Co-founder

Company

Adrenaline Hunter

(renamed Manawa.com)

Location

Cape Town (South Africa) / Paris ( France)

Year

2012-2014

Adrenaline Hunter, now rebranded as Manawa, is an online marketplace that simplifies the search, comparison, and booking of adrenaline sports and unique experiences around the globe. The company aimed to become the "Uber of extreme sports," offering a platform that connects thrill-seekers with certified adventure sports instructors around the globe.

I co-founded Adrenaline Hunter with my sister and we both played a key role in growing and shaping the company's early phases, particularly in areas of fundraising, product development, marketing, and team management.

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Fundraising and investor relations

Developed and presented the pitch deck to investors, including venture capital firms and business angels, for our first fundraising round.

Conducted thorough business planning and financial analysis to support seed investment opportunities.

Incubation & funding by 88mph (powered by Google for Entrepreneurs) in 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The marketplace dilemna

Building a marketplace ecosystem involves overcoming the "chicken and egg" dilemma, where both supply (providers) and demand (customers) are needed for success. However, providers may hesitate to join an empty marketplace, while customers won’t engage without offerings.

Here’s the strategy we used to tackle this process:

Focus on supply first

Create demand simultaneously

Build a MVP

Leverage early adopters and start paid acquisition

Create feedback loop, optimize and scale

01. Focus on supply first

The initial step is to recruit providers who will list their services on the platform. Without supply, there’s nothing for customers to engage with, but convincing providers to join early can be a challenge.

Targeted approach: we begun by focusing on a specific niche and location where we could establish relationships with early providers. We started to target ski mountainering providers in Europe and outdoor activities providers in South Africa. We recruited and managed new providers through email marketing and face-to-face meetings;
Exclusive incentives: we offered lower commission fees to early adopters, reducing their risk;
Show market potential: even if the platform was underdeveloped, we shared insights about customer demand, industry growth, and press coverage to build trust.
Personal outreach: we reached out directly via personalized emails, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings to form relationships with providers. We also built and led a team of two in Cape Town to drive providers registration via phone outreach.

Results after 3 months of incubation

1,150

activities listed

+60

countries covered

210

activities suppliers

1,050

subscribers on the waiting list

As of April 2013

02. Create demand simultaneously

While focusing on supply, it’s essential to create early demand that will attract providers and justify their investment.

We implemented the following processes to attract customers:

Waiting list and beta launch for early users: We launched a one page landing page with a waiting list to subscribe to Adrenaline Hunter news. Once the MVP was ready, we informed our subscribers that the beta was available and our early adopters could place their first orders.
Partnerships and influencers: we collaborated with influencers and travel industry bloggers to drive traffic and lend credibility, even with limited listings.
Build trust with content: we create social media posts that highlighted early providers and showcased their experiences on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.
We provided highly personalized support for our initial sales, personally contacting each of our providers and customers to ensure everything went smoothly.

03. Build a MVP

We launched a simplified version of the platform that highlights essential features like listing and booking capabilities.

We managed the entire web development process, focusing on:

Architecture definition: designed the structure for a seamless user experience;
UI/UX: led user interface and experience optimization to ensure customer satisfaction;
Back-office specifications: defined and tested essential functionalities for providers to list their activities on our platform;
Prioritized website features and updates using agile methodologies.

04. Leverage early adopters and launch campaigns to generate traffic

Early users, both providers and customers, were our core community. We turned them into advocates by offering incentives for bringing others on board.

In order to grow the marketplace and start selling activities, we launched paid and organic marketing campaigns:

Digital marketing & social media management: We designed and launched Facebook Ads and Google AdWords campaigns to boost visibility and bookings.
We launched our weekly email newsletter through Mailchimp to engage our audience and promote key experiences.
Press & media relations: our press releases were published in reputable media outlets like A Nous Paris, Melty Xtrem, and EasyVoyage, while securing interviews on channels like RTL Belgium, Les Teknophiles, and Ride Kulture. We also had come TV Interviews on Les Extrémistes (MCS Extreme – French) and MWeb (English).

05. Create a feedback loop, optimize and scale gradually

A strong feedback loop is crucial for marketplace success:

Providers attract customers by listing quality offers.
Customers leave reviews and ratings, building trust.
More trust attracts more customers and providers.

We implemented reviews and ratings early to generate trust, even when listings were still growing.

Once initial momentum is established, we focused on gradual expansion:

Expand offerings by moving into new regions or categories.
Increase automation to streamline the provider onboarding process.
Boost marketing efforts by scaling digital campaigns as the marketplace matures.

Key milestone of Adrenaline Hunter

2013

Launch of the beta version, Adrenaline Hunter is incubated by 88MPH in Cape Town.

2016

Seed funding of 600,000 Euros by private investors Charles Dunston (Chronoresto), Philippe Yonnet (Search Foresight), Armand de Milleville (ex-American Express), Pascal Quiry, Yann Le Fur (finance professors at HEC and co-authors of Vernimmen) and Denis Fayolle, co-founder @TheFork.

2018

It received additional funding of 2 million Euros from bpifrance and Tengelmann Ventures, which significantly boosted its market reach, enhancing its platform to offer over 4,000 activities in 72 countries.

2022

Alentour bought Manawa and is now offering 5500 activities.