Vertical Travel Search Engine Kayak CEO Steve Hafner (Part 3)

SM: When did you launch the service?

SH: It was October 2004.

SM: Can you give us an idea as to what kind of ramp you saw in terms of traffic building and adoption? The vertical search concept was still new in 2004.

SH: There had been folks who tried to do it in the past but they did not have the scale or traction needed. >>>

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Vertical Travel Search Engine Kayak CEO Steve Hafner (Part 2)

SM: What gave you the idea for Kayak?

SH: Orbitz was a great company, but it never fulfilled on its original mission which was to help consumers find great airline and hotel deals. The reason it did not fulfill it’s original mission is because we could not convince every airline, hotel, and rental car company to list their products and services on Orbitz. >>>

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Vertical Travel Search Engine Kayak CEO Steve Hafner (Part 1)

I have written endlessly about the verticalization of the web, and the rise of vertical search engines, vertical ad networks, and the threat they pose to Google. I have also featured Kayak in the Deal Radar series earlier, and here, I speak with their CEO for a comprehensive discussion on Kayak’s strategy. >>>

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