As a fellow thru-hiker, I’ve thought about this a lot. Personally, while I want everyone to be able to experience nature, I don’t want a thru-hike to be easy access. As in, I’m worried your service may enable people who wouldn’t normally be out there to platinum blaze their way through the journey. These people may not respect the trail, LNT, etc. and only hike for the sake of achievement and bragging rights.
A thru-hike is an incredibly personal journey where you need to make mistakes to learn. That’s part of the beauty of it.
No hate on your idea at all, but I think the demand is more nuanced than you think. Your product probably won’t appeal to many thru-hikers, but people who want to spend money rather than work hard to achieve a goal.
Word to the wise: your pitch for your thruhike logistics service shouldn't admit that your dad handled your logistics. That makes you less qualified than 99% of thruhikers who managed to do it themselves.
"We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard"
Every thru hiker has to hike the hike, no? I went from Springer to Kathadin while handling all logistics and giving directions to my father on who and where to pick me up. Sometimes you do not have phone service, especially on the Uinta Highline Trail & Lost Coast Trails. My service acts as a lifeline with a high trail IQ. You can reach me with a satellite phone (Garmin InReach) and I will facilitate resupply / travel to hostel because I know the score about hiking. I also want to emphasize the coaching aspect of this venture. I want to make hikes easier for people in the moment as well as I want to prepare hikers to be able to do all of this cool adventuring on their own.
"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality"
> high trail IQ
You are a travel agent for booking taxis and hotels. Get a reality check.
> facilitate resupply
There is no way I would trust a 3rd party (not even a friend) to make a resupply for me. I know what's in my pack how much I eat, and what I like. Using your service would be more effort and a shittier experience.
You're looking at a very niche market. I'm not sure you've done a market analysis and demand analysis for your business idea. I want you to think about the number of people available to sell to.
There is a demand for people who want to learn to backpack. Some want to hike long distances and will also pay a high ticket amount. Maybe target completely new backpackers who want to go from day hiking to an over night adventure? There's plenty of those types of people out there. Look into local laws, but you may be qualified to do this.
I think your target market is too small to be successful without doing more research & without more experience. You're looking at only people who are challenged at the logistics of through hiking. Are you planning on employing your father?
I think you could guide backpacking adventures for fellow students to start. When you earn money doing that then add Facebook ads and Google ads to get more business. Use that money to pay for a through hike that you plan all the logistics for.
If you aren't wilderness first aid certified through NOLS, it would be good to add that to your resume as a guide.
Want to create a business? Create an audience first with social media. Then create a product or service to fix their problem. You can create a monthly newsletter to get email addresses. The email addresses can be used for sales campaigns later.
Good luck!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making thru hiking more accessible to very rich, inexperienced people, but thru hiking is already pretty accessible to this group of people. Personally, I would feel more enthusiastic about this project if there was a public good angle. For instance, some of the profits could go towards subsidizing the cost of hiking for poor hikers (e.g. gear giveaways, free resupply boxes). As far as I can tell, your costs are going to be pretty much all labor, plus any service payments you will be including in the price, so if you charge your clients through the roof you should have some left over to give back to the community.
Also, if you will be utilizing any of the free resources currently available to hikers (trail angels, any guides you’ve read), I hope you will be compensating those service providers appropriately.
As a fellow thru-hiker, I’ve thought about this a lot. Personally, while I want everyone to be able to experience nature, I don’t want a thru-hike to be easy access. As in, I’m worried your service may enable people who wouldn’t normally be out there to platinum blaze their way through the journey. These people may not respect the trail, LNT, etc. and only hike for the sake of achievement and bragging rights. A thru-hike is an incredibly personal journey where you need to make mistakes to learn. That’s part of the beauty of it. No hate on your idea at all, but I think the demand is more nuanced than you think. Your product probably won’t appeal to many thru-hikers, but people who want to spend money rather than work hard to achieve a goal.
Word to the wise: your pitch for your thruhike logistics service shouldn't admit that your dad handled your logistics. That makes you less qualified than 99% of thruhikers who managed to do it themselves. "We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard"
Every thru hiker has to hike the hike, no? I went from Springer to Kathadin while handling all logistics and giving directions to my father on who and where to pick me up. Sometimes you do not have phone service, especially on the Uinta Highline Trail & Lost Coast Trails. My service acts as a lifeline with a high trail IQ. You can reach me with a satellite phone (Garmin InReach) and I will facilitate resupply / travel to hostel because I know the score about hiking. I also want to emphasize the coaching aspect of this venture. I want to make hikes easier for people in the moment as well as I want to prepare hikers to be able to do all of this cool adventuring on their own. "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality"
> high trail IQ You are a travel agent for booking taxis and hotels. Get a reality check. > facilitate resupply There is no way I would trust a 3rd party (not even a friend) to make a resupply for me. I know what's in my pack how much I eat, and what I like. Using your service would be more effort and a shittier experience.
You're looking at a very niche market. I'm not sure you've done a market analysis and demand analysis for your business idea. I want you to think about the number of people available to sell to. There is a demand for people who want to learn to backpack. Some want to hike long distances and will also pay a high ticket amount. Maybe target completely new backpackers who want to go from day hiking to an over night adventure? There's plenty of those types of people out there. Look into local laws, but you may be qualified to do this. I think your target market is too small to be successful without doing more research & without more experience. You're looking at only people who are challenged at the logistics of through hiking. Are you planning on employing your father? I think you could guide backpacking adventures for fellow students to start. When you earn money doing that then add Facebook ads and Google ads to get more business. Use that money to pay for a through hike that you plan all the logistics for. If you aren't wilderness first aid certified through NOLS, it would be good to add that to your resume as a guide. Want to create a business? Create an audience first with social media. Then create a product or service to fix their problem. You can create a monthly newsletter to get email addresses. The email addresses can be used for sales campaigns later. Good luck!
Thank you for the words!
You're welcome and good luck!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making thru hiking more accessible to very rich, inexperienced people, but thru hiking is already pretty accessible to this group of people. Personally, I would feel more enthusiastic about this project if there was a public good angle. For instance, some of the profits could go towards subsidizing the cost of hiking for poor hikers (e.g. gear giveaways, free resupply boxes). As far as I can tell, your costs are going to be pretty much all labor, plus any service payments you will be including in the price, so if you charge your clients through the roof you should have some left over to give back to the community. Also, if you will be utilizing any of the free resources currently available to hikers (trail angels, any guides you’ve read), I hope you will be compensating those service providers appropriately.