We haven’t always been a portly travel company with 30 full-time staff, a glittering office in Toronto, a mini office in Burgundy,  outposts in London, Tuscany, Morocco and Athens, and an army of Pigs worldwide. No, the beginnings of Trufflepig were frighteningly humble. Close your eyes and picture this. Three friends with years of travel experience (guiding, researching, trip planning) decide they want to do their own thing. They leave their jobs, spend months writing and rewriting a business plan, and finally decide the best way to start a business is simply to start a business. They have a small handful of clients (okay, one), but mostly they are 3 flat broke, gently deluded entrepreneurs with nothing more than an idea. And a name they think captures the essence of what they do: sniff out the gems that are hard to find in the vast forest of options. [break]They have no office and can’t afford internet so they drive around in a somewhat rusty old Saab poaching wireless internet signals. It’s very glamourous. Bit by bit they gain momentum, earn clients, and renovate an old loft that becomes their first office. The Saab dies. But the dream lives and the company grows. That’s pretty much our story. It’s been 17 years since we took our first little steps. Trufflepig currently counts 30 full time staff based in 6 locations, hundreds of research days spent on the road each year, and thousands upon thousands hours of trip planning. All of which is not so humbly to say this little piggy did eventually learn how to fly.