Business Description
Elemental Climbing’s mission is to grow and encourage the sport of climbing and community of climbers in Louisville and the surrounding region. We are committed to introducing and providing access to the sport to as many people as we can. At this stage, we’re accomplishing the mission with our 24-foot mobile climbing wall. Our mobile wall allows us to establish a presence in our community through private rentals, public events, and pop-up climbing offered twice a week.
The story began with Blake’s desire to see the community of climbers in Louisville grow into a robust, healthy network of people celebrating the sport and each other. He established Elemental Climbing Club in 2013 to see if others shared the same desire. The club quickly grew to include regular get-togethers, events, and a speed climbing competition that brought together 200-plus participants and spectators. Building on the club’s notoriety within the community, we launched Elemental Climbing in June 2016. Shortly after establishing the business, we purchased our mobile wall from an operator in California, drove across the country to bring it home, and got to work on our mission. We’ve spent the last month cleaning and painting the wall, replacing cables and climbing holds, and establishing relationships with strategic partners around the city.
The legacy of Elemental Climbing Club has provided us with name recognition within the climbing community, but we are not yet established as a widely recognized brand in the outdoor activities and event rental market in Louisville. We’re confident that our customers’ experiences will help to quickly establish Elemental Climbing as Louisville’s premier mobile climbing experience. We look forward to using this loan in leveraging our early returns and positive response for continued growth as a company.
What is the purpose of this loan?
The majority of the loan will be used to purchase branded merchandise. We will use the funds to design and purchase new t-shirts, hats, stickers, and other merchandise like cups and climbing gear. Merchandise will add a new revenue stream while also helping to increase awareness in our market.
An order of new climbing holds, high quality enamel paint, and new cables will help us continue to offer the area’s premier mobile climbing experience. New holds and paint for touching up high-use portions of the wall will make sure that the wall continues to be an exciting experience for both new and repeat customers. A portion of the loan will be used to cover our monthly rental expense for a space used to store the wall during the winter months.
Finally, this loan will help us continue to establish a presence at events and festivals around our region. See below for an itemized list of expenses for which this loan will be used:
MERCHANDISE T-Shirts, Hats, Stickers, Miscellaneous $2500
WALL New Cables $1500 Rent for Wall Storage $1200 Climbing Holds $600 Paint $300
BRANDING Vinyl Banners / Advertising System $600 Mobile Advertising $300
EVENTS Travel and other expenses $500 TOTAL : $7500