Even though he’s only 27 years old, Sam Rogoway has drawn on his past experiences frequently to help him run his company.

Rogoway, along with his fianc & #233;e, Emily Dahlberg, own and operate a Brentwood-based travel networking Web site called Tripup.com think MySpace but with a focus on a slightly older demographic of folks who like to travel.

Rogoway said he got his entrepreneurial start after doing a spoof radio show at a local station in Portland, Ore., when he was 8 years old. While recording, he said a producer from the pop station heard him and thought he would make a nice gimmick co-host for the morning show.

“While I was on the radio, I learned a lot about working with people much older than me,” he said. “I still rely on those lessons to help me today.”

At the time, Rogoway said he was the youngest radio disc jockey in the United States, and it was through his six-year stay at the station that he cultivated his interest in how things got done behind the scenes.

Rogoway later went to school at Loyola Marymount University and then went on to law school at University of California, Berkley.

He decided to become an entertainment attorney, with an interest in intellectual property. He got his first job at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP but said he quickly realized that being a corporate lawyer wasn’t for him.

“I had been playing around with the idea of Tripup.com since college and decided to go for it.”

After shopping the idea of the site to some angel investors, he was able to land $1 million in funding to get the site going.

At the time, he had also just met Dahlberg and figured her public relations background would be an advantage to launching the company.

“With these types of ventures, getting the word out is second only to finding funding. It seemed like all of the pieces were falling into place, so we decided it was now or never.”

Rogoway said the Web site targets everyone from young executives who find themselves alone on a business trip, to adventurous singles looking for far-flung blind dates to travelers looking for some honest advice about certain destinations.

While landing startup capital and narrowing down Tripup’s demographic were difficult, Rogoway said his most daunting task has been finding good user interface designers.

“Finding someone who understands how people approach a Web site and use it has been very difficult,” he said. “But we found a few.”

Rogoway also admits that safety is a concern. Although Tripup deals with an older demographic than MySpace, the company has taken steps to protect its users.

“We provide certain features such as secure chatting, where no e-mails are visible, to options that let travelers establish an identity on the site,” he said. “But we also rely on our community to police itself, which has worked great so far.”

The site has been running for nine months and while Rogoway won’t disclose figures, he said it’s close to being profitable.

“We’ve had some serious interest in forming partnerships from some of the big travel sites, but we’re waiting for our first Tripup marriage before we make a deal,” he joked.