Growing a unique experience-based business

Ed is the founder of Trail Pursuits, a company which organises races and trail experiences in the UK and around the world.

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Read the transcript:

In this episode, Charles Brecque interviews Ed Flood, founder and CEO of Trail Pursuit, a company which organises races, trail experiences in the UK and around the world. Ed shares how the events company was started during the pandemic and has since grown rapidly thanks to social media and a community of trail runners passionate about wellness and adventure experiences.

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Charles Brecque

Welcome to another episode of Tech Story,

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the podcast which interviews founders and people working in tech, growing great businesses. Today, I'm very excited to welcome Ed Flood on the show. Ed is the founder of Trail Pursuit, a company which organises races, trail experiences in the UK and around the world. Ed, thank you for taking the time to be on the show. Please can you share a bit of background about yourself and your company?

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Ed Flood

No worries, thank you for inviting me. Yes, my name's Ed and I founded Trail Pursuit about two and a half years ago. And as you said, we host different trail race festivals in different locations around the UK. They've been in places like the Lake District, Brecon Beacons, and really the idea with those are people sign up for a trail race, they may do a trail half marathon, and then we'll collaborate with yoga teachers, breathwork coaches and musicians. There'll be live music, acoustic acts, and DJs as well. Yeah, whole mix going on, camping, glamping. So that's one side of the business is the trail race festivals. And then the other side is more boutique adventures and expeditions to places like Croatia and Norway, which typically involve trail running, hiking, and kayaking.

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Charles Brecque

That really sounds like a lot of fun. How have you grown the company so far? How have you found your first clients? Where did it all start?

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Ed Flood

So we launched in July, 2020. So yeah, during the pandemic, we wanted to put the focus on sort of experiences and making it more of an experience rather than just a race that you turn up to and get your medal and go home. And yeah, we've used social media which has been big for us. We built an ambassador team for our first event. So we launched in July, 2020, and then our first event was in May, 2021. We sold 1700 tickets. And I think we were lucky in that space because no events or organisers were really promoting during that time. So yeah, we doubled down on social media, you know, Instagram, TikTok. Runners love to share what they're doing, the races, the views, their training plans, what they're training for. And we built a good community and really put the emphasis on community, building email lists and collaborating with different brands as well. So we have a sports expo area. So we have brands of varying levels and age from startups through to more established brands like the Cotswolds, Outdoor and things like that.

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Charles Brecque

Great. And what does it take to build a great community?

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Ed Flood

That is a good question. It takes patience and persistence, I think, which is transferable

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for anyone starting any business. You need to have that, you know, things just take time to naturally evolve. But then, yeah, you've also got to be persistent and also consistent with your content and your messaging and genuinely listen to your audience and your community, to think what would benefit them and what they're going to be interested in. And then also I find just collaborating and you know involving people as much as possible because everyone has different skill sets and you know whether they are a breathwork coach or they're qualified cold water therapist which could be quite niche and a lot of people could try that for the first time. I think having fun with it as well definitely shooting content, videos, doing testimonials and getting feedback where possible. 

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Charles Brecque

We've recently discovered video and we love it and I guess that's why we're doing this in-person podcast because I think it's a great way to share experiences in a natural engaging and

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authentic way and I wouldn't say it's easier than writing an article but

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yeah if you have the people the cameras, the place and

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time then I think you can shoot some great videos 

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Ed Floor

Yeah 100% and I mean yeah the short form video as well now is huge and people's attention spans is reducing so like if you can get a message across in 15 seconds rather than a you know a 10 minute blog read or however long it can be quite empowering

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Charles Brecque

Great, and I guess you mentioned TikTok. Have you gone viral on TikTok? What sort of tips can you share?

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Ed Flood

I haven't gone viral on TikTok, but we've experimented with different content. But mainly on Instagram and those reels, some of those have blown up. And it's strange because you don't know what's going to connect with the audience. And then when something does, it can really just take off. We had one from Olivia who works with us who was running in the Lake District literally down a mountain. It was about a 10 second video. She put a good song behind it and it was a beautiful summer's day And I think she posted on like a you know a Tuesday when everyone's at work and it just went bonkers. Yeah. So I'm not sure I know the answer to what makes a viral TikTok

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Charles Brecque

- Post it on Tuesdays

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Ed Flood

- Yeah exactly

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Charles Brecque

- It's a lesson.

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Ed Flood

- Yeah, but you never know. Have you had any viral videos yet?

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Charles Brecque

Not yet, or maybe our marketing team can confirm if we have had a viral video.

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Ed Flood

You'd know.

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Charles Brecque

Yeah, yeah.

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Ed Flood

No, we'd know if a video's been viral.

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Charles Brecque

I think we've definitely had more traction today with just website traffic, but that's more because that's where we focus our energy. And I'd say definitely in the past two months, we started to focus a bit more on social video and I think we're in that phase of consistently posting and I think that's great. But yeah, we're just waiting for that viral video

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Ed Flood

and I'm sure it will come.

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Charles Brecque

But yeah, it's gotta be persistence

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Ed Flood

Yeah, persistence as well. And I think just staying creative and not putting too much emphasis on like, I guess some teams do like what would make a viral video, but like, yeah, I think the more practice you have and creativity that is going to up the chances to unfold. 

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Charles Brecque

Absolutely and in these two and a half years building Trail Pursuit what's been your favorite moment so far?

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Ed Flood

Wow there's been a few. I think the first race festival we did was just incredible because no one had really competed because of Covid and you know they'd been training and things so it was a beautiful summer's day and the rush of people setting off. They've trained for a good few months, do the race and then celebrate afterwards with the festival and just seeing people cross the line. Just that natural euphoria having been at home a lot was incredible. Definitely the weekends that we do host with the festivals. And then we held a couple of expeditions to Norway last year as well, which were more boutique - there's 12 people on those and they're across six days. And obviously a lot of those guys and girls join solo or there might be a few couples. And then, yeah, it just becomes a huge team dynamic and you kind of go on this amazing adventure. And the special thing with that was it was like a point-to-point trip you kind of have your equipment with you, you know you're hiking for a couple of days and then you're hiking to the next spot and it's, yeah, it's, I mean the landscape over there is unbelievable.

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Charles Brecque

It sounds like a lot of fun and I guess from hearing that you actually get to go on these trips.

Ed Flood

Yes, yeah, I think I definitely do have a wanderlust and yeah, just an explorative nature I guess. So it fits quite nicely and especially when you do reckeys as well and you meet with different partners it makes it all worth it but yeah Norway is a special one yeah.

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Charles Brecque

well I was actually born in Norway but I haven't actually been back since being born but maybe this is a good opportunity and what do you wish you'd known before starting Trial Pursuit? 

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Ed Flood

That is also a good question. I'd say just be patient with it because I think as your brand or startup begins to grow, you have more fuel and your team expands, your community expands, your social presence expands. There's kind of, there's like an added growth drive behind all of it. I think that can work really well in some forms. It definitely did for us. But then there's also that added pressure, which is like, things can grow too quickly. Or, you know, you don't have as much of a focus on certain things. So I think, probably in hindsight now, yeah, two and a half years in, probably that laying your foundations and doing things properly and taking good care of your foundations of the events and your team and things is really key because that will put you in good stead when naturally there are little curveballs that you have to adapt with.

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Charles Brecque

You mentioned growing too quickly, is that something that happened to you?

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Ed Flood

I'd say yes last year. I don't know if it grew too quickly. We just had a few curveballs with our venue. And yeah, we kind of had to change a few things last minute, which did impact the--I mean, it's still an amazing event, but it did impact the route side of things. And they kind of changed slightly from a trail race more into a mountain race, which a lot of people weren't expecting. So yeah, even on that side of things, from a logistical point of view, doing your reckeys, working with councils and your partners just to make sure that everything is as good as it can be.

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Charles Brecque

- Yeah, well, I think when you have customers, change is always a big impact for them, regardless of how little or big it is. From our perspective, it will always be perceived as big. And I guess communication is always key, but yeah, we've just released a new version of our software platform and we're playing catch up on the feedback. But it's just because it's a big change and we're working to rectify and get back on track. But yeah, I think no one likes change.

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Ed Flood

Yeah, exactly. And you have to figure it out as you regroup and make changes and kind of keep things fresh and innovative and keep the customer and experience in mind, which we try and do, which you guys are obviously doing as well.

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Charles Brecque

Yeah, well, we're all trying.

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[LAUGHTER] Definitely.

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And obviously, you've now expanded with boutique offerings. What's the vision for the next three, five years?

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Ed Flood

Good question. The boutique side has more adventures and expeditions. By the time this is released, we'll have launched a new one to Morocco. That will be a couple of winter trips. That will be mainly surfing, trail running, and yoga and wellness. This demand for experiential wellness retreats, trips, festivals, where the emphasis isn't on getting absolutely slaughtered and partying. There's still definitely a market for that, but there's also this market for wellness and adventure and experience that we're tapping into and really driving forward. We'd look to develop more of these trips around the world. Then on the festival side of things, we've got this collaboration event called StriveFest. The first one's going to be taking place at the end of June this year 2023 and that's in Snowdonia in North Wales and that's kind of an adventure fitness festival so there'll be different elements to do with trail races, functional fitness and your kind of crossfit. We've got different partners and there'll be jiu-jitsu and yeah whole mix of sports with music and camping and things like that.

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Charles Brecque

That sounds like a lot of fun, I'm very jealous. But yeah best of luck with all those new adventures and growing the business. With your company obviously its an events and logistics business, what tech do you use to run your company? And I'd say aside from running the company what's your favourite tech product? 

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Ed Flood

So we use ESOL which is a platform for experience-based businesses and kind of really suits festivals, surf retreats, music festivals, things like that. And there's a lot of good functionality in there to do with ticketing, accommodation, adding ambassadors and really just being in control and kind of being able to edit things quite easily. Web design as well and it's a really, really good platform, been with them since the beginning. 

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What other tools do we use? I mean we use MailChimp for email communications. I guess those two are the two main things that jump off my head. And then personally I really like Calm, the meditation app, which I mentioned to you before. And yeah, as yourself, you know, a founder, you know how busy things can get and you kind of oversee and are aware of all these little details. So I find meditation and breathwork can really help keep your head clear. So personally I use that one. Use a few money tools and yeah the notes tool as well, keeping track of ideas just random thoughts and yes I think 

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Charles Brecque

Yeah I never quite got into meditation but it is something I’d like to give a try.

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Ed Flood

You already have quite a calm demeanor.

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Charles Brecque

Oh really yeah well maybe I just need to give it a go or maybe I'm already too calm for calm but great and as you know as a busy founder CEO dealing with venues, suppliers, customers what are sort of the key contracts that you interact with? 

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Ed Flood

I guess the venue depends on the venues we've worked with farms in the past which is a little bit more low-key and done over handshake and few emails whereas the Adventure Park Snowdonia is a large adventure park. There's a big man-made surf lagoon. There's a few more contracts in place with those guys. Then I guess on the Sports Expo and any brands that we work with, we create agreements and contracts depending on their level of sponsorship or partnership of their larger brand. And yeah, yeah, we have terms, you know, for the runner's side of things when they agree, you know, when they book and sign up, there's some terms.

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Charles Brecque

Disclaimers?

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Ed Flood

Yeah, disclaimers for injury. And, you know, we work with medical providers as well, paramedics who are dotted around and that's all kind of, yeah, kept track of online. I guess Adobe Acrobat I've been using.

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Charles Brecque

So you've been using Adobe?

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Ed Flood

Yeah, well I have this past week for application forms for TENS licences and just agreements that can be quite handy. Do you use that platform? 

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Charles Brecque

We use Legislate.

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Ed Flood

Oh that is actually a competitor is it?

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Charles Brecque

Well I guess it depends on the context. Are these forms that you were sending out

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Ed Flood

for clients to fill in or what was the workflow? Yeah so TENS license, so this was in Wales in Conway, so they asked you to use Adobe App but you had to edit it on there. But mainly it's for getting signatures or confirming documents. I'd kind of like to know a little bit more about what you guys do.

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Charles Brecque

Yeah no I think PDFs are something that we offer in our platform but they're not necessarily the easiest type of document to search. For example, if you wanted to know, let's say you've updated some terms in your agreements, it'd be really hard for you to find the agreements that have the updated terms across your entire database of contracts. Or if you wanted to know which suppliers had a one month break clause or any of that information is really difficult and you'd have to manually sit through the contracts to locate the contracts and that takes time, your busy time and really what we try to do with our platform is offer a tool that you can use to easily edit and create contracts but in a way where you can then post signature track all that information and find it easily so whether it's internal contracts like employment so for example how many of my employees are on 30-day notice period, how many are still on probation. Obviously if you've got a small team you can just about track that, but imagine you're dealing with freelancers, freelancers tend to have their own set of terms. Which freelancer is on a two week basis period? Which freelancer is on a day rate? Which one is on a monthly rate? Those questions can be answered very easily and you don't need to faff around. And it's the same with terms of business, any type of contract can go through our system so that you streamline that process and then track that data very easily.

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Ed Flood

Amazing, yeah it makes total sense. 

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Charles Brecque

Yeah, well it seems like we need to hook you up with a demo. But that's not why we invited you on the podcast, but... You never know. Great that's an outcome, or a potential outcome.

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Great, and if you were for example to receive a contract to sign, what would impress you?

Ed Flood

In terms of what's in the contract or the way I can sign it.

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Charles Brecque

Anyhow, we've had all sorts of answers on the show.

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Ed Flood

Interesting. Okay. Um, well it'd have to, yeah, I think it has to be win-win.I have to keep win-win in mind. I think in all of these, uh, situations, um, you know, as clear as possible, basic stuff like you know to have things kind of lined out easily readable. You know when we're with music DJs and bands and things like that they can have some quite strict things that they require and things so I think yeah clarity is key for myself and hopefully not unnecessarily long contracts.

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Charles Brecque

Yeah no sounds like you know everything that makes sense and whilst we don't always control the length of the contract or the clarity of the text we always offer a view of the contract which is in a form with questions and answers and that way you know straight away what the key terms are so that when you then look at the pdf you then know what you're looking for. But yeah, great, great answer to the question. And for potential founders listening to the show, what tips would you share for them to sort of get started or help them make their decision about becoming an entrepreneur?

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Ed Flood

I would try not to overthink it. And if you've got an idea, you've been given an idea, if you've got an idea, that's a great start. And then it might naturally evolve and you're like, wow, where do I even begin? But I'd say try and break it down into really bite-sized steps. Get it written down, do a brainstorm on a board, anything to get it out there into the real world, I think can be really, really powerful. Play with it, move it around and don't think, because you don't need to have every step aligned and figured out. If you've got a rough idea of how it could work and then yes it's kind of do some planning but then also take some action and think what can I do today that's going to take me one step forward to kind of realising this. Even if it's something tiny like getting something set up or connecting with your first collaborator or you know.

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Charles Brecque

Buying a website domain?

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Ed Flood

Yeah, website domain, registering the company, that really gets the ball rolling. Yeah, and then just give it a go and don't be afraid to fail. Obviously, when you have different pressures and circumstances that does impact, but if you can do something as a side project as well and side hustle and have it as a creative idea. put it out there and see if it have legs. Don't think that you need to go from full-time employment into running your own company. You can do it gradually. But I think the main thing is to try not to overcomplicate it, throw your ideas down and just take a step forward.

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Charles Brecque

Great words of wisdom. So, practical steps to get the ball rolling.

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Ed Flood

Yeah, I'd rather give that than, you know...

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Charles Brecque

and yeah not worry about having everything figured out and yeah I think starting a side hustle is a great idea as long obviously your employment contract allows you to do so but yeah no thank you very much Ed for being on the show awesome and best of luck growing Trail Pursuit. 

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Ed Flood

Thank you appreciate it.

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