The unconventional stories of a company's founding are often the most interesting - rather than the fairly formulaic idea-when-traveling-Y-Combinator-seed-investment-route.

After studies overseas, Richard Valtr was back in his home country of the Czech Republic and helping with a family project to renovate and build a hotel, when the concept of Mews was formed.

Now powering 2,000 hospitality brands around the world, Mews is a platform to automate and simplify operations for hotels and their guests.

Payments, front- and back-office functions, guest apps and business intel - Mews has come a long since its foundation in 2012.

Valtr and team have not trodden the typical path favored by other startups in travel, tourism and hospitality, having not taken on any external funding until 2016 or built out a sales team until solid revenue was coming in the front door.

Valtr joins us as the latest guest on How I Got Here.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

It's hosted by PhocusWire's editor in chief, Kevin May, and Mozio co-founder and CEO David Litwak.

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