Waynabox Founder Pau Sendra Runs His Traveltech Startup and Flies a 737
Here's What COVID Taught Him About Building a Resilient Company.
Jul 28th, 2026
Waynabox Founder Pau Sendra Runs His Traveltech Startup and Flies a 737
Here's What COVID Taught Him About Building a Resilient Company.
Jul 28th, 2026
Waynabox Founder Pau Sendra Runs His Traveltech Startup and Flies a 737
Here's What COVID Taught Him About Building a Resilient Company.
Fernando Olivares
Dot Fer | ProductFitCoach
Jul 28th, 2026
Waynabox Founder Pau Sendra Runs His Traveltech Startup and Flies a 737
Here's What COVID Taught Him About Building a Resilient Company.
Jul 28th, 2026
Waynabox Founder Pau Sendra Runs His Traveltech Startup and Flies a 737
Here's What COVID Taught Him About Building a Resilient Company.
Fernando Olivares
Dot Fer | ProductFitCoach
Jul 28th, 2026
Last week I spoke with a founder who, right in the middle of his company's growth, decided to become a commercial airline pilot. The company had hit break even, and growth was steady. So he brought in a CEO to take some of the weight off his plate, and started flying in 2019, without ever fully stepping away from the company. One year later COVID hit. Travel stopped completely. The company needed him back full force, so he went all in on Waynabox again. He never actually left.
Last week I spoke with a founder who, right in the middle of his company's growth, decided to become a commercial airline pilot. The company had hit break even, and growth was steady. So he brought in a CEO to take some of the weight off his plate, and started flying in 2019, without ever fully stepping away from the company. One year later COVID hit. Travel stopped completely. The company needed him back full force, so he went all in on Waynabox again. He never actually left.
Last week I spoke with a founder who, right in the middle of his company's growth, decided to become a commercial airline pilot. The company had hit break even, and growth was steady. So he brought in a CEO to take some of the weight off his plate, and started flying in 2019, without ever fully stepping away from the company. One year later COVID hit. Travel stopped completely. The company needed him back full force, so he went all in on Waynabox again. He never actually left.
Last week I spoke with a founder who, right in the middle of his company's growth, decided to become a commercial airline pilot. The company had hit break even, and growth was steady. So he brought in a CEO to take some of the weight off his plate, and started flying in 2019, without ever fully stepping away from the company. One year later COVID hit. Travel stopped completely. The company needed him back full force, so he went all in on Waynabox again. He never actually left.
Dot Fer interviews Pau Sendra, founder of Waynabox, for ProductFitCoach.
Dot Fer interviews Pau Sendra, founder of Waynabox, for ProductFitCoach.
Dot Fer interviews Pau Sendra, founder of Waynabox, for ProductFitCoach.
Dot Fer interviews Pau Sendra, founder of Waynabox, for ProductFitCoach.
Dot Fer interviews Pau Sendra, founder of Waynabox, for ProductFitCoach.
He is Pau Sendra, and the company is Waynabox, a travel-tech company that pioneered surprise trips in Europe: you book a weekend, and only find out where you're flying two days before departure. Over the years Waynabox has taken more than 300,000 travelers on surprise trips across the continent, and in 2023 it was acquired by one of Spain's largest media groups, Atresmedia, which owns some of the country's biggest TV channels, and had already been a small shareholder for years. Here's what stuck with me from that conversation:
He is Pau Sendra, and the company is Waynabox, a travel-tech company that pioneered surprise trips in Europe: you book a weekend, and only find out where you're flying two days before departure. Over the years Waynabox has taken more than 300,000 travelers on surprise trips across the continent, and in 2023 it was acquired by one of Spain's largest media groups, Atresmedia, which owns some of the country's biggest TV channels, and had already been a small shareholder for years. Here's what stuck with me from that conversation:
He is Pau Sendra, and the company is Waynabox, a travel-tech company that pioneered surprise trips in Europe: you book a weekend, and only find out where you're flying two days before departure. Over the years Waynabox has taken more than 300,000 travelers on surprise trips across the continent, and in 2023 it was acquired by one of Spain's largest media groups, Atresmedia, which owns some of the country's biggest TV channels, and had already been a small shareholder for years. Here's what stuck with me from that conversation:
He is Pau Sendra, and the company is Waynabox, a travel-tech company that pioneered surprise trips in Europe: you book a weekend, and only find out where you're flying two days before departure. Over the years Waynabox has taken more than 300,000 travelers on surprise trips across the continent, and in 2023 it was acquired by one of Spain's largest media groups, Atresmedia, which owns some of the country's biggest TV channels, and had already been a small shareholder for years. Here's what stuck with me from that conversation:
He is Pau Sendra, and the company is Waynabox, a travel-tech company that pioneered surprise trips in Europe: you book a weekend, and only find out where you're flying two days before departure. Over the years Waynabox has taken more than 300,000 travelers on surprise trips across the continent, and in 2023 it was acquired by one of Spain's largest media groups, Atresmedia, which owns some of the country's biggest TV channels, and had already been a small shareholder for years. Here's what stuck with me from that conversation:
Growing too fast can kill you just as easily as growing too slow
He said the real danger was never one big crisis. It was the constant math between growth and investment. Grow without investing in the team, you die. Invest without the growth to justify it, you die too.
Growing too fast can kill you just as easily as growing too slow
He said the real danger was never one big crisis. It was the constant math between growth and investment. Grow without investing in the team, you die. Invest without the growth to justify it, you die too.
Growing too fast can kill you just as easily as growing too slow
He said the real danger was never one big crisis. It was the constant math between growth and investment. Grow without investing in the team, you die. Invest without the growth to justify it, you die too.
Growing too fast can kill you just as easily as growing too slow
He said the real danger was never one big crisis. It was the constant math between growth and investment. Grow without investing in the team, you die. Invest without the growth to justify it, you die too.
Growing too fast can kill you just as easily as growing too slow
He said the real danger was never one big crisis. It was the constant math between growth and investment. Grow without investing in the team, you die. Invest without the growth to justify it, you die too.
Zero revenue for months, right in the middle of COVID. The company survived anyway.
Bookings stopped completely and cash kept draining, but the company had to keep paying a full team just to handle refunds and reservations. What kept them alive wasn't one genius move. It was a pile of small things stacking together: coming back to a startup accelerator they'd worked with before, and enough investor trust built over the years to back them up as a company still worth investing in, even while making literally zero revenue. He called this a "puzzle" they had to build.
Zero revenue for months, right in the middle of COVID. The company survived anyway.
Bookings stopped completely and cash kept draining, but the company had to keep paying a full team just to handle refunds and reservations. What kept them alive wasn't one genius move. It was a pile of small things stacking together: coming back to a startup accelerator they'd worked with before, and enough investor trust built over the years to back them up as a company still worth investing in, even while making literally zero revenue. He called this a "puzzle" they had to build.
Zero revenue for months, right in the middle of COVID. The company survived anyway.
Bookings stopped completely and cash kept draining, but the company had to keep paying a full team just to handle refunds and reservations. What kept them alive wasn't one genius move. It was a pile of small things stacking together: coming back to a startup accelerator they'd worked with before, and enough investor trust built over the years to back them up as a company still worth investing in, even while making literally zero revenue. He called this a "puzzle" they had to build.
Zero revenue for months, right in the middle of COVID. The company survived anyway.
Bookings stopped completely and cash kept draining, but the company had to keep paying a full team just to handle refunds and reservations. What kept them alive wasn't one genius move. It was a pile of small things stacking together: coming back to a startup accelerator they'd worked with before, and enough investor trust built over the years to back them up as a company still worth investing in, even while making literally zero revenue. He called this a "puzzle" they had to build.
Zero revenue for months, right in the middle of COVID. The company survived anyway.
Bookings stopped completely and cash kept draining, but the company had to keep paying a full team just to handle refunds and reservations. What kept them alive wasn't one genius move. It was a pile of small things stacking together: coming back to a startup accelerator they'd worked with before, and enough investor trust built over the years to back them up as a company still worth investing in, even while making literally zero revenue. He called this a "puzzle" they had to build.
When one pivot got banned, they pivoted again. Then again.
During COVID, flights got banned, so they switched to selling road trips instead. Road trips got banned six months later. So they tried surprise dinners. They were trying to stay alive one restriction at a time.
When one pivot got banned, they pivoted again. Then again.
During COVID, flights got banned, so they switched to selling road trips instead. Road trips got banned six months later. So they tried surprise dinners. They were trying to stay alive one restriction at a time.
When one pivot got banned, they pivoted again. Then again.
During COVID, flights got banned, so they switched to selling road trips instead. Road trips got banned six months later. So they tried surprise dinners. They were trying to stay alive one restriction at a time.
When one pivot got banned, they pivoted again. Then again.
During COVID, flights got banned, so they switched to selling road trips instead. Road trips got banned six months later. So they tried surprise dinners. They were trying to stay alive one restriction at a time.
When one pivot got banned, they pivoted again. Then again.
During COVID, flights got banned, so they switched to selling road trips instead. Road trips got banned six months later. So they tried surprise dinners. They were trying to stay alive one restriction at a time.
The company layoffs that actually affected him weren't the ones you'd expect
The hardest moments weren't COVID. Everyone was in the same storm, so it wasn't his fault. What actually broke him were the layoffs he had to make because of his own mistakes as a founder: a wrong hire, a wrong scaling call, etc.
The company layoffs that actually affected him weren't the ones you'd expect
The hardest moments weren't COVID. Everyone was in the same storm, so it wasn't his fault. What actually broke him were the layoffs he had to make because of his own mistakes as a founder: a wrong hire, a wrong scaling call, etc.
The company layoffs that actually affected him weren't the ones you'd expect
The hardest moments weren't COVID. Everyone was in the same storm, so it wasn't his fault. What actually broke him were the layoffs he had to make because of his own mistakes as a founder: a wrong hire, a wrong scaling call, etc.
The company layoffs that actually affected him weren't the ones you'd expect
The hardest moments weren't COVID. Everyone was in the same storm, so it wasn't his fault. What actually broke him were the layoffs he had to make because of his own mistakes as a founder: a wrong hire, a wrong scaling call, etc.
The company layoffs that actually affected him weren't the ones you'd expect
The hardest moments weren't COVID. Everyone was in the same storm, so it wasn't his fault. What actually broke him were the layoffs he had to make because of his own mistakes as a founder: a wrong hire, a wrong scaling call, etc.
The line that stuck with me the most:
The pressure that almost broke him was never external. It was always the pressure he put on himself when something was wrong because of his own fault.
The line that stuck with me the most:
The pressure that almost broke him was never external. It was always the pressure he put on himself when something was wrong because of his own fault.
The line that stuck with me the most:
The pressure that almost broke him was never external. It was always the pressure he put on himself when something was wrong because of his own fault.
The line that stuck with me the most:
The pressure that almost broke him was never external. It was always the pressure he put on himself when something was wrong because of his own fault.
The line that stuck with me the most:
The pressure that almost broke him was never external. It was always the pressure he put on himself when something was wrong because of his own fault.
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