True Places Travels: A Luxury Travel Business Built on Silicon Valley Strategies

Cate Caruso is the founder and CEO of True Places Travels, a luxury travel business based in Vancouver, Washington. Her company has grown steadily since its inception in 2016 and generated $2.75 million in sales in 2025, with projected sales for 2026 at $2.8 million.

Caruso's background is in Silicon Valley, where she worked with high-profile clients such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Cisco Systems before taking a five-year sabbatical to sail with her husband. She then joined a Chicago-area travel agency as an independent contractor but soon realized the need to learn the 'business of the business' to be successful.

Caruso's business plan for True Places Travels was to model its services after wealth management advisors, using a process-driven consulting approach and adopting the Collaborative Travel Planning Process from Virtuoso. This framework has shaped the company's structure, which includes seven team members and a part-time chief financial officer.

The company's core is its Travel Portfolio Curation program, which provides personalized roadmaps for maximizing clients' 'return on life' through curated journeys over the long term. The annual retainer starts at $2,500 for two custom trips during the year.