Venku offers ultimate experiences for outdoor adventures

Venku, an Airbnb-type service for people looking for outdoor experiences, was recently awarded $50,000 from Codefi's 1ST50K.

In contrast to the other three winners of this year's competition, Murielle Gaither, founder and chief executive officer, is from Cape Girardeau. Her father, John Wyman, is her business partner and chief operations officer.

Venku can connect users with a helicopter hog hunt in San Angelo, Texas.Submitted

Venku, which means "outdoor" in Czech, is a growing marketplace to discover and book outdoor experiences. The online platform connects outdoor enthusiasts with on-the-ground experiences. Whether it's fishing, hiking, hunting or exploring, Venku, which launched in 2019, aims to improve access to the outdoors by allowing people across the country to connect with expert hosts eager to take them on their next adventure.

"I never thought I'd see myself in this role, but now realize how many experiences in my life prepared me for it," Gaither said. "I grew up in an entrepreneurial family — my mom and dad were in the restaurant industry, and I spent most of my early years working alongside them as they built their portfolio of restaurants and commercial real estate."

After having her second child in 2017, Gaither left the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and the business idea for Venku began taking shape through her reflecting on time spent at the family's farm in central Missouri and exploring different ways to sustain the property for years to come. Out of family discussions, Gaither and Wyman recognized one of the things they enjoyed was hiking and fishing.

Venku can connect users with shell and shark tooth hunting in Charleston, South Carolina.Submitted

"My dad was pretty fascinated with how Airbnb was growing at that point and the model that they were using," she said. "And so, he thought, 'Well, let's do that but for private land.'"

After much research and realizing there wasn't anything like this on the internet, they embarked on a path to build Venku.

"It took years of customer discovery and market research," Gaither said. "Building out the tech was a several year process, and it's still not done because, as with anything, going back to my Arts Council days, any artist will tell you that they're never happy with their work until it's perfect. And it's never perfect."

Venku previously had an office at a tech incubator in St. Louis, with Gaither and Wyman splitting time between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. Today, the company is based entirely out of Cape Girardeau.

Time spent in St. Louis, Gaither said, made her appreciate what Cape Girardeau has to offer.

Venku can connect users with a guided fishing trip in King Salmon, Alaska.Submitted

"We tapped into a lot of communities in St. Louis which opened our eyes to what help is available out there, and the benefit of having the community around you — community of other founders and entrepreneurs. I'm extremely pleased to say that we found all that and more in Cape," she said.

Gaither is well-versed on what the area brings to the table, but adds "one of the big surprises has been how strong the startup ecosystem is here, and all the tech support."

James Stapleton, founder of Codefi, was complimentary of the progress made by Gaither and Venku.

"All too often, founders of software-based companies get bad advice or, even worse, are sold bad software," Stapleton said. "We're tech entrepreneurs, so we get the challenges they have faced and are pleased to help them solve those problems."

Venku, like many travel-related businesses, was affected early in the pandemic. Gaither used the downtime to refocus the team on getting hosts and adding listings. But business has picked up with the huge resurgence of interest in being outdoors.

Venku can connect users with a late goose and upland combo hunt in Udall, Kansas.Submitted

With many guides and outfitters at home during the pandemic, Venku's listings grew 530%. They now have listings in 48 out of 50 states offering thousands of listings across the U.S. and abroad.

Promoting "green time over screen time," Venku's goal is to improve access to outdoor experiences for people across the country.

"We empower our hosts and property owners with easy-to-use technology to make their opportunities available to everybody. Whether they're a novice or expert, we want our users to be excited about their next adventure outdoors, not intimidated about having the right gear, expertise or access."

Gaither said it's rewarding to be able to match hunters up with hosts. For example, they offer a "grand slam" package for turkey hunters. They hunt different species of turkey in different areas of the U.S.

"It's neat for us to be that connecting piece, especially for some hunters who are wanting to hunt areas where it's really challenging to find either the private land access or the hunting opportunity," Gaither said.

Most of the outdoor experiences entail hunting and fishing, but depending on the lodging available, might also enable the explorers to hike, canoe or enjoy water sports.

One of the more unusual experiences is a helicopter hog hunt where hunters shoot hogs out of a helicopter in Texas.

Another experience is shark fishing. Venku has a host who works closely with conservationists, so the participant tags a shark then will receive alerts whenever their shark is on the move.

While Venku is about increasing access to outdoor experiences for the average person to enjoy, Gaither added it's also about empowering and helping outdoor service providers who have never had a platform or tool catered to their needs.

"We give them the ability to create a listing within minutes," she said. "Their business is no longer just reliant on answering the phone or responding to a person visiting their shop. Now, they're online and they have access to millions of people looking for unique opportunities."