Impact
Vanly’s impact is local, measurable, and scalable.
1) More visitors, more downtown spend:
RVers want to be close to food, shops, entertainment, and community experiences, but they often cannot find RV-friendly accommodations near cities and event venues. Vanly adds distributed capacity using existing spaces, bringing incremental visitors into downtowns and small business districts.
2) New income for residents, small businesses, and nonprofits:
Hosts can monetize underused parking areas through overnight and hourly bookings, with optional add-ons. This creates a new micro-entrepreneurship lane for homeowners and a new fundraising channel for nonprofits and community organizations.
3) Better travel outcomes for RVers:
RVers gain safer, bookable options close to where they actually want to go: family, friends, stadiums, festivals, and downtowns. The Vanly Pro AI trip planner reduces planning friction and helps travelers confidently route trips that match their RV type, time window, and desired experiences.
4) City partnership value:
Vanly supports city pilots that quantify the economic impact of RV tourism and event-driven travel, helping municipalities manage surge demand during major weekends and large events.
What I'll do with $5,000
The $5,000 will fund a 60 to 90 day execution sprint to scale Vanly’s two-sided marketplace where traction is already proving demand: 42,500+ downloads, 3,000+ host listings in all 50 states.
1) Michigan city pilots (proof + repeatable playbook)
Run host acquisition and traveler activation in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, and Detroit (April 2026 event window) focused on overnight and hourly inventory near downtown and venues.
Deliverables: partner landing pages, localized host onboarding, and event-weekend “where to park” campaigns.
2) World Cup 2026 host supply push (150 to 500)
Expand from 150 hosts across all 11 US World Cup host cities to 500 by building a targeted outreach funnel in priority markets already in motion: Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Kansas City, plus Canada expansion cities.
Deliverables: host recruiting kits, partner packages for city and tourism orgs, and local ambassador style outreach.
3) Vanly Pro AI trip planner + hourly conversion
Improve the path from “plan” to “book” by enhancing onboarding, lifecycle email/SMS, and upsells that connect the AI trip planner to hourly and overnight bookings.
Success metrics
Net-new hosts in pilot markets and WC cities, increased bookable inventory near downtown zones, and measurable lift in booking conversion from AI trip planner users.
Quick Bio
Matt Larson has an extensive background in start-ups, business consulting, project management, banking, and higher education.