VIDEO: Modern life lessons for travel startups

Joel Cutler was once described, rather grandly, as the godfather of online travel capital.

The refreshingly self-effacing managing director of General Catalyst would no doubt squirm at such a label - but, whether he likes it or not, Cutler is still held up as a hugely important figure in the industry.

With strategic and often early investments in brands as diverse as Kayak, ITA Software and Airbnb, Cutler and his team at General Catalyst have found themselves at the financial center of a number of important trends in modern travel: metasearch, flight shopping tech and private accommodation sharing.

The exits for two of those have been very good for General Catalyst, with Airbnb likely to assist in that area even further when its own liquidity event finally takes place.

Speaking at The Phocuswright Conference 2017, Cutler says there are a number of factors in play when it comes to choosing which businesses to back.

Ultimately, he likes spotting "bright, young people," especially those who "tell me something that I can't understand."

And on whether there is still room for disruption in the market, he says:

"In a world this big, someone is always going to do something better."

Here is the full 20-minute interview from the event.