卡立德·米纳里（Khalid Mineri）是Self-Bok的联合创始人兼首席执行官，他分享了自己从在阿尔及利亚受限的生活到在纽约市建立旅游基础设施公司的旅程。米纳里的故事是关于坚持不懈、坚信自己的愿景以及对用户体验的敏锐关注。 米纳里出生于阿尔及利亚，由于政治限制和签证困难，旅行受到严重限制，但他梦想着体验世界。他的远大目标是纽约市，在能够离开后，他径直前往那里。 他发现了第五大道上的苹果商店，这成为一次至关重要的经历。他深受产品设计和对卓越的执着追求所启发，这激励他学习设计并成为一名产品创始人。这家24小时营业的苹果商店让他得以使用Mac电脑，彻底改变了他的生活。 他进入商业世界带有一些偶然性。作为一名移民，他为了生存做了各种各样的工作，同时渴望设计产品。在没有正规教育或人脉的情况下，他很难找到机会。他强调了建立人脉的重要性，强调一个朋友就能成为一个网络。在筹款时，他只认识少数几个人，但他们帮助他建立联系，并找到投资者、顾问，甚至是新员工。米纳里强调，成功需要合作，无论他们是否长期参与，一路支持你的人都是你故事不可或缺的一部分。 受到2007年iPhone发布的启发，米纳里成立了一家名为Six Agency的移动应用程序公司。他在自己的公寓（6A）里工作，旨在设计创新的移动体验。一个应用程序概念展示了每天一件经过精心挑选的产品，从日本铅笔到豪华手表。这在Instagram和TikTok兴起之前。该应用程序融入了旅行体验，这使参与度提高了70%，表明人们对体验式内容有着强烈的渴望。然而，由于缺乏合适的预订基础设施，在该应用程序内预订这些体验非常困难。 这一挑战促使他产生了开发一款旅游应用程序的想法，该应用程序可以让用户轻松发现和直接预订酒店。然而，该应用程序的发布恰逢COVID-19疫情爆发，导致全球酒店关闭。尽管遭遇了挫折，米纳里仍然坚持不懈，并专注于长远发展。他发现了两个关键的见解：首先，全球没有一家酒店可以接受Apple Pay；其次，推出消费者应用程序极具挑战性。 认识到这些局限性后，他转而创建了Self-Bok，这是一种B2B解决方案，可为酒店提供简化的预订基础设施和端到端支付层。这解决了酒店因缺乏现代支付方式和无缝预订体验而流失客户给在线旅行社 (OTA) 的问题。Self-Bok通过使酒店能够在自己的网站上直接提供类似的体验来营造公平的竞争环境，从而减少了酒店对OTA的依赖以及它们收取的高额佣金。 即使作为一家B2B公司，Self-Bok也将客人至上作为首要任务。米纳里承认，酒店业在技术上较为落后，过时的系统影响了客人的体验。Self-Bok的使命是使预订流程现代化并改善酒店服务。 该公司的快速增长归功于坚持不懈的决心。米纳里强调，在一个他认为正在落后的行业中，需要推动创新。解决复杂的技术挑战，例如将现代支付解决方案与旧系统集成，是关键。Self-Bok还提供了费率的灵活性以及一个用于平台销售旅行的单一API，而无需从头开始构建每个组件。 最初，Self-Bok将目标锁定为平均每日房价 (ADR) 较高的酒店，以便早期实现高交易量。虽然他们已经超越了豪华型酒店，但这却是加速增长的起点。2024年，Self-Bok的收入增长了两倍，酒店网站转化率提高了40%，取消率降低了44%。 展望未来，Self-Bok正在探索将其预订基础设施集成到Perplexity City等人工智能搜索引擎中。这将使用户能够直接从搜索结果中预订酒店，从而进一步简化预订流程。 米纳里承认，建立一家公司涉及不断的权衡，而且犯错是不可避免的。早期的一个假设是他们可以替换现有系统，但他们很快意识到与它们集成更为实际。他们现在专注于他们的核心优势，例如构建跨行业的集成层。Mews是这种方法的一个关键合作伙伴，它是一个云原生物业管理系统。 Self-Bok的第一个客户是宾夕法尼亚州的一家度假村Nemacolin。尽管Self-Bok缺乏完全开发的产品或往绩，但度假村老板相信米纳里的愿景以及他致力于提供更好用户体验的承诺。米纳里认为，旅行是关于人与人之间的联系和文化交流，而这正是Self-Bok旨在促进的。 米纳里从一级方程式赛车手迈克尔·舒马赫那里汲取灵感，认为激情和动力至关重要。他的阿尔及利亚血统让他渴望大胆梦想和创造，而不论背景或教育程度。他最后强调了坚持不懈的重要性，以及不要放弃的必要性。

Khalid Mineri, co-founder and CEO of Self-Bok, shares his journey from a restricted life in Algeria to building a travel infrastructure company in New York City. Mineri's story is one of relentless perseverance, belief in his vision, and a keen focus on user experience. Born in Algeria, where travel was severely limited due to political constraints and visa difficulties, Mineri dreamed of experiencing the world. His moonshot was New York City, and he went straight there after he was able to leave. He discovered the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, which became a pivotal experience. He was deeply inspired by the product design and the obsessive pursuit of excellence, which motivated him to learn design and become a product founder. The Apple store, open 24 hours a day, let him use the Macs and changed his life forever. His entry into the business world was somewhat accidental. As an immigrant, he took on various jobs to survive, while yearning to design products. Without formal education or a network, he struggled to find opportunities. He emphasized the importance of networking, highlighting that a single friend can become a network. When fundraising, he only knew a few people, but they helped him build connections and find investors, advisors, and even new hires. Mineri underscores that success requires collaboration and that the people who support you along the way, regardless of their long-term involvement, are integral to your story. Inspired by the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Mineri started a mobile app agency called Six Agency. Working from his apartment (6A), he aimed to design innovative mobile experiences. One app concept showcased a single, curated product per day, ranging from a Japanese pencil to a luxury watch. This was before the rise of Instagram and TikTok. The app incorporated travel experiences, which boosted engagement by 70%, indicating a strong desire for experiential content. However, booking these experiences within the app was difficult due to the lack of suitable booking infrastructure. This challenge led to the idea of a travel app that allowed users to easily discover and book hotels directly. However, the launch coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, shutting down hotels worldwide. Despite this setback, Mineri maintained his stubborn persistence and focused on the long term. He identified two crucial insights: firstly, no hotel worldwide could accept Apple Pay, and secondly, launching a consumer app was extremely challenging. Recognizing the limitations, he pivoted to create Self-Bok, a B2B solution that provides hotels with a streamlined booking infrastructure and an end-to-end payment layer. This addressed the issue of hotels losing customers to online travel agencies (OTAs) due to a lack of modern payment options and seamless booking experiences. Self-Bok levels the playing field by enabling hotels to offer a comparable experience directly on their websites, reducing their reliance on OTAs and the high commissions they charge. Self-Bok prioritizes a guest-first approach, even as a B2B company. Mineri acknowledges that the hotel industry is technologically lagging, with antiquated systems impacting the guest experience. Self-Bok's mission is to modernize the booking process and enhance hospitality. The company's rapid growth is attributed to relentless determination. Mineri emphasizes the need to push for innovation in an industry that he believes is falling behind. Solving complex technical challenges, like integrating modern payment solutions with older systems, was key. Self-Bok also provides flexibility in rates and a single API for platforms to sell travel without building every component from scratch. Initially, Self-Bok targeted hotels with higher average daily rates (ADR) to achieve high transaction volume early on. While they've scaled beyond luxury, this was the starting point that accelerated growth. In 2024, Self-Bok tripled revenue, increased hotel website conversion rates by 40%, and reduced cancellations by 44%. Looking forward, Self-Bok is exploring integrating its booking infrastructure into AI search engines like Perplexity City. This would enable users to book hotels directly from search results, further streamlining the booking process. Mineri acknowledges that building a company involves constant trade-offs and that mistakes are inevitable. One early assumption was that they could replace existing systems, but they soon realized that integrating with them was more practical. They now focus on their core strengths, such as building integration layers across the industry. A key partner in this approach is Mews, a cloud-native property management system. The first Self-Bok customer was Nemacolin, a resort in Pennsylvania. Despite Self-Bok's lack of a fully developed product or track record, the resort owner believed in Mineri's vision and his commitment to providing a better user experience. Travel, according to Mineri, is about human connection and cultural exchange, which Self-Bok aims to facilitate. Drawing inspiration from Formula One driver Michael Schumacher, Mineri believes passion and motivation are essential. His Algerian roots instilled in him a desire to dream big and create, regardless of background or education. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of perseverance and the imperative not to give up.