Today was an important day for Trenara. A very important day.
We entered the (Dutch speaking) market about a year and a half ago. It was an instructive period: we discovered things that in retrospect would have been better done differently (in terms of development), celebrated successes and most importantly: we saw the app grow.
We also got to know you guys, our users. We followed you on social media, crossed our fingers during your races and talked about you guys, even we never met. That’s a nice feeling, it really is. But all this took a lot of time. And time wasn’t on our side, because Gert en I both had our daytime jobs. We’ve fully spent our starting capital on development, current developments are borne by our subscription sales. Sales increased, so we were able to do some bigger developments in the last round (a new subscription plan and the training conditions feature in July).
However, the pain point remained that we had no budget for marketing – growth is very important to survive – and no budget for time.
Buying time means hiring someone. And that takes a lot of money. Our recurring income is far from getting us there – wasn’t the plan either, we saw the app as a secondary occupation. But in order to survive, the app can’t remain ‘secondary’. And we really want to survive.
During the past (Corona) period, the idea matured to take ‘the next step’. Thanks to the support of our investors, that step starts today. Because today was the day that we realized our capital increase. A proper word of thanks is in order: our investors are still friends and family – not banks or investment companies. We have a personal responsibility to take towards each of them.
Not immediately visible to you, but very tangible to us: from tomorrow on it will all be a bit different at the Trenara HQ. We can start advertising and explore new markets – so we will no longer only communicate in Dutch, this website being our ‘proof’. But above all, we will be able to invest more time. Because I am going to give up my risk-free government job for an exciting rollercoaster with hopefully a happy ending.
So you could say that from now on it will be a little bit Trenara “on Vaporflys”. We will be able to develop faster and explore new horizons. That doesn’t mean that we can do everything at once – each choice must be made responsibly. And we should not be blind to risks either: Corona and thus the canceled races have a negative impact on our subscriptions. And although we have money in our bank account since today, the recurring income will determine whether we still have the right to exist next year or not. The indicators therefore remain subscribers to Peak or Peak Pro.
The plan for the next 12 months was already in place, but from now on we can also implement it effectively. Personally, I can say without doubt: it will be my most exciting year yet.
Great work Christophe! All the best with the next steps, really nice work you are doing.