If you had to think of a company you'd least expect to come from a land-locked, desert-filled state like New Mexico, a business centered on yachts might be high on the list. Don't tell that to Ruben Mena.
Mena, who lives in Las Cruces, last year launched YachtNotes — a startup that facilitates communication between yacht brokerages, yacht owners and people who want to rent those yachts. It's stepped into some quick traction, including acceptance into a global startup hub for the yachting industry.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Mena moved to Las Cruces when he started high school. Mena received a bachelor's in business and economics from New Mexico State University (NMSU), where he studied abroad — once in Switzerland and once in Denmark.
Through his time in Switzerland, Mena was pulled toward working in luxury industries, which he described as "experiential."
"When you buy something expensive, let's say a nice car or a Louis Vuitton wallet or a Chanel fragrance, you're not just going there for the product, you're going there for the experience," he said. "It's the same with Virgin Galactic here in New Mexico."
After graduating from NMSU, Mena studied at the International University of Monaco. It was there, in the principality known for its luxury, that the idea for YachtNotes struck Mena.
He wants the company to fill gaps he's seen in communication between players in the yachting industry.
"Hyatt — the hotel — they have their own concierge messaging system application, they don't use WhatsApp. It would be very strange if they did," Mena said. "It's the same for the yachting industry. I'm trying to standardize communication."
Albuquerque Business First caught up with Mena to learn more about his startup as he readies the communication platform for market.
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Albuquerque Business First: What is the business model like exactly with YachtNotes? Who are you trying to get to use your platform?
Ruben Mena: We are going to sell this platform initially to yachting brokerages. They are the ones who are going to be paying for this platform.
But in terms of users, you have three groups of people. You have the professionals in yachting who are working in the office or on the boats. You have the charter guests, so the people who are paying to rent out a yacht. And then you have the yacht owners, or the family offices that represent them, in the third group.
It's important that they're users as well because let's say, for example, you own a yacht that's worth $50 million. You want to make sure that the yacht brokerage is doing a good job in dealing with problems, managing your yacht, because it's your prize asset. They're incorporated as users as well, and that's to enhance transparency in the yachting industry.
What do you think is the hardest part about being based in Las Cruces and working in an industry that operates on oceans or seas? There's not a lot of those around that area. That's the beauty about software is that you can be anywhere. One of the reasons I decided to be based here is because New Mexico helps startups quite a lot.
I think one of the biggest challenges is when you do go out onto the market, you have to sell your product. And so creating those relationships with the brokerages is really important. Convincing them that they need this software so that they could provide better service is not an easy thing to do. But I really believe in this software because this industry is very expensive and it's not professional that, if you're a charter guest and you're paying let's say $1 million for one week, that you're using WhatsApp.
What is your long-term goal over the next five years for YachtNotes in terms of customers or revenue growth? Are there any numbers that you're looking at? In terms of the future, obviously we want to create a community of brokerages that are using our platform. And as time goes on, we want to add features to make yacht charter management easier.
When you are starting a business it's very hard to control yourself. Sometimes you want to add all of these features and you want to solve all of the problems in a given industry at once. But that's a terrible approach. You have to start simple and then add on to that, so maybe add more features. We're thinking of doing a variety of different partnerships so we can provide more services.
Is there anything else you want to add about YachtNotes or the company going forward? I always say, yes, YachtNotes is proudly an American company. But this company was inspired in Monaco. And because Monaco is not only the world's luxury capital, it's also the world's yachting capital, it's really important for us to embrace that Monaco heritage. I'm very proud of that.
