February 17, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher speak with Alvaro Silberstein, co-founder and CEO of Wheel the World, an accessible travel platform revolutionizing the way people with disabilities experience the world. Alvaro shares his personal journey from Chile to the U.S., his experiences traveling as a quadriplegic, and how those challenges inspired him to create a company that ensures people with disabilities have the information and resources they need to travel confidently.
From hiking in Patagonia to launching a global platform that maps accessible destinations, Alvaro discusses how Wheel the World is empowering travelers and working with tourism organizations to create more inclusive experiences. The conversation also delves into the economic impact of accessibility, highlighting the $120 billion travel market opportunity for destinations and businesses that prioritize inclusion.
Tune in to hear how Alvaro turned a personal challenge into an innovative solution, and why investing in accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also good business.
About Wheel the World
Wheel the World is a travel platform that empowers people with disabilities to explore the world without limits. Through detailed accessibility data and a seamless booking experience, we help travelers find and book accommodations and experiences that meet their unique accessibility needs.
Beyond travel bookings, Wheel the World collaborates with destinations through Destination Verified, a program that enables tourism boards, hotels, and attractions to assess and showcase their accessibility through verified data. By ensuring accurate and reliable accessibility information, Wheel the World makes travel more inclusive for all.
Links:
Website: https://wheeltheworld.com
Destination Verified: https://wheeltheworld.com/destination-verified-partners
Become an Accessibility Mapper: https://careers.wheeltheworld.com/jobs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheeltheworld_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wheeltheworld
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WheeltheWorld
COMING SOON!
American Sign Language (ASL) and Captioning for each episode will be provided on our YouTube channel. Go to handle @SamaritanPartners.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kelvin Crosby (00:06):
Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a
Samaritan Partners podcast.
We're not waiting for change,we're investing in it.
Join us as we speak withentrepreneurs and thought
leaders that are focused oncreating a more accessible world
(00:29):
.
Hey, so good to see you, eventhough I can't see you.
It's another beautiful day inthe neighborhood and I'm so
excited that you are here atInvesting in Accessibility.
Wow, dude, we got a show foryou today.
This guest.
He comes from the SouthAmerica's world and now he's
here in the United States doingamazing things for people with
(00:51):
disabilities.
But before we get to our guest,let me introduce you to my
co-host, Chris Maher.
How you doing, man?
Chris Maher (00:58):
Hey Kelvin, how are you, my friend?
Good to see you, pal.
Kelvin Crosby (01:00):
I'm doing good, and so why don't you kind of set
us up today, for I guess, like,where did you find this man?
I mean this man has an accent.
He comes from a different partof the world but now he's doing
amazing things for people, fortravel.
Chris Maher (01:17):
He is.
He and his company are doingamazing things in the world of
accessible travel.
So our guest today is AlvaroSilberstein, who is the
co-founder and CEO of Wheel theWorld, which is, as I said, an
accessible travel company, andwe're going to get into that.
But it was pretty serendipitoushow I met Alvaro and his
co-founder, Camillo.
(01:38):
I actually just read an articleabout the company back in early
2023, reached out on LinkedInand they got back to me and we
started a conversation and thatturned into a series of
conversations and then fulldisclosure Samaritan is an
investor in Wheel of the Worldand from that point on, I feel
(02:00):
very grateful that I andSamaritan have been along on the
journey that Wheel of the Worldis on in the world of
accessible travel.
I'm really excited to get intothat conversation today.
So with that, Alvaro, welcomemy friend.
Alvaro Silberstein (02:15):
Hello Kelvin .
Chris, I'm excited to be heretalking with you all.
Alvaro, I think where we shouldstart is with your personal
story and that lived experiencewhich really led to you starting
Wheel of the World.
So if you could give us alittle, bit of that background
that'd be wonderful.
Sure, so almost all my life until I was
(02:37):
30 years old, I lived in Chile.
All my family lives there.
I grew up there in Chile, thesouthernmost country of South
America, so far away where I amnow here in Berkeley, California
, and um, when I had 18 yearsold, I had a car accident, broke
my neck at level C5, so I am acomplete C5 quadriplegic.
(03:02):
Since then moved myself in amanual wheelchair, sometimes in
a power wheelchair, and, as Iwould assume many of the
audience has experienced before,I started to get used to living
with a disability, realizinghow challenging it is to accept
a life-altering experience, butalso realizing that the world
(03:28):
hasn't been designed for someonewho has a disability to live it
to the fullest as I wanted tolive it.
I was very lucky to have a lotof support of my family and
friends to get as independent aspossible, get back to college,
(03:50):
get back to work, to have sociallife, to be happy again, and so
that's pretty much about mybackground.
I'm an engineer.
I worked for different startupsand consultancy firms back in
Chile and I came to the US in2015 to do my MBA, to do a
(04:16):
master's program and my essay toapply to that business school
program was that I wanted tobecome an entrepreneur to solve
problems for people withdisabilities, and so that's how
I came to the US and after mystudies I started Wheel the
(04:37):
World with my co-founder, Camilo, and so that's pretty much
about my story pre-Wheel theWorld.
Kelvin Crosby (04:44):
So I'd be curious to ask you this question as you
started traveling from Chile tothe United States and really
learning your travelingexperience, like how do you
travel as a quadriplegic andwhat did that look like?
And honestly, from myperspective as a blind guy, I'm
(05:05):
trying to visualize that.
So could you kind of describethat a little bit?
Chris Maher (05:09):
And also just to piggyback on that, and how did
that shape your vision for thecompany that you started?
Alvaro Silberstein (05:16):
So that's a great point and great questions
that so, as I started to getused to my new life being
disabled, one of the things thatI always felt bad and felt
disappointed was realizing thatI always wanted to see the world
(05:38):
and now I would not and thatwas something that frustrated me
a lot at the beginning, andthen I started realizing that
was possible with the rightinformation, with the right
preparation, with understandingwhat to expect and how to
prepare to travel to differentplaces.
(05:58):
How do I travel as aquadriplegic and wheelchair user
, as Kelvin asked?
Well, I like to prepare as muchas possible, understand how
accessible would be the placesthat I would stay, understanding
how I would move around becauseI also need accessible
(06:20):
transportation and what would bethe places that I will visit or
, if it's work travel, if theplaces that I would go would
have the right accessibility forme.
Right?
What's that accessibility thatI need?
For example, if I need to takea shower, I need a rolling
shower in the bathroom.
(06:40):
I will need in the place that Iwill stay, a room that is not
higher than 23 inches to be ableto transfer independently.
I will need places that havelike minimum accessibility, of
course, when it comes to likespaces and doors and width, and
turning radius, etc.
(07:08):
And and and one of thechallenges also that needs to be
solved is the flight experienceright, yeah, and I know that
every single airport in theworld they have assistance and I
have enough experience toexplain that assistance that I
have when I go into the airportexperience to explain them.
(07:29):
How do they need to help me totransfer to an aisle chair?
An aisle chair are those narrowchairs that allows you to get
inside the plane and thentransfer to my seat.
(07:52):
When I have long flights, manytimes I um on purpose, I
dehydrate a little bit so Idon't need to go to the bathroom
inside the plane and I havesome medications also to avoid
going to the bathroom.
And if I have a, let's say, aneight hour flight, that takes me
every day every year when I goto visit my family in Chile, and
(08:12):
so it is challenging and I loveto travel.
So I got used to it and and Ialso have I'm I already know how
to prepare and how toanticipate so I can have a great
travel experience and it'spossible.
I have traveled to more than 30countries around the world.
(08:36):
I have traveled to Japan, toKorea, all South America, a lot
of places in the US, Europe.
And I have done crazyadventures, hiking in Patagonia
and doing the Inca Trail inMachu Picchu, so it is possible.
And that's something that forme was very rewarding, given
(08:59):
that, when I just got injured,for me travel was something that
I thought that I would not doanymore.
Kelvin Crosby (09:07):
Well, I think what's cool you're a true
example of living beyond yourchallenges and I think that is
awesome.
And I think what's reallyinteresting is, like my
experience as a deaf-blind guy.
I mean, I just got off a planea couple weeks ago or a couple
days ago and I tell you I'm good.
(09:28):
Everybody wants to help but atthe same time you need the help.
But how much of that do youneed as an independent?
So I think what I would love tokind of dive into is you talked
about planning ahead and Ithink that is something that is
really crucial in what yourbusiness is all about is
(09:51):
preparing people for that travel, that lifetime experience.
So kind of tell us like, howdid you start your company?
Alvaro Silberstein (10:10):
Yes, so I was, um, well, I I still, but um
, in 2016, I was living inBerkeley doing my MBA and, as I
mentioned, I came for a reasonand that was coming here to
silicon valley to do businessschool, to become an
entrepreneur, to solve problemsfor people with disabilities,
and I was convincing myclassmates to go on different
projects.
That ended up not successfully.
(10:31):
And at some point, myco-founder his name is Camilo,
great guy, he was living stillin Chile.
Today he also lives here in theBay Area and we started talking
because we are longtime friendssince I was very young, even
before my accident.
I was trying to convince him tocome here to the Bay Area
(10:56):
because he also was seekingentrepreneurial opportunities
and living abroad.
And back in the day, we had thedream to do a trip together to
the most beautiful and the mostvisited destination in Chile.
That is, Patagonia.
(11:16):
Patagonia is not a brand.
Originally, it's a place in theworld that is beautiful, that
is in the south of Chile.
We can say that it's kind ofthe Alaska of Chile full of
mountains, rivers, lakes, a lotof also like fauna, and it's the
(11:40):
most visited tourismdestination in my country, but I
always assumed that it would beimpossible for me to travel to
this very remote place in theworld.
But having this experience inCalifornia that I was like, very
inspired to do different things, I was living abroad, I felt
(12:01):
that I was much more confidentin my life than before and also
having the experience ofexploring natural places in
California that are veryaccessible, right, I was able to
go to the different nationalparks over here.
So I said, Camilo, okay, let'sfigure it out, I'm visiting my
(12:21):
family for Christmas and NewYear's Eve, let's figure out to
plan a trip to Patagonia.
Camilo got super excited andboth of us started to reach out
to the locals over there andmaking research about how
someone in a wheelchair, plusfour other friends, would
(12:42):
explore this place in specificthat is called Torres del Paine
National Park, and we realizedthat there was zero information
about accessibility, zero, andno accommodations that said that
were accessible, not anytransportation service.
We talked with locals that werethat worked for the travel
(13:04):
industry over there and theytold us, like, how wide is your
chair?
It's like 70 centimeters.
Okay, the the the widest trailin the national park is like 30
centimeters.
There's no way that awheelchair we have never seen a
wheelchair here before, so so wegot kind of disappointed.
(13:26):
But also we said, ok, theremust be a way right, and we
started making research.
I was doing my internship for amobility company here in the Bay
Area that is called Wheel.
It's a Japanese company thatthey do like high-end equipment
(13:51):
as wheelchairs and otherequipment and I was able to go
to a show, to an abilities expo,and there was there like a
specific chair that wasspecially designed to do hikes
with people with physicaldisabilities.
It's a chair that is assisted.
It's one person pushing fromthe back, one person pushing
(14:14):
from the front and it has onlyone wheel.
It has suspension, it isdesigned so other people can
assist you very comfortably on ahike, on a trail, going up a
mountain whatsoever.
And we said, ok, this willallow us to do this trip.
This chair is a company that isbased in France, this equipment
(14:37):
is manufactured in France andthe chair costs like $5,000.
So we said like we don't havethe money to acquire it, only
for a trip of one week.
So we said let's rent it out,ship it to Patagonia and then
back to France.
That cost like $7,000.
It was even more expensive.
(14:57):
So that was the moment that wedecided, okay, let's transform
our trip into a project the veryfirst time ever of a wheelchair
user to complete the W Trek inPatagonia.
So we could like crowdfund thecost of the chairs and also a
scouting trip of my friend andco-founder today, Camilo, to
(15:19):
figure out what were theaccessible accommodations, that
we would stay, how we would movearound and do like a scouting
trip, to figure out that thistrip was feasible and also the
equipment was an enabler to dothis experience.
So we fundraised the equipment,this scouting trip we went to,
(15:39):
like around seven friends, Ibecame the first person ever in
a wheelchair to complete thistrip, and then what we did is we
left the equipment over thereand we built like an online
guide on how to do Patagonia ina wheelchair.
Our story went viral because wedeveloped different content of
(16:00):
videos and pictures.
We were on the news in the SanFrancisco Chronicle here in the
US.
Mark Zuckerberg posted a videoof our story and I always say
that that was just an anecdote,but because the amazing thing
that happened there it was thatmany people, hundreds of people
from all over the world startedreaching out to us through our
(16:22):
Facebook account that theywanted to repeat this trip, and
we started organizing this tripto other people, basically
because we had the informationon where to stay, how to move
around, who had the chair, howthe chair was used, and we were
helping people coordinate thistrip to allow them to have this
(16:46):
great experience, as we did.
And this was amazing, and,given that I wanted to become an
entrepreneur also, Camilo, westarted not studying much here
(17:06):
at UC Berkeley and putting a lotof effort on organizing this
trip to other people, but alsoto figure out what to do with
this right and what was theopportunity.
And we fastly realized that theopportunity was huge, not only
to organize trips to people thatwere crazy, to do a crazy
adventure in the end of theworld, but also to find what
were the accessibleaccommodations to stay in Miami
(17:28):
or in Mesa, Arizona, or thetransportation services that are
accessible in Seattle or inBarcelona or in London.
Right?
We have framed the problem thatit's an information problem.
Information of accessibility ishard to rely on current
(17:52):
information.
It needs to be very detailedand it needs to be spread
digitally so people canunderstand what's accessible and
what's not.
And it needs to be verydetailed, because people with
disabilities will have differentneeds.
Of course, someone who is blindcompared to someone who uses a
(18:13):
wheelchair is totally different,but also it's different someone
who uses a manual wheelchaircompared to one that uses a
power wheelchair, or someone whois able to use their triceps
compared to someone who cannot.
So going to this level ofdetails allows someone to
understand if something isaccessible or not for them.
Chris Maher (18:35):
Your lived experience puts you in a
position that you are very mucha subject matter expert and so,
starting this business, you hada very clear vision of what it
would be.
But talk about exactly what thecompany does.
There's a direct-to-consumerside and a B2B side.
But also, over the last severalyears, that process working
(18:58):
with hotels and destinations andvenues and where they were a
few years ago in terms of howthey were thinking about
accessibility, versus where theyare today and the progress
that's been made would be greatfor you to shed some insight on
that.
Alvaro Silberstein (19:12):
So, yes, wheel the World.
We have the purpose to makingthe world accessible and we
consider Wheel the World theexpert solution for accessible
travel.
On one site we put togetherwheeltheworld.
com.
That is an online travelplatform to find and book
accessible travel experiences,with all the accessibility
(19:33):
details people need and with arecommendation system that we
recommend you what best fitsyour specific needs.
Today we are doing around 10,000people every year travel using
wheeltheworld.
com and on the other side, wehave Destination Verified that
(19:54):
is a seal of approval servicefor destination marketing
organizations and tourismbureaus that we are helping them
to evaluate, assess and promotethe accessible travel services
of their destination.
Okay, we started withwheeltheworld.
com making people travel and howwe were having the right offer
(20:20):
to be published at wheeltheworld.
com so people can book hotelsand transportation services.
And everything that we offer atwheeltheworld.
com was by collecting thedetails of accessibility through
an app that we have developedthat is called the Accessibility
Mapping System, and we aresending mappers as, for example,
(20:42):
Instacart or Uber Eats hasshoppers.
Wheel the World has mappersthat we carefully train and we
send them to do site inspectionsin hotels, restaurants, tourism
attractions, to collect allthese details of accessibility
that are relevant for travelerswith disabilities.
We're collecting more than 200data points of accessibility of
(21:05):
hotels and museums andrestaurants, etc.
Once we collect, these datapoints automatically are
published at wheeltheworld.
com so people can book itthrough our website,
understanding exactly, withpictures and detailed data, how
that accessibility looks like,and we are covering the
(21:26):
information that is relevant forall types of disabilities.
By doing this we realized thatdestination marketing
organizations let's say, visitSan Diego or Visit Fort
Lauderdale or Mesa, Arizona orAnn Arbor or Miami and Seattle
are part of our customers.
(21:48):
They realized that they alsowanted to help us out and to
understand how was theiraccessibility and how they could
promote it to visitors withdisabilities.
So we started, we package aservice for these organizations
in which we are helping them toevaluate, with our mapping
(22:10):
system, all that accessibilityand we provide them platform, a
SaaS platform, in which they canevaluate how all the properties
that are site inspected havetheir accessibility, how many
bookings, how many travelerswith disabilities they are like
receiving, and giving them alsoresources so they can
(22:33):
incentivize those properties toimprove their accessibility with
the key points that we haveidentified that can be improved
to for a better accessibility.
So nowadays we are working witharound 100 destinations in the
U.
S.
, helping them map more than 10,000 hotels, restaurants and
(22:57):
tourism attractions, providingthem incentives so they can
improve it, that accessibility,and, of course, promoting it to
the more than 100,000 travelerswith disabilities that are part
of the wheeltheworld.
com community.
Kelvin Crosby (23:12):
That's awesome.
A question for you.
If you're somebody with adisability and you wanted to be
a mapper, how would they getinvolved in that process?
Alvaro Silberstein (23:22):
Yes, so we are recruiting people all over
the US because we do need moremappers to help us do these site
inspections.
You can go online on ourwebsite.
Go down and you will find thecontact center saying that you
can register as a mapper and ourteam will contact you to pass
(23:46):
you through this online processin which we will train people on
how to use this app, on what isneeded to do site inspections,
so you can enroll in ourcommunity of mappers that today
we are more than 400 mappers wehave in different places of the
world, not only in the US.
Chris Maher (24:12):
So let's get into, kind of the business, the
economics of it, and so a fewstats for our listeners.
In the US, what is it?
One in four adults has adisability.
Anecdotally, what I've heardacross the travel industry is
that the DMOs, these destinationmarketing organizations and
venues, are realizing thatpeople with disabilities like to
travel just as much as peoplewithout disabilities.
(24:34):
You're a great example of that,Alvaro.
And when they travel, they tendto travel with their families
and friends.
And if your destination, hotel,venue can't accommodate the
person in the group with adisability, then the likelihood
is that entire group is going togo somewhere else.
And so, as destinations areleaning in and asking you folks
(24:57):
to help them more and more aboutverifying their accessibility,
do you have a sense of theeconomic, the return on that
investment, or the increase inrevenue for destinations or the
increase in travelers?
Do you have any numbers at thispoint where they're seeing the
return on that investment aroundaccessibility?
Alvaro Silberstein (25:16):
There's 15% of the world's population have
disabilities, right, between 15%to 20% depends on the country.
In the US, as you say, it'slike one every four people.
And if you consider ourfamilies and friends, right, our
people that are directlyrelated to us, you can get to
(25:40):
60% of the world's population,right, and that's what's
happening at wheeltheworld.
com.
com.
Okay, wheeltheworldcom.
com wielderworldcom, we aremaking around 10,000 people
travel every year and one-thirdof them are people with
disabilities.
Two-thirds are companions ofsomeone who has a disability.
So, on average, every bookingthat we have in our platform is
(26:03):
people, people one disabledperson plus two companions.
50% of the times is not thedisabled is the The one who
makes the it booking is thecompanion.
So many it is is the companionthe one doing the purchase
(26:24):
decision, right, seeking foraccessibility.
The majority of the times isthe companion, the ones who
makes the review after the trip.
So those are interesting thingsto consider.
That this is Because,historically, right, when I
(26:45):
started my company, many times Ireached out to investors and
said, no, the disability segmentis is too small, right, and
that's not true, right?
Yeah, because we are 15% of theworld population and and this
segment in specific isdemonstrating that actually
accessibility is impact muchmore people, three times the
(27:08):
number of people withdisabilities right, and we
always love to say thataccessibility is not something
for a few, because all of uswill have a disability sooner or
later because of aging.
So accessibility impactseveryone at some point of our
(27:31):
lives.
And when it comes to theeconomics, at least 15 million
US Americans with disabilitiesare traveling once a year.
15 million Americans withdisabilities.
They travel normally with oneor two companions and they are
(27:52):
taking 40 million trips per year.
This, as a consequence, we canestimate that it's a $120
billion market.
So it's a huge market.
Chris Maher (28:07):
Can you say that number again so everyone
understands how large thisopportunity is?
$120 billion with a B.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:15):
Yes, billion dollar market.
Kelvin Crosby (28:17):
He didn't misspeak.
It's not just M, it's a B.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:22):
Sorry, my English is my second language.
I'm still struggling.
Kelvin Crosby (28:27):
No, you're good, You're good.
We're just making sure it'sclear to everybody.
Yes, you know.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:36):
So it's a huge market and we are
estimating the destinations,what they are investing in the
projects that we do together,that in a period of two years is
returning three times theinvestment, considering the
bookings and the expenditurethat is estimated on every
(28:57):
traveler that we are making totravel to this destination, that
they are spending at thedestination, because it's not
only the flight and the hotel,of course, it's the restaurants,
it's the services that theythat they acquire over there,
the transportation, the Uber,etc.
All that is an investment thathas a return, of course, for the
(29:17):
city, for the businesses overthere, for the taxes, etc.
Kelvin Crosby (29:21):
Yeah, when I think what's huge about this it
is it's that whole concept,universal design, and really
getting into that depth.
And I think that is what's soimportant about having access to
travel.
I mean, I travel a lot for workand so forth, and it's one of
(29:43):
those things where it's like younever know what you're gonna
get yourself into.
But this resource for somebodylike myself and we talked about
billions of people to haveaccess to like this, and the
economic opportunities for allof this, is incredible, and so
(30:06):
I'm super excited to see how youguys continue to grow, continue
to really develop yourespecially the B2B side of your
business.
Alvaro Silberstein (30:17):
I believe that this economic opportunity
of the accessible travel segmentit's the same for any type of
accessibility investment.
Digital accessibility,infrastructure, information,
education.
At the end of the day like,investing in accessibility, has
(30:39):
return on investment and that'swhy the reason that since the I
don't know 60s or 70s, thiscommunity has evolved so much
and accessibility has evolved somuch and so many products,
services, technologies,infrastructure has improved.
It's not because we haveinvested more in something that
(31:05):
didn't have return.
It has returned because there'smore access to jobs, more
access to education, more peoplebeing able to be part of the
economy, and that's whyaccessibility has positive
return of investments in general.
A nd that's why many VCs, greatinvestors as Chris, has decided
(31:33):
to invest in this segment.
Chris Maher (31:39):
Wheel the World, and travel is a great example
for why investing inaccessibility is good business,
and I think you summarized itthere perfectly, Alvaro.
As we wrap up and let you go,people who are looking to travel
and or people who are on thebusiness side of things, how can
they find Wheel the World andlearn more about what you're
(32:01):
doing?
Alvaro Silberstei (32:02):
WheelTheWorld .
com.
We have all the informationover there and if you want to
reach me out, LinkedIn can be agood platform to find me out and
send me a message.
Chris Maher (32:16):
Terrific.
And we'll put all that in theshow notes.
Alvaro, thank you so much forspending some time with us today
.
It's a pleasure as always, andKelvin take us out.
Kelvin Crosby (32:25):
Thank you so much for being at Investing in
Accessibility and, as I alwayssay, go live beyond your
challenges and we'll see you intwo weeks.
Thank you for listening toInvesting in Accessibility, a
(32:48):
Samaritan Partners podcast,where we invest in change for
accessibility, not wait forchange.
If you want to follow us, youcan find us on YouTube or
LinkedIn at Samaritan Partners.
If you would like to invest inSamaritan Partners, email Chris
at chris@ samaritanpartners.
com.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, go to www.
(33:08):
samaritanpartners.
com.
You can take the first step ininvesting in change by giving us
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know, so we can spread the word,so that we can give access to
all, by Investing inAccessibility.
Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a
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We're not waiting for change,we're investing in it.
Join us as we speak withentrepreneurs and thought
leaders that are focused oncreating a more accessible world
(00:29):
.
Hey, so good to see you, eventhough I can't see you.
It's another beautiful day inthe neighborhood and I'm so
excited that you are here atInvesting in Accessibility.
Wow, dude, we got a show foryou today.
This guest.
He comes from the SouthAmerica's world and now he's
here in the United States doingamazing things for people with
(00:51):
disabilities.
But before we get to our guest,let me introduce you to my
co-host, Chris Maher.
How you doing, man?
Chris Maher (00:58):
Hey Kelvin, how are you, my friend?
Good to see you, pal.
Kelvin Crosby (01:00):
I'm doing good, and so why don't you kind of set
us up today, for I guess, like,where did you find this man?
I mean this man has an accent.
He comes from a different partof the world but now he's doing
amazing things for people, fortravel.
Chris Maher (01:17):
He is.
He and his company are doingamazing things in the world of
accessible travel.
So our guest today is AlvaroSilberstein, who is the
co-founder and CEO of Wheel theWorld, which is, as I said, an
accessible travel company, andwe're going to get into that.
But it was pretty serendipitoushow I met Alvaro and his
co-founder, Camillo.
(01:38):
I actually just read an articleabout the company back in early
2023, reached out on LinkedInand they got back to me and we
started a conversation and thatturned into a series of
conversations and then fulldisclosure Samaritan is an
investor in Wheel of the Worldand from that point on, I feel
(02:00):
very grateful that I andSamaritan have been along on the
journey that Wheel of the Worldis on in the world of
accessible travel.
I'm really excited to get intothat conversation today.
So with that, Alvaro, welcomemy friend.
Alvaro Silberstein (02:15):
Hello Kelvin .
Chris, I'm excited to be heretalking with you all.
Alvaro, I think where we shouldstart is with your personal
story and that lived experiencewhich really led to you starting
Wheel of the World.
So if you could give us alittle, bit of that background
that'd be wonderful.
Sure, so almost all my life until I was
(02:37):
30 years old, I lived in Chile.
All my family lives there.
I grew up there in Chile, thesouthernmost country of South
America, so far away where I amnow here in Berkeley, California
, and um, when I had 18 yearsold, I had a car accident, broke
my neck at level C5, so I am acomplete C5 quadriplegic.
(03:02):
Since then moved myself in amanual wheelchair, sometimes in
a power wheelchair, and, as Iwould assume many of the
audience has experienced before,I started to get used to living
with a disability, realizinghow challenging it is to accept
a life-altering experience, butalso realizing that the world
(03:28):
hasn't been designed for someonewho has a disability to live it
to the fullest as I wanted tolive it.
I was very lucky to have a lotof support of my family and
friends to get as independent aspossible, get back to college,
(03:50):
get back to work, to have sociallife, to be happy again, and so
that's pretty much about mybackground.
I'm an engineer.
I worked for different startupsand consultancy firms back in
Chile and I came to the US in2015 to do my MBA, to do a
(04:16):
master's program and my essay toapply to that business school
program was that I wanted tobecome an entrepreneur to solve
problems for people withdisabilities, and so that's how
I came to the US and after mystudies I started Wheel the
(04:37):
World with my co-founder, Camilo, and so that's pretty much
about my story pre-Wheel theWorld.
Kelvin Crosby (04:44):
So I'd be curious to ask you this question as you
started traveling from Chile tothe United States and really
learning your travelingexperience, like how do you
travel as a quadriplegic andwhat did that look like?
And honestly, from myperspective as a blind guy, I'm
(05:05):
trying to visualize that.
So could you kind of describethat a little bit?
Chris Maher (05:09):
And also just to piggyback on that, and how did
that shape your vision for thecompany that you started?
Alvaro Silberstein (05:16):
So that's a great point and great questions
that so, as I started to getused to my new life being
disabled, one of the things thatI always felt bad and felt
disappointed was realizing thatI always wanted to see the world
(05:38):
and now I would not and thatwas something that frustrated me
a lot at the beginning, andthen I started realizing that
was possible with the rightinformation, with the right
preparation, with understandingwhat to expect and how to
prepare to travel to differentplaces.
(05:58):
How do I travel as aquadriplegic and wheelchair user
, as Kelvin asked?
Well, I like to prepare as muchas possible, understand how
accessible would be the placesthat I would stay, understanding
how I would move around becauseI also need accessible
(06:20):
transportation and what would bethe places that I will visit or
, if it's work travel, if theplaces that I would go would
have the right accessibility forme.
Right?
What's that accessibility thatI need?
For example, if I need to takea shower, I need a rolling
shower in the bathroom.
(06:40):
I will need in the place that Iwill stay, a room that is not
higher than 23 inches to be ableto transfer independently.
I will need places that havelike minimum accessibility, of
course, when it comes to likespaces and doors and width, and
turning radius, etc.
(07:08):
And and and one of thechallenges also that needs to be
solved is the flight experienceright, yeah, and I know that
every single airport in theworld they have assistance and I
have enough experience toexplain that assistance that I
have when I go into the airportexperience to explain them.
(07:29):
How do they need to help me totransfer to an aisle chair?
An aisle chair are those narrowchairs that allows you to get
inside the plane and thentransfer to my seat.
(07:52):
When I have long flights, manytimes I um on purpose, I
dehydrate a little bit so Idon't need to go to the bathroom
inside the plane and I havesome medications also to avoid
going to the bathroom.
And if I have a, let's say, aneight hour flight, that takes me
every day every year when I goto visit my family in Chile, and
(08:12):
so it is challenging and I loveto travel.
So I got used to it and and Ialso have I'm I already know how
to prepare and how toanticipate so I can have a great
travel experience and it'spossible.
I have traveled to more than 30countries around the world.
(08:36):
I have traveled to Japan, toKorea, all South America, a lot
of places in the US, Europe.
And I have done crazyadventures, hiking in Patagonia
and doing the Inca Trail inMachu Picchu, so it is possible.
And that's something that forme was very rewarding, given
(08:59):
that, when I just got injured,for me travel was something that
I thought that I would not doanymore.
Kelvin Crosby (09:07):
Well, I think what's cool you're a true
example of living beyond yourchallenges and I think that is
awesome.
And I think what's reallyinteresting is, like my
experience as a deaf-blind guy.
I mean, I just got off a planea couple weeks ago or a couple
days ago and I tell you I'm good.
(09:28):
Everybody wants to help but atthe same time you need the help.
But how much of that do youneed as an independent?
So I think what I would love tokind of dive into is you talked
about planning ahead and Ithink that is something that is
really crucial in what yourbusiness is all about is
(09:51):
preparing people for that travel, that lifetime experience.
So kind of tell us like, howdid you start your company?
Alvaro Silberstein (10:10):
Yes, so I was, um, well, I I still, but um
, in 2016, I was living inBerkeley doing my MBA and, as I
mentioned, I came for a reasonand that was coming here to
silicon valley to do businessschool, to become an
entrepreneur, to solve problemsfor people with disabilities,
and I was convincing myclassmates to go on different
projects.
That ended up not successfully.
(10:31):
And at some point, myco-founder his name is Camilo,
great guy, he was living stillin Chile.
Today he also lives here in theBay Area and we started talking
because we are longtime friendssince I was very young, even
before my accident.
I was trying to convince him tocome here to the Bay Area
(10:56):
because he also was seekingentrepreneurial opportunities
and living abroad.
And back in the day, we had thedream to do a trip together to
the most beautiful and the mostvisited destination in Chile.
That is, Patagonia.
(11:16):
Patagonia is not a brand.
Originally, it's a place in theworld that is beautiful, that
is in the south of Chile.
We can say that it's kind ofthe Alaska of Chile full of
mountains, rivers, lakes, a lotof also like fauna, and it's the
(11:40):
most visited tourismdestination in my country, but I
always assumed that it would beimpossible for me to travel to
this very remote place in theworld.
But having this experience inCalifornia that I was like, very
inspired to do different things, I was living abroad, I felt
(12:01):
that I was much more confidentin my life than before and also
having the experience ofexploring natural places in
California that are veryaccessible, right, I was able to
go to the different nationalparks over here.
So I said, Camilo, okay, let'sfigure it out, I'm visiting my
(12:21):
family for Christmas and NewYear's Eve, let's figure out to
plan a trip to Patagonia.
Camilo got super excited andboth of us started to reach out
to the locals over there andmaking research about how
someone in a wheelchair, plusfour other friends, would
(12:42):
explore this place in specificthat is called Torres del Paine
National Park, and we realizedthat there was zero information
about accessibility, zero, andno accommodations that said that
were accessible, not anytransportation service.
We talked with locals that werethat worked for the travel
(13:04):
industry over there and theytold us, like, how wide is your
chair?
It's like 70 centimeters.
Okay, the the the widest trailin the national park is like 30
centimeters.
There's no way that awheelchair we have never seen a
wheelchair here before, so so wegot kind of disappointed.
(13:26):
But also we said, ok, theremust be a way right, and we
started making research.
I was doing my internship for amobility company here in the Bay
Area that is called Wheel.
It's a Japanese company thatthey do like high-end equipment
(13:51):
as wheelchairs and otherequipment and I was able to go
to a show, to an abilities expo,and there was there like a
specific chair that wasspecially designed to do hikes
with people with physicaldisabilities.
It's a chair that is assisted.
It's one person pushing fromthe back, one person pushing
(14:14):
from the front and it has onlyone wheel.
It has suspension, it isdesigned so other people can
assist you very comfortably on ahike, on a trail, going up a
mountain whatsoever.
And we said, ok, this willallow us to do this trip.
This chair is a company that isbased in France, this equipment
(14:37):
is manufactured in France andthe chair costs like $5,000.
So we said like we don't havethe money to acquire it, only
for a trip of one week.
So we said let's rent it out,ship it to Patagonia and then
back to France.
That cost like $7,000.
It was even more expensive.
(14:57):
So that was the moment that wedecided, okay, let's transform
our trip into a project the veryfirst time ever of a wheelchair
user to complete the W Trek inPatagonia.
So we could like crowdfund thecost of the chairs and also a
scouting trip of my friend andco-founder today, Camilo, to
(15:19):
figure out what were theaccessible accommodations, that
we would stay, how we would movearound and do like a scouting
trip, to figure out that thistrip was feasible and also the
equipment was an enabler to dothis experience.
So we fundraised the equipment,this scouting trip we went to,
(15:39):
like around seven friends, Ibecame the first person ever in
a wheelchair to complete thistrip, and then what we did is we
left the equipment over thereand we built like an online
guide on how to do Patagonia ina wheelchair.
Our story went viral because wedeveloped different content of
(16:00):
videos and pictures.
We were on the news in the SanFrancisco Chronicle here in the
US.
Mark Zuckerberg posted a videoof our story and I always say
that that was just an anecdote,but because the amazing thing
that happened there it was thatmany people, hundreds of people
from all over the world startedreaching out to us through our
(16:22):
Facebook account that theywanted to repeat this trip, and
we started organizing this tripto other people, basically
because we had the informationon where to stay, how to move
around, who had the chair, howthe chair was used, and we were
helping people coordinate thistrip to allow them to have this
(16:46):
great experience, as we did.
And this was amazing, and,given that I wanted to become an
entrepreneur also, Camilo, westarted not studying much here
(17:06):
at UC Berkeley and putting a lotof effort on organizing this
trip to other people, but alsoto figure out what to do with
this right and what was theopportunity.
And we fastly realized that theopportunity was huge, not only
to organize trips to people thatwere crazy, to do a crazy
adventure in the end of theworld, but also to find what
were the accessibleaccommodations to stay in Miami
(17:28):
or in Mesa, Arizona, or thetransportation services that are
accessible in Seattle or inBarcelona or in London.
Right?
We have framed the problem thatit's an information problem.
Information of accessibility ishard to rely on current
(17:52):
information.
It needs to be very detailedand it needs to be spread
digitally so people canunderstand what's accessible and
what's not.
And it needs to be verydetailed, because people with
disabilities will have differentneeds.
Of course, someone who is blindcompared to someone who uses a
(18:13):
wheelchair is totally different,but also it's different someone
who uses a manual wheelchaircompared to one that uses a
power wheelchair, or someone whois able to use their triceps
compared to someone who cannot.
So going to this level ofdetails allows someone to
understand if something isaccessible or not for them.
Chris Maher (18:35):
Your lived experience puts you in a
position that you are very mucha subject matter expert and so,
starting this business, you hada very clear vision of what it
would be.
But talk about exactly what thecompany does.
There's a direct-to-consumerside and a B2B side.
But also, over the last severalyears, that process working
(18:58):
with hotels and destinations andvenues and where they were a
few years ago in terms of howthey were thinking about
accessibility, versus where theyare today and the progress
that's been made would be greatfor you to shed some insight on
that.
Alvaro Silberstein (19:12):
So, yes, wheel the World.
We have the purpose to makingthe world accessible and we
consider Wheel the World theexpert solution for accessible
travel.
On one site we put togetherwheeltheworld.
com.
That is an online travelplatform to find and book
accessible travel experiences,with all the accessibility
(19:33):
details people need and with arecommendation system that we
recommend you what best fitsyour specific needs.
Today we are doing around 10,000people every year travel using
wheeltheworld.
com and on the other side, wehave Destination Verified that
(19:54):
is a seal of approval servicefor destination marketing
organizations and tourismbureaus that we are helping them
to evaluate, assess and promotethe accessible travel services
of their destination.
Okay, we started withwheeltheworld.
com making people travel and howwe were having the right offer
(20:20):
to be published at wheeltheworld.
com so people can book hotelsand transportation services.
And everything that we offer atwheeltheworld.
com was by collecting thedetails of accessibility through
an app that we have developedthat is called the Accessibility
Mapping System, and we aresending mappers as, for example,
(20:42):
Instacart or Uber Eats hasshoppers.
Wheel the World has mappersthat we carefully train and we
send them to do site inspectionsin hotels, restaurants, tourism
attractions, to collect allthese details of accessibility
that are relevant for travelerswith disabilities.
We're collecting more than 200data points of accessibility of
(21:05):
hotels and museums andrestaurants, etc.
Once we collect, these datapoints automatically are
published at wheeltheworld.
com so people can book itthrough our website,
understanding exactly, withpictures and detailed data, how
that accessibility looks like,and we are covering the
(21:26):
information that is relevant forall types of disabilities.
By doing this we realized thatdestination marketing
organizations let's say, visitSan Diego or Visit Fort
Lauderdale or Mesa, Arizona orAnn Arbor or Miami and Seattle
are part of our customers.
(21:48):
They realized that they alsowanted to help us out and to
understand how was theiraccessibility and how they could
promote it to visitors withdisabilities.
So we started, we package aservice for these organizations
in which we are helping them toevaluate, with our mapping
(22:10):
system, all that accessibilityand we provide them platform, a
SaaS platform, in which they canevaluate how all the properties
that are site inspected havetheir accessibility, how many
bookings, how many travelerswith disabilities they are like
receiving, and giving them alsoresources so they can
(22:33):
incentivize those properties toimprove their accessibility with
the key points that we haveidentified that can be improved
to for a better accessibility.
So nowadays we are working witharound 100 destinations in the
U.
S.
, helping them map more than 10,000 hotels, restaurants and
(22:57):
tourism attractions, providingthem incentives so they can
improve it, that accessibility,and, of course, promoting it to
the more than 100,000 travelerswith disabilities that are part
of the wheeltheworld.
com community.
Kelvin Crosby (23:12):
That's awesome.
A question for you.
If you're somebody with adisability and you wanted to be
a mapper, how would they getinvolved in that process?
Alvaro Silberstein (23:22):
Yes, so we are recruiting people all over
the US because we do need moremappers to help us do these site
inspections.
You can go online on ourwebsite.
Go down and you will find thecontact center saying that you
can register as a mapper and ourteam will contact you to pass
(23:46):
you through this online processin which we will train people on
how to use this app, on what isneeded to do site inspections,
so you can enroll in ourcommunity of mappers that today
we are more than 400 mappers wehave in different places of the
world, not only in the US.
Chris Maher (24:12):
So let's get into, kind of the business, the
economics of it, and so a fewstats for our listeners.
In the US, what is it?
One in four adults has adisability.
Anecdotally, what I've heardacross the travel industry is
that the DMOs, these destinationmarketing organizations and
venues, are realizing thatpeople with disabilities like to
travel just as much as peoplewithout disabilities.
(24:34):
You're a great example of that,Alvaro.
And when they travel, they tendto travel with their families
and friends.
And if your destination, hotel,venue can't accommodate the
person in the group with adisability, then the likelihood
is that entire group is going togo somewhere else.
And so, as destinations areleaning in and asking you folks
(24:57):
to help them more and more aboutverifying their accessibility,
do you have a sense of theeconomic, the return on that
investment, or the increase inrevenue for destinations or the
increase in travelers?
Do you have any numbers at thispoint where they're seeing the
return on that investment aroundaccessibility?
Alvaro Silberstein (25:16):
There's 15% of the world's population have
disabilities, right, between 15%to 20% depends on the country.
In the US, as you say, it'slike one every four people.
And if you consider ourfamilies and friends, right, our
people that are directlyrelated to us, you can get to
(25:40):
60% of the world's population,right, and that's what's
happening at wheeltheworld.
com.
com.
Okay, wheeltheworldcom.
com wielderworldcom, we aremaking around 10,000 people
travel every year and one-thirdof them are people with
disabilities.
Two-thirds are companions ofsomeone who has a disability.
So, on average, every bookingthat we have in our platform is
(26:03):
people, people one disabledperson plus two companions.
50% of the times is not thedisabled is the The one who
makes the it booking is thecompanion.
So many it is is the companionthe one doing the purchase
(26:24):
decision, right, seeking foraccessibility.
The majority of the times isthe companion, the ones who
makes the review after the trip.
So those are interesting thingsto consider.
That this is Because,historically, right, when I
(26:45):
started my company, many times Ireached out to investors and
said, no, the disability segmentis is too small, right, and
that's not true, right?
Yeah, because we are 15% of theworld population and and this
segment in specific isdemonstrating that actually
accessibility is impact muchmore people, three times the
(27:08):
number of people withdisabilities right, and we
always love to say thataccessibility is not something
for a few, because all of uswill have a disability sooner or
later because of aging.
So accessibility impactseveryone at some point of our
(27:31):
lives.
And when it comes to theeconomics, at least 15 million
US Americans with disabilitiesare traveling once a year.
15 million Americans withdisabilities.
They travel normally with oneor two companions and they are
(27:52):
taking 40 million trips per year.
This, as a consequence, we canestimate that it's a $120
billion market.
So it's a huge market.
Chris Maher (28:07):
Can you say that number again so everyone
understands how large thisopportunity is?
$120 billion with a B.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:15):
Yes, billion dollar market.
Kelvin Crosby (28:17):
He didn't misspeak.
It's not just M, it's a B.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:22):
Sorry, my English is my second language.
I'm still struggling.
Kelvin Crosby (28:27):
No, you're good, You're good.
We're just making sure it'sclear to everybody.
Yes, you know.
Alvaro Silberstein (28:36):
So it's a huge market and we are
estimating the destinations,what they are investing in the
projects that we do together,that in a period of two years is
returning three times theinvestment, considering the
bookings and the expenditurethat is estimated on every
(28:57):
traveler that we are making totravel to this destination, that
they are spending at thedestination, because it's not
only the flight and the hotel,of course, it's the restaurants,
it's the services that theythat they acquire over there,
the transportation, the Uber,etc.
All that is an investment thathas a return, of course, for the
(29:17):
city, for the businesses overthere, for the taxes, etc.
Kelvin Crosby (29:21):
Yeah, when I think what's huge about this it
is it's that whole concept,universal design, and really
getting into that depth.
And I think that is what's soimportant about having access to
travel.
I mean, I travel a lot for workand so forth, and it's one of
(29:43):
those things where it's like younever know what you're gonna
get yourself into.
But this resource for somebodylike myself and we talked about
billions of people to haveaccess to like this, and the
economic opportunities for allof this, is incredible, and so
(30:06):
I'm super excited to see how youguys continue to grow, continue
to really develop yourespecially the B2B side of your
business.
Alvaro Silberstein (30:17):
I believe that this economic opportunity
of the accessible travel segmentit's the same for any type of
accessibility investment.
Digital accessibility,infrastructure, information,
education.
At the end of the day like,investing in accessibility, has
(30:39):
return on investment and that'swhy the reason that since the I
don't know 60s or 70s, thiscommunity has evolved so much
and accessibility has evolved somuch and so many products,
services, technologies,infrastructure has improved.
It's not because we haveinvested more in something that
(31:05):
didn't have return.
It has returned because there'smore access to jobs, more
access to education, more peoplebeing able to be part of the
economy, and that's whyaccessibility has positive
return of investments in general.
A nd that's why many VCs, greatinvestors as Chris, has decided
(31:33):
to invest in this segment.
Chris Maher (31:39):
Wheel the World, and travel is a great example
for why investing inaccessibility is good business,
and I think you summarized itthere perfectly, Alvaro.
As we wrap up and let you go,people who are looking to travel
and or people who are on thebusiness side of things, how can
they find Wheel the World andlearn more about what you're
(32:01):
doing?
Alvaro Silberstei (32:02):
WheelTheWorld .
com.
We have all the informationover there and if you want to
reach me out, LinkedIn can be agood platform to find me out and
send me a message.
Chris Maher (32:16):
Terrific.
And we'll put all that in theshow notes.
Alvaro, thank you so much forspending some time with us today
.
It's a pleasure as always, andKelvin take us out.
Kelvin Crosby (32:25):
Thank you so much for being at Investing in
Accessibility and, as I alwayssay, go live beyond your
challenges and we'll see you intwo weeks.
Thank you for listening toInvesting in Accessibility, a
(32:48):
Samaritan Partners podcast,where we invest in change for
accessibility, not wait forchange.
If you want to follow us, youcan find us on YouTube or
LinkedIn at Samaritan Partners.
If you would like to invest inSamaritan Partners, email Chris
at chris@ samaritanpartners.
com.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, go to www.
(33:08):
samaritanpartners.
com.
You can take the first step ininvesting in change by giving us
five stars and sharing thispodcast with everybody that you
know, so we can spread the word,so that we can give access to
all, by Investing inAccessibility.
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