PROFILE

Let’s learn more about Max Tremaine and Sherpa

What is Sherpa?

Sherpa is passionate about freedom of movement. Their mission is to help travelers move freely and shift how the world's leading travel providers approach border crossing.

Their extensive database includes passport and visa requirements, border procedures, health declarations, passenger locator forms, quarantine measures, transit restrictions, and vaccination requirements, all in one dashboard.

How did this idea come to be?

The genesis of Sherpa, traces back to Tremaine's encounters with the complexities of international border crossings and visa requirements.

Inspired by his co-founder Ivan Sharko's frequent travels in Southeast Asia and fueled by personal frustrations with cumbersome visa applications, Tremaine embarked on a journey to streamline the process.

Their venture was nurtured by Laurier Launchpad, now known as StartUp Lab, which emphasized practical advice on bootstrapping and customer validation.

Through rigorous customer interviews, Tremaine and his team honed in on the core problem: the ambiguity and inconvenience surrounding travel documentation. This led to the birth of Sherpa, a solution aimed at simplifying the application, approval, and delivery of border-crossing documents.

Advancing Sherpa:

Recognizing the increasing adoption of electronic visa systems, Tremaine saw an opportunity to automate the process further. Sherpa's innovative approach involved building an application program interface (API) that allows airlines and travel companies to integrate travel requirement information and visa applications seamlessly into their digital platforms.

By leveraging technology and a deep understanding of market needs, Sherpa emerged as a game-changer in the travel industry, offering a solution that not only alleviates the stress of travel documentation but also enhances the overall travel experience.

Best piece of advice from Max to other founders:

More from Max

Max joined us a few years back to discuss Sherpa and the early years of building a revolutionary travel tool

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