As I wait for the first of three flights that will bring me home from Fort Lauderdale to Singapore via Houston and San Francisco, I have downloaded the Timeshifter jetlag app, one of the startups that presented at the Phocuswright conference.

It’s relatively easy to set up, I just hope it works because I cannot believe that in 2019, on the cusp of a new decade, we still haven’t solved jetlag.

This startup though is giving it a go and it has sleep experts and NASA scientists on its advisory board. At the Phocuswright conference, it was interesting to listen to the 24 startups who were all trying to use tech to solve travel problems.

From optimizing the lives of beach bums (Beachy) to solving connectivity on the road (Airalo) to helping suppliers sell even more insurance (Setoo), there was no shortage of ideas by passionate and ingenious entrepreneurs trying to change travel their way. One was even trying to build a supersonic aircraft because he feels (and he is right) that since-the Concorde bust, we haven’t reduced flying times. (See related article)

“Personally I have always believed we need to get round the world faster,” said Norris Tie of Exosonic. With a more than 24-hour journey ahead, I wish he would solve it faster.

Here are my key takeaways from the Phocuswright conference which was themed “Are we there yet?”.

1. Finding life after Google

Companies in the US that have depended on traffic from Google are finding their top search channel choked, and all are trying to navigate their way into a post-search world.

Steve Kaufer: “We have to build better products.”

Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor, admitted to “a lot of challenges”. “The competitive landscape, when it becomes concentrated, becomes a burden on innovation. We have to build better products, better value proposition so that the next time you want to plan a trip, you come to us.”

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