Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Branda Fan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Branda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I grew up traveling with my father, who had a gift for turning every trip into an adventure. He never planned in the conventional sense—no spreadsheets, no endless review scrolling—yet every journey felt perfectly tailored, filled with surprises that became lifelong memories. His mantra was simple: “Life’s beauty awaits those who don’t wait.”

As a mother and an entrepreneur building another tech startup, that phrase kept ringing in my ears. I wanted to give my own family the same kind of meaningful experiences, but I found myself drowning in information. There were endless blogs, forums, and booking sites—yet no simple way to create a trip that truly felt like us. The more I searched, the more I felt like I was missing out on those magical, serendipitous moments my father somehow orchestrated effortlessly.

When I lost my father, I knew I had to find a way to carry on his legacy—not just for myself, but for everyone who longs for deeper, more personal travel experiences. That’s why I built Nowy.

Nowy is more than just another travel app. It’s the first truly personalized AI trip planner, designed to capture what makes your travel style unique and craft itineraries that fit you—not the masses. With AI and agentic technology, we built a platform that saves users time while still delivering real, curated experiences—not just cookie-cutter recommendations.

Because at the end of the day, travel isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about those unexpected moments that stay with you forever. And no one should have to spend hours digging through 50 browser tabs to find them.

Branda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always believed that travel is one of the most powerful ways to experience life. Some of my most cherished memories are from the trips I took with my father, who had an incredible way of turning every journey into something unforgettable. He taught me that travel isn’t just about seeing places—it’s about experiencing them in a way that feels meaningful and personal.

But as I grew older, balancing my career as a tech entrepreneur and my role as a mother, I realized just how time-consuming it had become to plan a trip that truly reflected my family’s travel style. I found myself buried in research, bouncing between blogs, forums, review sites, and endless recommendations—none of which felt tailored to what I actually wanted. It was frustrating. There had to be a better way.

That’s when Nowy was born.

Nowy is an AI-powered travel companion that goes beyond generic recommendations to create truly personalized itineraries based on your unique travel style, interests, and preferences. Whether you love hidden gems, food experiences, adventure travel, or cultural deep dives, Nowy builds an itinerary that feels like it was designed just for you—without the hours of research.

What Makes Nowy Different?
✅ Personalized, Not Generic – Most trip planners offer the same tourist-heavy suggestions. Nowy learns your travel preferences and curates experiences that align with what you actually enjoy.

✅ Smart Integrations – Nowy syncs with Google Maps, weather forecasts, and even booking platforms, so you can seamlessly plan and adjust your trip in real time.

✅ Time-Saving AI – Paste in blogs or Instagram videos you love, and Nowy instantly builds an itinerary around them, filtering out what you’ve already seen or don’t care about.

✅ Price-Watch for Stays – The app helps you track hotel and rental prices based on your itinerary, so you can book at the perfect moment and avoid buyer’s remorse.

✅ All-in-One Travel Hub – From planning to journaling to mapping out past trips, Nowy consolidates everything in one place—eliminating the need for 20+ separate travel apps.

I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built because I know firsthand how valuable time is. Travel should be about the experience, not the stress of planning. With Nowy, we’ve created a tool that gives people back their time while helping them craft trips that they’ll actually remember—not just ones that check off tourist sites.

For anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by planning a trip—or who has shown up somewhere only to realize their plans didn’t match reality (we’ve all been there!)—Nowy is the solution. Because life’s beauty awaits those who don’t wait.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Without a doubt, our most effective strategy has been listening to our users—really listening.

Nowy isn’t just another travel app; it’s a platform built for travelers, by travelers. Every day, we talk to our users—the ones who are passionate about travel but frustrated by the overwhelming planning process. They tell us about the pain points they experience:

❌ Spending hours researching only to end up with an itinerary that doesn’t match their interests.
❌ Getting generic recommendations that don’t align with their travel style.
❌ Showing up at attractions that are closed or fully booked because information wasn’t up to date.
❌ Struggling with last-minute changes that throw their entire trip off track.

These aren’t just theoretical problems. They’re real frustrations that we hear directly from our community—and we take them seriously. Our approach has always been simple: Listen. Improve. Deliver.

How This Has Fueled Our Growth
🚀 We prioritize real user feedback. Every new feature we build—from price-watching accommodations to integrating blogs and social content into itineraries—comes directly from conversations with our raving fans. When they tell us what’s missing in travel planning, we don’t just listen—we act.

🚀 We make every traveler feel heard. Our users aren’t just numbers; they’re part of our journey. We engage with them daily, whether through our in-app community, social media, or direct support. When someone tells us about a frustrating experience with another trip-planning tool, our response is: Let’s fix that for you.

🚀 They tell their friends and family. The biggest driver of our growth? Word of mouth. When travelers find something that truly makes their lives easier, they don’t keep it to themselves. They share it with their network. Our users are our best marketers because they’ve experienced firsthand how Nowy transforms trip planning.

At the end of the day, travel is personal. It’s about creating memories, not just following a checklist. And that’s exactly why Nowy has grown—we’re not just offering an itinerary builder; we’re offering a better way to travel.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Building Nowy isn’t just about developing a travel app—it’s about creating something truly revolutionary in the travel space. And that takes an all-in, hands-on, no-job-too-small mentality.

As a founder, I’m in the trenches every day alongside my team. We don’t have the luxury of massive teams or endless resources like the billion-dollar competitors we’re up against. But what we do have is an unshakable belief in what we’re building.

1️⃣Leading from the Front

Our team is small but mighty. We have C-suite-level talent doing day-to-day execution because that’s what it takes to build something game-changing. There’s no room for egos—if something needs to get done, we do it. This creates a sense of shared ownership where everyone knows they’re contributing directly to something bigger than themselves.

2️⃣A Global Team, Always Connected

We’re a fully remote team, with people working across multiple time zones and continents. That means my job as a leader isn’t just about setting the vision—it’s about being available, no matter what time of day. Whether it’s a developer needing quick feedback or a marketing team member brainstorming a campaign, I make sure they know they can reach me. That accessibility builds trust and momentum.

3️⃣Morale Comes from Belief

We don’t need forced “team-building” activities to keep morale high—our belief in what we’re building is what fuels us. Every single person on our team knows that Nowy is solving real problems. We hear it from our users every day:

💬 “I used to spend 20+ hours planning trips—Nowy does it for me in minutes.”
💬 “I love that it recommends places based on what I actually like, not just what’s popular.”
💬 “Price-watching accommodations has already saved me hundreds of dollars!”

That kind of impact keeps us going.

4️⃣We Celebrate Every Win (and Learn from Every Loss)
The reality is, startup life is a grind. We’re competing with giants. Some days are hard. But we make sure that every win, no matter how small, is celebrated.

🏆 When we release a new feature that users love, we acknowledge the work that went into it.
🏆 When we hit a new milestone in downloads, we share the excitement as a team.
🏆 When things don’t go as planned, we don’t dwell—we learn, adjust, and move forward.

The secret to high morale? Belief. Belief in the product, belief in the mission, and belief in each other. That’s what makes this small team unstoppable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nowy.io
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowy.travel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nowy.info
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nowyio/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: https://x.com/NowyInfo
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nowytravel