"Glamping" business startup by MBA Alumnus

With the everyday innovation and opportunities in San Francisco, David Troya MBA ’11 was able to turn a small class assignment into a globally renowned business.

While in his Global Product Development class, Troya read an article by the Wall Street Journal on “glamping”, a portmanteau for glamorous camping. With a background in hospitality, Troya had been thinking of new ways for tourism to connect people with nature without having to lose the comfort of a hotel.

With the help from his classmates and professors, Troya began working on the idea of a glamping booking portal.

My MBA classmates were from all around the world and made me think of a global opportunity.

David Troya '11

My classmates "encouraged me to take a chance and even volunteered to help take parts of the company, like media advertising, as assignments for their own classes. I even raised my first round of funding from relatives of my classmates,” Troya said.

By the time he graduated, Troya had created glampinghub.com; an online platform that allows travelers to search and book for up-scale camping accommodations.

We first featured an article on David Troya and Glamping Hub in 2011 when he first launched the company. Since that time, Glamping Hub has become the go-to-website for luxury camping, attracting over 2 million visits per year, and has been featured on Oprah, TIME Magazine, Forbes, and was selected as Young StartUp of the Month by Entrepreneur Magazine.

"I call it a true USF success story, because it all started at USF," Troya said.

By Nikita Weber