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Jaimelesstartups.fr newspaper article

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Find an article on DirectMountain on the web site jaimelesstartups.fr, specialized in the presentation of new French startups.

It's winter and you want to go to the mountains? Here is Direct Mountain, which puts you directly in touch with mountain professionals:

DESCRIPTION OF THE STARTUP

What do you offer?

Direct Mountain offers, via its website, numerous mountain sports activities supervised by professionals (mountain guides, mountain leaders, instructors). The disciplines concerned are hiking and snowshoeing, ice and rock climbing, mountaineering, ski touring and off-piste skiing, via-ferrata, canyoning and mountain biking.

What need do you meet (Why do your customers need your product/service?)

I enable registered mountain professionals to increase their visibility on the internet and attract new customers.

Internet users save time when searching for mountain services, while accessing a maximum of information on the professionals and on the offers.

What technologies do you use?

Web platform

HISTORY OF THE STARTUP

How did you get the idea?

The idea came from a friend who was looking on the internet for an ice climbing course with a mountain guide. The time spent and the difficulty of comparing the different offers gave rise to the idea of a website that would bring together numerous mountain activities offered by professionals.

What convinced you to launch and create this project?

The desire to change my professional environment, to take up a challenge, to launch myself into a motivating project where everything had to be done, and what's more, in a field that I particularly appreciate: the mountains.

How long have you been working on this project?

I started thinking about it three and a half years ago, I left my job as a microelectronics engineer in industry two years ago, and since then I have been fully dedicated to the Direct Mountain project.

THE BUSINESS MODEL

What is your target audience?

Mountain sports enthusiasts, French-speaking or not (the site has an English version), who are looking for professionals to guide them during their leisure time.

How are you going to make yourself known to your clients?

I try to diversify my ways of communication: flyers, social and personal networks, stickers, partnerships, advertising on the web, specialised and non-specialised press, etc.

What is the business model? How do you make money?

I have chosen a simple business model: professionals pay a subscription fee to appear on the site and propose their offers.

I also envisage advertising revenues when the audience is sufficient and the possibility for professionals to pay extra to have their offers appear at the top of the page.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE STARTUP

Who are your main competitors? (Yes, there is always a competitor)

There are several other sites that offer the same type of service, but with differences in terms of operation, business model, activities represented, etc.

What are your advantages over your competitors (you have the right to a joker for this question)

As I have been a mountain sports enthusiast and practitioner for over 20 years, I know this environment, its codes and operating methods very well.

I also have a good network which I can easily access because of my geographical location in Grenoble, in the heart of the Alps.

What makes you different from your competitors?

Direct Mountain is ergonomic, graphically attractive and easy to use for both professionals and Internet users.

It allows for the transparent dissemination of information about professionals and their offers.

WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW?

What are the plans for the company (resale, Ipo, nothing at all)?

The goal is to make the business profitable within 2 years (end of 2018).

What are your needs?

Today there are 60 professionals and 160 activity offers on Direct Mountain. I would like to increase these numbers to have a really complete global offer and even more interesting and attractive for Internet users.

I also need to increase the traffic in order to have a higher conversion rate.

Where do you see the company in a year?

I imagine it with more offers, more professionals listed, more visitors, more partners! 

Link to DirectMountain's presentation.

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