In this bonus This is Money podcast episode, Simon Lambert interviews Marcus and Alexander Blunt, the brothers behind travel firm Heidi, to find out how they turned a start-up into the UK's second biggest ski package holiday firm in eight years - and survived the pandemic's threat to the business along the way.
Eight years ago, brothers Marcus and Alexander Blunt were passionate skiers frustrated by the difficulty of trying to organise the mountain holidays that they and their friends really wanted.
Deciding on a ski resort, sorting flights, accommodation, transfers and getting friends from different parts of the country to the right place at the right time, had Marcus building complicated spreadsheets to work things out.
After one mammoth piece or organisation, they had a lightbulb moment. Maybe it was time for a package holiday firm that allowed people to tailor their ski trips to what they needed, find the best place to go to and put customer service centre stage.
With both the brothers working in the travel industry, they decided to figure out how to test their concept and the appetite for it and then launched their start-up in 2018, while doing full-time jobs - and both having babies born that year.
They made a pact that if they could do £500,000 worth of sales in their first year, they would quit their jobs and go all-in, explains Alexander.
From there, in the space of less than eight years Heidi has grown to become the UK's second biggest package holiday firm. That's no mean feat considering that the pandemic hit just two years in - and halfway through the ski holiday season.
Marcus and Alexander tell Simon how they turned their business idea into reality, how they grew Heidi, the lessons they have learnt along the way and share their tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs.
