Month: June 2016

At Springshot, we’ve always had a vision of combining the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley with the mission of focusing on what matters most: people. It’s been our primary goal to build a workforce optimization platform that genuinely engages and validates those performing some of the most arduous and backbreaking service jobs.

Over the last five years, we’ve been incredibly humbled by the thousands of travel and hospitality employees who have used Springshot to feel both seen and heard. We’re proud to share that Springshot has now been recognized by technology innovators, venture capitalists, and travel industry peers as the best company of the Plug and Play “Travel and Hospitality” accelerator program.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Plug and Play is a vertical-focused startup accelerator and coworking space founded by tech entrepreneur, Saeed Amidi, who has invested in companies like PayPal, Dropbox and Lending Tree. Since 2006, it has created opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs by giving them access to mentorship, networking and funding. After identifying the technology gap in the travel and hospitality industry, Plug and Play crafted a three-month program that was designed to mentor and accelerate the best up-and- coming technology and entrepreneurs in the space. It was immediately clear that they had struck a chord when over 800 companies applied to participate.

Plug and Play was then charged with narrowing the pool of applicants down to 40. Those 40 companies, including Springshot, presented to the Plug and Play team, with 20 being selected for the program. During the three-month period, the Springshot Team met with numerous airlines, travel companies, and investors, in an effort to gain further insight into the technology needs of the industry as well as exposure for its platform. The program culminated with an Expo, where each company had the opportunity to pitch their brand in front of airlines, venture capitalists, hotel brands, and online travel sites. After the presentations, attendees voted on their company of choice. Springshot was voted the winner.

Being recognized with such a high honor is both humbling and validating. Why? Because our presentation focused on people, and that message resonated most. The Springshot vision has always been about delivering technology that allows companies to invest in employees first. When a company puts employees first, it creates an engaged and more productive workforce that delivers a winning customer experience. We’re proud to demonstrate each day that workforce technology doesn’t have to be “big brother,” and when you connect, empower, and reward front-line employees, everyone wins.

Every day, thousands of people pass through McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whether it’s going on vacation or visiting family, each person has a story to tell, and that is exactly why Luke Villamor enjoys working in the airport. As the Operations Manager for SAS Services, he sets up a game plan every single day to ensure that passengers have the wheelchairs they need to get to their next flight. Given his title, he knows the importance of a smooth, hiccup-free shift, which means he’s often stepping in and pushing wheelchairs, when needed. While some people might be opposed to rolling up their sleeves and diving in, this is exactly where Luke thrives. This Hawaiian native is always looking for ways to build rapport and cultivate relationships, and sometimes relationships start with gate to gate transport.

Growing up in Kalihi, Hawaii, Luke was always surrounded by family and friends. His personable and organized nature led him to work for SAS Solutions at the Honolulu Airport nearly two and a half years ago. During a shift, he helped push two elderly passengers who needed wheelchair rides from their gate. In that short period, he found out that they were high school sweethearts who had been together for 65 years. “No one stays together for that long!” Luke said. “It was so cool to hear how they met.” The San Diego-based couple has a second home in Hawaii and, after their conversation that day, they remembered him every time they passed through. With the kind of disposition where perfect strangers feel comfortable telling him their life stories, Luke has built relationships that stretch far beyond his network of family and friends.

It’s that very character that has served Luke well during his move from Hawaii to Las Vegas. His parents moved to Las Vegas to pursue bigger opportunities, and Luke and his younger brother soon followed suit. Faced with starting over away from the only home he’s ever known, Luke took it all in stride. At 22, the Operations Manager title that he holds is typically reserved for people much older, but he’s earned that title because he makes a concerted effort every day to build a strong bond with his coworkers. By building trust and respect, and going out of his way to invest in both his team and the people he meets, Luke has acclimated to the Las Vegas desert as seamlessly as possible.

There is, however, one thing he really misses about Hawaii. “The beaches!” he laughs. “I’ve never seen any beaches that compare to anything in Hawaii. Not many people get to grow up in a place like that.” He looks forward to his annual trip home to enjoy time with family and friends, as well as the opportunity to do some snorkeling or body boarding. In the interim, he gets his beach fix by making the drive to Los Angeles as often as possible. While the beaches don’t compare to the tropical shores of Hawaii, they are a small taste of home for the now landlocked Hawaiian.

Now, as the former baseball player (left field) and avid Pittsburgh sports fan continues to forge new paths in Las Vegas, he’s excited about the people he’s met through SAS and hopeful that the Steelers can pull out a Super Bowl win. For now, he’ll have to be content with the Penguins’ Stanely Cup, which isn’t so bad. “He’s only 28,” Luke says, referring to Penguins Captain, Sidney Crosby. “So he’s got a few more good years left in him.” At 22 and with the world at his feet, the same can be said about Luke Villamor.

This soon-to-be mother of two is working to build a better life for her family, and she wakes up (early!) every morning with a renewed resolve to conquer it all.

Often, our present lives don’t look the way they did in our minds when we were planting seeds and tending dreams – but there are times when we look back at each individual piece that directed our paths, and suddenly life makes sense. Those tokens, picked up along the way, serve as reminders of the journey and make us proud of where we are today. This is how Arleny Perea-Nobles, a Dispatcher at SAS Services, feels about her life and mission every day. She’s seen her fair share of ups and downs, but she keeps moving forward with steadfast resiliency.

Each morning at 3.45am, she arrives at work to organize and mobilize a team at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a dispatcher, and her team ensures that disabled airline passengers have wheelchairs ready and waiting to take them to wherever they need to go. She knows that if her team fails, passengers may miss their flights, wreaking havoc on an extremely busy airport. While it sounds simple, flight delays, gate changes or staffing shifts threaten to derail their ability to get passengers the wheelchairs they need. To avoid this, they must run a tight ship that is both nimble and organized. Some people might buckle under the pressure, but Arleny thrives on it.

As the sole provider for her family, she knows a thing or two about staying cool and calm in stressful situations. “Even as a kid, I was telling the other kids what to do and where to go,” laughs the pregnant, married mother of one. “I was assigning tasks from a young age, so it seems that dispatching was a natural fit.” Operating under pressure isn’t always easy, but her soon-to- be growing family is the motivation she needs to keep going every single day.

In looking back, she realized that life was directing her down this path, and she needed to be on board for the ride. Born in West Hollywood, her father moved her family to Las Vegas when she was just three years old. Soon after, when she was in fifth grade, a good friend’s mom who worked for a power company as a dispatcher invited the girls to come to her work and see her office. Arleny had never seen a maze of cubicles, and was in awe of the building. “They took us unto this room and it looked like something off TV,” she remembers. “It was like the inside of a spaceship – it was so cool!” After watching her friend’s mom work and seeing how things operated so seamlessly, she felt a pull towards becoming a dispatcher, and she later got her foot in the door with a Las Vegas taxi cab company. When the taxi market became unstable, she found SAS Services by randomly applying through a Craigslist ad. She loves her job and company and, most importantly, it allows her to keep her family afloat.

During her rare downtime, she’s been known to let loose at a Zumba class, be the friendly neighborhood pool shark, catch a lacrosse game, or rock out to her favorite metal band, The Devil Wears Prada. In fact, she’s such a big fan that she has the band’s name tattooed on her wrist! As she lives her life each day, awaiting the arrival of a new baby, she seeks to extract as much joy and opportunity as possible and to be a better person for her kids. Failure is never an option, and the life she has made for her family continues to drive her forward in both work and play. Her motto is to put one foot in front of the other, and she is proud of where she’s at and what she’s accomplished – and she can’t wait to see what the future holds.