“Leave this world a little better than you found it.”
When Busbud marked its sixth anniversary in December 2017, the company was already serving millions of travelers across more than 60 countries, helping them find their way onto over a million bus routes worldwide, with new expansion underway across Asia and Africa. Our co-founder and CTO, Mike Gradek, took a moment to look back at how — and why — we got here.
For a friend
In early 2011, our co-founder LP set off on a multi-month backpacking trip across South America, working his way north from Argentina to Peru. Booking bus travel along the way turned out to be far harder than it should have been: outdated websites in languages he didn't speak, and confusing, occasionally frustrating experiences at bus stations that ate up hours he'd rather have spent traveling.
When LP got home, he handed Mike a folder of schedules, notes, and workarounds he'd pieced together on the road, thinking other travelers could use them too. That folder became the seed of an idea: an online platform to help travelers get from one city to the next by bus, wherever in the world they happened to be. Busbud was born soon after.
For a challenge
As the idea found real traction and proved there was genuine demand, Mike left Microsoft to work on Busbud full-time, with his wife's support making the leap possible. Alongside LP and fellow co-founder Fred Thouin, the three built a team around a simple idea: hire people who want to be challenged, listen to their feedback, and recognize their work.
“One of the things I'm proudest of is hearing someone on the team say they're genuinely happy to come in each day and work on something hard that they care about. That doesn't happen by accident — it's something we've had to build deliberately, one hire and one decision at a time.”
For the community
Growth was never just about the product. Busbud also invested in the community around it:
- Hosting local meetups and events at the Busbud office
- Partnering with Ladies Learning Code to introduce more women to programming
- Welcoming coding bootcamp students and teachers to learn alongside the team
- Launching the Omnibus Project to push for more diversity in tech
- Publishing quarterly diversity reports to hold the company accountable
- Working with deaf globetrotter Calvin Young to improve accessibility for travelers with disabilities
- Donating to the Red Cross to support hurricane relief efforts
For a global impact
Mike had long cared about climate change and sustainability on a personal level — buying CO2 credits, installing solar panels, pushing for more recycling at the office. But at some point, he realized Busbud's own mission was already doing more for that goal than any of those individual efforts could.
The case for buses, as he sees it, comes down to three things: intercity buses are among the most efficient and affordable ways to travel by land; they reach far more towns and communities than trains or planes ever will; and they remain within reach for travelers on a budget, wherever they live.
“Every time we help someone choose a bus instead of a flight, a train, or a car, we're not just making their trip easier — we're helping leave the world a little better than we found it.”
Busbud is now part of Terra Mobility, alongside Buson, Recorrido, and TerraOS — and still hiring people who want to do work that matters. Visit our Careers page to see open roles.