“Power to the People”
Rich Barton, founder of Expedia and Zillow, has always sought to put more power in users’ hands.
We have him to thank for the revolutionary way we now plan our travel: independently. He describes the frustration he felt in the early days of the Internet, when travel agents had access to databases that regular citizens, travelers, were not privy to.
“It was giving consumers access to information and databases that they knew existed because they either saw or heard professionals over the phone clacking away on a keyboard accessing that information. I remember I wanted to jump through the phone and look at the screen myself, turn it towards me and just take control. And I knew that I would spend more time and do a better job searching than this person who was doing something on my behalf, and who really didn’t know my preferences but was just trying to approximate them.”
So he did what he’s consistently done ever since: disrupted the market and brought about a revolution in the travel industry.
