044 - Blending AI and Human Touch in Travel Experiences with Robert Coverdale, Founder of Khonsu

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Pitch, Build, Scale - Startup Founder Stories in the Age of AI

Chris Fanchi

52 episodes

3 days ago

That spark of innovation? It's just waiting for the perfect combination of tools and talent to bring it to life. This is "Pitch, Build, Scale": Each episode, we connect with the builders, the visionaries, and the problem-solvers who are redefining what's possible with today's technology - and pioneering the websites, apps, and software products of tomorrow. These are the conversations that transform how we build, how we sell, and how we scale technology businesses in a world where the tech evolves by the minute. Ready to stay ahead of the curve? This is "Pitch, Build, Scale".

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044 - Blending AI and Human Touch in Travel Experiences with Robert Coverdale, Founder of Khonsu

Pitch, Build, Scale - Startup Founder Stories in the Age of AI

27 minutes 19 seconds

1 month ago

044 - Blending AI and Human Touch in Travel Experiences with Robert Coverdale, Founder of Khonsu

What happens when you take enterprise-level AI innovation and apply it to one of life’s most human experiences - travel?

In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we speak with Robert Coverdale, Founder of Khonsu, about how his platform blends artificial intelligence and local expertise to transform the way people experience cities like New York.

Robert shares his journey from flipping a coin between photography and computer science to building innovation labs at LivePerson, and eventually launching Khonsu, a travel company that prioritizes authentic, human-driven experiences powered by AI behind the scenes.

We explore the challenges of scaling human interaction with AI tools, why simplicity often wins over complexity, and how trust in real experiences is becoming more valuable in an AI-saturated world.

Whether you’re a SaaS founder, software agency leader, or tech executive, Robert’s story is a blueprint for combining human value with AI scale.

⏱ Chapters

00:00 Robert’s Iron Man Analogy: AI as Human Empowerment

01:27 Welcome and Guest Introduction

02:15 Flipping a Coin into Tech: Robert’s Origin Story

03:21 Early Entrepreneurship: Penny Candy Hustle

04:11 Innovation Labs at LivePerson

05:45 The Aha Moment: Travel Meets Technology

06:09 Khonsu’s First Iterations with AI

08:01 Testing the Model During the Pandemic

09:46 Who Khonsu Serves: Leisure vs. Business Travelers

13:47 Monetization and Local Designers

14:59 Scaling City by City

16:06 AI Behind the Scenes, Humans Up Front

17:43 Hotel Concierges Reimagined with AI

20:09 Pricing Tiers and AI vs. Human Options

22:24 Growth Goals: Expanding to Washington, DC and Beyond

23:16 B2B Partnerships and Perks

23:59 The Challenge of Content Creation

25:14 Marketing Bottlenecks in 2025

26:13 How to Try Khonsu Today

📚 Resources

Travel with Khonsu: https://www.askkonsu.com

Connect with Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcoverdale

Grow your revenue with Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com