Today we’d like to introduce you to Maud Maciak

Hi Maud, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

Born and raised in the suburbs of Paris, France from a lower-class family, I was always a go-getter. At age 6, I started my first business by negotiating a space at a local farmer’s market and selling crafts I made during the week after school. I was hooked by the thrill of entrepreneurship and I’ve been in business of making businesses ever since. What drives me is the hunt for problems to solve, and the love for learning how to create solutions and how to turn them into viable businesses.

With a strong passion for the unknown and adventures, I left France at age 22 with some small savings and moved to the United States. I settled in Virginia in 2009 and opened my first business there, a massage therapy practice which
I built from the ground up. After meeting my husband, and following the birth of my son, I shifted my career path and launched an interior design practice in 2016. Those years were essential for strengthening my business savviness and nurturing my aspiration to hatch truly unique business ideas. It also gave me a first look into tech and digital companies.

The travel itch was growing on me, so I decided to turn my interior design business into a unique (at the time) e-design model, creating for myself the perfect setup to work on the road with my family. All of this before the pandemic and the booming of work-from-home positions. It was a huge challenge and taught me how to educate potential clients to new ideas.

In 2019, while still working full time on my e-interior design company, my husband, son (then age 3), and I hit the road for months to travel through Europe in an RV. It was glorious from the culture swapping to the life-learning moments, but one problem kept arising. Each day we wasted precious travel time to find things to do to keep our toddler busy. From finding a nearby playground with ample shade to selecting a museum with multisensory experiences, we found ourselves spending hours combing the Internet to locate places that accommodate the highs and lows of parenting on the road. Moreover, we experienced first hand the lack of acceptance in society for small children in public places, especially if like ours, a child has special needs.
One month into our RV trip, I began brainstorming an idea that would revolutionize how families with children plan their trip worldwide.

Before the end of 2019, the GoWhee app was developed, the first global travel app designed specifically for parents. With endless possibilities for success, I decided to close my interior design business in early 2020 to pour myself 100% into the app, which officially launched in April 2020. Today, GoWhee provides parents from all over the world with a resource for finding fun places for kids and their families, and we are relaunching the new GoWhee 2.0 soon with amazing updates in store. I am also an advocate for families safety and anti-discrimination practices in the travel industry.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

I could talk about many challenges that made my entrepreneurial journey a bumpy road. From being a female in a male-dominated industry to the lack of financial support… But one of the major challenges that was common to all my businesses and I found, is often not spoken about, would be the lack of network.
Growing up without an inherited network, immigrating to a brand new country, and not gaining a network from college or long-term friendships, can cripple you and make starting a business even harder because of what I call a “network void”.
That is one of the hardest things I had to overcome when starting my businesses.

For GoWhee especially, I combined my “network void” with the lack of tech experience and the know-how to market a SAAS. I still took this challenge head-on and created my community. I spent countless hours learning to do everything from writing legal documents to understanding the concepts of building a tech product. I focused on creating a strong community that believed in the mission, some even developed into friendships, which then became the network I needed to move the company forward.
Will overcoming this challenge make the success of this company even sweeter? I think so, regardless, I am thankful for all the people who believed in the mission and took a chance on a stranger.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?

GoWhee is the world’s only global travel app designed for family fun. After dealing with the pandemic, we are relaunching in response to the increasing concerns of parents as they explore the world- and the digital universe- with their kids. The changes come after more than a year of headlines highlighting a growing intolerance towards people traveling with kids.

The app will not only feature locations that are logistically prepared to receive traveling families but also reward the ones that desire to welcome them with open arms with a “family-inclusive” stamp of approval given by the parents themselves.

In addition, as many major media platforms are fighting Congress for the right to continue to engage in practices, that many feel put children’s privacy at risk, GoWhee has proactively created advanced child privacy tools to protect its users’ data. The app features an automatic tool to blur children’s faces when users add photos, ensuring the privacy and security of young travelers within the members-only part of the platform.

“In a world where family travel is presenting more and more challenges, GoWhee is the companion app families have been waiting for. With hundreds of thousands of locations in the U.S. and more worldwide, as well as unique features to protect our members, we empower parents to travel with more confidence and share their experiences! We hope to be the community they were missing when planning their trip or traveling in new territories. GoWhee was made by parents for parents so we, too, can enjoy the journey of raising the new generation of world citizens.”-Maud Maciak, founder and CEO of GoWhee.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?

I am never happier than when I travel with my husband and child. Something is exhilarating about discovering a new place, seeing new pieces of art, or eating new foods, with people you love. And I always think it is pretty cool that my eight-year-old knows more about the world than some adults he knows. I am so lucky to be an integral part of my child’s education, this year we switched to a full-time world school system and this has been the best decision for our family.

Besides, when I travel I get to see beautiful things, from amazing architecture to breathtaking landscapes. I use both as inspiration in my paintings which calms my overactive ADHD brain.

Pricing:

• $2.50 /month (for a year susbcription)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gowhee.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gowheeapp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gowheeapp
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maud-maciak-a20580b7/