Benjamin Troth founded Ember to help fulfill people’s desires for exciting and novel experiences that extend beyond the traditional travel experience. By collaborating with local experts, Ember offers unique adventures in cities like Pittsburgh, focusing on authenticity and supporting local communities. The company’s success was kickstarted by winning $15,000 in the Randall Family Big Idea Competition, enabling further growth and expansion plans. Ember earns revenue by collecting a percentage from each transaction that is made between a client and a partner on its platform. Troth’s ultimate dream is to make Ember the go-to destination for discovering thrilling adventures without the need for generic travel guides.
I feel that this would be a perfect time to publicly apologize to my parents and to thank them for putting up with my antics as a kid. I was the type of child who craved novelty. Whether it was jumping off bridges or getting lost in the woods during thunderstorms, I always needed something exciting to satisfy my curiosity. Fast-forward a couple of years, and I am still that same kid — although slightly more mature.
As I started to settle down and take my education and jobs more seriously, I couldn’t help but feel an itch. Something in the back of my mind said to keep moving and do something new and exciting. When talking with my friends, this seemed to be a very common sentiment. No need to dive off bridges anymore, but it is tiring visiting new cities just to check out the local bars and attend sports games over and over. After interviewing many more potential customers, I found that this is a serious problem with travel in general.
This past summer, I scratched my itch of doing something exciting by fulfilling a childhood dream of mine: Climbing a mountain in the Himalayas. I learned two very important lessons during that trip: Always make sure your gloves are fully waterproof, and, more importantly, people and culture make memorable experiences what they are.
I realize now that this isn’t something we need to travel across the globe for. We can find that same thrilling and unique experience in our backyard in Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh’s long-lasting Indigenous history to our unique art and literary culture, our culinary specialties and even our sports fanaticism, there is just so much to explore.
The same is true for every city you can think of. Through speaking with and collaborating with locals, I founded Ember as an online platform that focuses on creating and providing experiences that aren’t otherwise available. Whether traveling for a business conference or visiting friends and family, Ember can turn any trip into an adventure. All while doing this, we support the unique communities directly, preserving their voice and refusing to turn any part of the experience into a touristy inauthentic experience.
After testing the concept and obtaining our first $1,000 in revenue, we entered the Randall Family Big Idea Competition, where Ember was awarded $15,000 to continue exploring the idea. We continued pressure testing our product in the Blast Furnace startup accelerator and are currently building up our existing repository of experiences, as well as partnerships with local real estate companies, short-term rentals and hotels.
We hope to continue building and maintaining a steady operation in Pittsburgh before expanding nationally and then globally. My dream is to never have to search “top 10 things to do while staying in __” ever again because every adventure worth doing will be easily found on Ember. We all deserve the best possible traveling experience with friends, and I am so thrilled to be able to build it.
ABOUT BENJAMIN TROTH AND EMBER:
Title: Founder, Ember
Year company established: 2022
Age: 21
Employees: Two
