO and Ogilvy, a software co-founder and consulting at Ernst & Young.
Being a traveller makes you a customer. Investors want someone who has run part of the business that sells to customers.
Board strength is not the operating team
Entrepreneur Resorts shows two directors with long hotel careers and states that the board "contains over 100 years of world class expertise". The slide does not show who runs the company each day. Investors fund the people doing the work; advisors and directors support them.
If your strongest names are on the board, show the operators first and the board second, as Onda does with a separate advisory board section.
Summed years of experience
Intui Travel's slide ends with "Top management with 77 year of experience". The five figures on the slide add up to 77 (25, 25, 5, 15 and 7), so the sum is correct. That arithmetic is ours. But a total says nothing about what the years were spent doing. The useful lines are the specific ones: "5 years of experience in e-travel" and "15 years of experience of Management international tourism".
Replace a total with one line per person on the travel work they did.
Common mistakes on travel team slides
Travel passion in place of travel experience, as on OutTrippin's slide.
Directors shown without the operating team, as on Entrepreneur Resorts' slide.
Outside agencies listed as team members: Intui Travel includes an IT contractor and an SEO agency.
Names and titles only, with no companies: Point.me's slide claims "points and miles expertise" but shows only names and roles.
Typos in company names: OutTrippin's slide spells Ogilvy as "Oglivy".
Adapting the slide to your type of travel business
Booking marketplaces should show experience at booking sites, metasearch or online travel agencies, as Lola and Kangarooo do.
Accommodation operators should show hotel, resort or hospitality operations experience, as Onda does.
Holiday rental platforms should show marketplace or listings experience, as Holiday Online does.
Software for travel agencies should show someone who has worked in or sold to agencies.
Travel finance and loyalty products should show airline, card or loyalty programme experience; Point.me claims this but should name the companies.
Showing a team in layers
Onda groups its people into leadership, operations, product and development, sales and marketing, and an advisory board, with one line of past employers under each name. That lets investors see at a glance that the operating staff, not only the founders, come from hospitality companies.
Holiday Online mixes founders and advisors in one row but labels each role clearly. Either works if the label says who is full time.
Naming the gap before investors do
Most early travel teams are missing one piece: supply relationships, booking-site marketing, or operations in the destinations they serve. Investors will find the gap in the first meeting, so it is better to name it on the slide with a plan, such as a planned hire or an advisor already agreed.
Kangarooo's two founders cover product, engineering and the tour supplier view, but neither slide line mentions sales or partnerships with tour operators. A single line such as "Hiring: head of supplier partnerships, ex-tour operator" would answer the obvious question. That suggestion is ours, not the slide's.
Onda shows the opposite approach: a full staff list across functions, which makes the gaps visible by their absence. Either way, investors want to see that the founders know which travel skills they still need and have a plan to bring them in after the round closes.
Common mistakes
Travel passion as experience. Name travel industry work instead.
Board without operators. Show who runs the company first.
Summed years. Give companies and results per person.
Contractors as team. List outside firms separately, if at all.
Names with no employers. Add one past company per person.
Typos in company names. Check every name.
Diagnostic checklist
Each person has a past employer.
Travel or hospitality companies are named.
What each person did is stated.
Full-time team shown before advisors.
No summed years of experience.
Company names spelled correctly.
Frequently asked questions
What should a travel startup's team slide show?
The travel, hospitality or marketplace companies each person worked at and what they did there. Kangarooo shows a CEO who was lead designer at Viator and a CTO who runs a top Melbourne day tour on Viator.
Does being a frequent traveller count as experience?
Not on its own. It makes you a customer. OutTrippin leads with "3 travelers from 3 different continents", but investors look for work inside the travel business.
Should advisors and directors be on the team slide?
Yes, after the operating team and clearly labelled. Onda puts its hospitality advisor in a separate advisory board section; Entrepreneur Resorts shows only directors.
What if nobody on my team has worked in travel?
Show the closest relevant experience and name the link, as Holiday Online does with Rightmove property listings, and add an advisor from the travel industry.
How we chose these examples
Corpus: published pitch deck teardowns on StartupFundraising.com. Founder-uploaded private decks are excluded.
Selection (2026-10-01): we searched extracted slide text for team slides in decks from travel companies already identified in other travel guides. We shortlisted 12 slides not used in other guides, viewed all 12 and kept 8. Casai was dropped because its employer logos are too small to read; Holdbar, Nimbus and Travel Lisa were dropped because their slides do not link the team to travel.
Review: stored slide images were read on 2026-10-01 against company, deck and slide number, each read at full size (editorial model review). No person has yet completed an editorial review of this page. We did not verify anyone's employment history.
