How Solving 1 Problem Led to Millions in Revenue

Polina Raygorodskaya and Gustavo Trindade
Listen

To Polina Raygorodskaya ’08, creating a successful product isn’t about building a shiny interface or having a prosperous advertising campaign.

Rather, it’s about solving a problem and creating a positive experience that will resonate with users.

Raygorodskaya fulfilled both objectives when she established Wanderu, a bus, train, and ferry search service. She shared the story of how she scaled up her company, which in six years surpassed $100 million in revenue, with Director of Babson Miami Gustavo Trindade MBA’17 at eMerge Americas in Miami, a “convening of global enterprises, leading startups and government leaders focused on innovative digital solutions transforming industries.”

Miami made a great setting for eMerge. The city’s startup community is booming, and several key players are helping companies continue to scale. During the past seven years, the Knight Foundation has invested more than $30 million in growing the city’s startup community by attracting investors and talent, including Babson’s Women Innovating Now (WIN)Lab® to accelerate women’s businesses.

Babson hoped to play a vital role in Miami’s startup community growth when it decided to expand its offerings in Florida in 2017, where thousands of alumni live, work, and visit. The College offers several graduate and executive education programs to entrepreneurs in Florida and Latin America.

A search service inspired by a cross country trip

At eMerge Americas, Raygorodskaya discussed the advancements of Wanderu with Miami’s entrepreneurs. She said the thought of creating a joint bus and train travel search service arose in 2011, when she and a group of friends planned a trip from New York to California entirely through rideshares to raise awareness for national parks and forests.

“We wanted to do something crazy to get people to pay attention,” Raygorodskaya said.

The trip took the group from New York to Washington,D.C.,and then rural Virginia, where it became stranded in New Castle, a town of about 150 people in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, after a planned rideshare canceled.

The group searched to no avail for buses and trains that stopped in the immediate area and eventually settled on renting a car. Raygorodskaya said the group was frustrated at the time about the lack of available services to plan trips from one destination to another.

“The passion to solve this problem overtook me,” she said.

Through research, Raygorodskaya discovered more people travel by bus and train in the United States than by flying. She also learned there were more options in traveling by bus instead of through the air.

Filling a void where there was a need

With no clear central way to book bus and train travel, Raygorodskaya established Wanderu in 2013; it’s now the largest service of its kind in North America. Only bus service was first rolled out in the Northeast, and the company later expanded to other regions of the United States, as well as Mexico, Canada, and Europe.

Train and ferry search services were added along the way, and the company plans to offer flight search service in the near future.

Raygorodskaya said building the right team was critical to the immediate success of the company. “Wanderu would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for the amazing team that works for me,” said Raygorodskaya, who will also be receiving an honorary degree at Centennial Commencement. “We have an incredible set of engineers, people doing marketing, PR, business operations.”

Raygorodskaya said she overcame the challenge of trying to raise funding as a woman.

“Investors invest in people that are like them,” she said. “When the venture capital industry is more than 90 percent male, they invest in predominantly males.

“All that does is motivate me to work that much harder,” Raygorodskaya added.

Wanderu became profitable in 2017, and despite all of its early success, Raygorodskaya believes the company has room for additional growth.

“The way that we look at it is, how can we continue to solve the problem?” she said.

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

More from Community »

Latest Stories

Students and friends celebrate and hug after winning the competition
‘Moos’ and Ahhs: Babson AI Showcase Draws Rave Reviews A high-tech solution from two MSEL students to improve monitoring herds of cows wins the top prize at the first Babson College AI Showcase, hosted by the C. Dean Metropoulos Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship.
By
Eric Beato
Editor / Writer
Eric Beato
Eric Beato is the Editor of Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. A native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Eric has worked as an editor and writer at newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Boston Herald. Eric joined Babson College in 2019 after working as the communications director for a private educational travel company and as the managing editor of six regional sports publications.
May 9, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

A woman stood next to a Babson student during her visit to class.
Don’t Wait to Be Ready: UX Pioneer Karen Clark Cole on Graduation and Embracing Uncertainty Tech visionary Karen Clark Cole prepares to deliver the Commencement address at Babson’s graduate ceremony, sharing advice on impact, uncertainty, and starting without fear.
By
Hillary Chabot
Writer
Hillary Chabot
Hillary Chabot is a writer for Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. An award-winning journalist, she is known for her insightful reporting and dedication to detailed storytelling. With a career spanning over two decades, she has covered a wide range of topics, from presidential campaigns and government policy to neighborhood issues and investigative series. As a reporter for The Boston Herald, Hillary earned a reputation for tenacity and integrity. Her work at Babson College fuels her passions—to learn something new every day and conduct thoughtful, empathic interviews. She’s thrilled to be at Babson College, where students, faculty, staff members and classes provide compelling copy daily.
May 8, 2025

Posted in Community

Heidy Magaña talking to someone at an event in Knight Auditorium
Class of 2025: How This First-Gen Student Created a Community First-generation student Heidy Magaña ’25 has spent her time at Babson building a community and growing the support available to other first-generation students.
By
Melissa Savignano
Writer
Melissa Savignano
Melissa Savignano, a content marketing manager at Babson College, has worked in higher education for almost a decade, where she tells authentic, compelling campus and community stories. Before Babson, she managed communications for Boston University’s largest college, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. She previously worked in client relations, helping brands of various sizes launch content marketing strategies and storytelling initiatives. When not at work, you will find her in the city of Boston, probably at the movie theater.
May 7, 2025

Posted in Community