You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We are crowdfunding the sustainable future of Singletrack and you can own a share of our business today. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong Back in July we announced our plan to open up ownership of Singletrack to new shareholders via the Crowdcube investment platform. Almost 500 of you signed up to be kept in the loop and yesterday we emailed all of you to let you know that our investment campaign is now live on the Crowdcube…
I was hoping someone else would jump in and ask first - buy hey ho!...
I can't see any mention of possible future returns or being able to sell your stake on that Crowdcube page. If things go well are financial returns part of the deal and can you sell your stake?
Good question.
Crowdcube do have a mechanism for selling shares but as Crowdcube is all about private companies it doesn't work the same way that buying shares in a stock market listed company. The types of share sales within private companies are called 'secondary share sales' or 'secondaries'. That is something we will explore more in the future. As to returns on investments - all the shares on offer in this campaign are ordinary shares with pre-emption and dividend rights attached. In short they are the same types of shares that I have and that Chipps has. So, in the case there are profits that we make available to shareholdersvia dividends then yes, all shareholders will be entitled to dividends.
Pre-emption rights mean that if any shareholder looks to sell their shares these must first be offered to existing shareholders first.
There's more information about Crowdcube shareholders here
Here's my questions, I'm not putting them on the Crowdcube forum, seems daft as there's a perfectly good one here!!
1. What are the plans to 'expand into the growing outdoor adventure market' mentioned on the Crowdcube introduction? This expansion seems critical to the future of the business but I can't see any further detail anywhere.
2. Will the current shareholders, (Mark and Chipps) keep a controlling share of the company, or are their current 105 shares going to be worth the same as any shares I might buy, i.e. £2.62/share
3. What is the current plan to deal with the loan debts when they fall due for repayment in about 6 months time.
Good luck with this, I really hope you can keep this place going, I'd really miss it if it went, (but probably not as much as you would).
The plans have a varying amount of detail and you can understand that some parts are a little too sensitive for a public forum happy to disclose more in private chats on any platform - email, DM etc. The plans also depend on how much we raise with this offering. I have a range of options for a range of final funding totals. The one thing that is common is that the future relies on content and high quality content at that. The content is what will drive subscriptions, which will drive commercial deals. We have limited resources being a small team and there's currently too much for us to do to make that happen quickly. One example is video production is a stalling point for us. It's what the market wants - it's what users engage with and it's what the industry wants including in their packages. We can do it, but not at the scale we need to be able to take advantage of the market.
Travel is a market that is growing. That's another avenue to commercial success. again, it's a lucrative option but it is very resource intensive and has to be done very carefully to ensure the content is good enough.
There are other things on the list for investment but like I say the list will be prioritised depending on the success of the campaign. I've cashflowed the next 9 month sand the next 2 years based on different investment scenarios. Inshort the more we can raise the more on the list we can tackle.
I'm not precious about my shareholding. It's likely that Chipps and I will remain the largest shareholders after this campaign but if there's enough investment then I don't care what my stake ends up being so long as Singletrack has a strong future. All shares are equal in value to those that I and Chipps hold. ordinary shares with full rights, pre-emption and dividends. If Singletrack succeeds then all shareholders will benefit equally.
The current bounceback loan is in it's final 12 months of a 6 year period. Regardless of the campaign they will be paid up on time as scheduled via the monthly repayments. Accounts language makes it sound a bit like the entire amount will need to be paid up in 6 months. That's not really the case. We've been paying it down every month, on time for 6 years. I can't wait for it to be gone. It will significantly boost our cashflow.
Good to see this - I've bookmarked the email to sign up and do all that malarkey on CC when things calm down a little workwise, hopefully next week.
I had a question, don't know if it's answered on Crowdcube. OBviously the future depends on a steady stream of bilge on this forum from workshy clowns like myself quality content and a top notch website*, so arguably the value of one's shares is dependent on the core team remaining part of STW - Chipps, Mark etc. erm... has that been taken into account anywhere/ what's the STW thinking on that?
*insert joke of "well it's managed this far without, so why bother in the future..." 😉 🤣
I'm not going anywhere but the future can't have me driving the bus forever - so yes, it's been considered. My personal goal is to grow the company to point I'm not required - that's important if for nothing else in the event I get run over by that bus. One of the medium term goals/obligations is to appoint a fellow director so I'm not the only clown running the show 🙂
some parts are a little too sensitive for a public forum happy to disclose more in private chats on any platform - email, DM etc.
That detail was plenty for the size of the investment I'm likely to make, (lets just say I won't be in a position to force myself to be that second director!) thanks Mark.
A point of clarification, please. Pre-emption rights are usually taken to mean that existing shareholders get the right of first refusal should there be further rounds of issuing new shares to avoid dilution of their holding rather than if a shareholder wants to sell their shares to someone else.
Hmm. I just went through the sign up process as I was considering this and wanted to see the options, only to be told “sorry, you are not able to invest. Singletrack Magazine is not available for investment in your country”. (Ireland).
Bummer.
Does this scheme qualify for the EIS tax incentive/ efficient wrapper for investment?
We are a bit too old as a company to qualify for Eis tax exemptions and the R&D side is a bit of a reach for us. I did look into it.
Hmm. I just went through the sign up process as I was considering this and wanted to see the options, only to be told “sorry, you are not able to invest. Singletrack Magazine is not available for investment in your country”. (Ireland).
Bummer.
Oooh, interesting. Ireland is fairly backwards when it comes to day-trading, at-home investing etc; but is STW investing only available in the UK?
We are listed on the .com side of CrowdCube. There's the .eu side but I think we aren't listed there for Euopean investers due to reasons. I shall contact our account manager and clarify.
Not sure it will work but try this link if you are inside the EU
https://www.crowdcube.eu/companies/singletrack/pitches/qrpwkZ
Valuation is from two sources that have valued us in the past 3 years. They were considerably higher than this valuation. For the purposes of this valuation we ran the numbers closer to our actual turnover rather than strategic market value. The financials for the year ending Feb 25 are in the process of being prepared for filing by our accountants. Turnover is up on the last filed year slightly. That's what I have currently as they are not finalised.
Not sure it will work but try this link if you are inside the EU
The link works but if you sign up with a non UK address then you get this:
"
Sorry, you're not able to invest
Singletrack Magazine is not available for investment in your country."
How much are you looking to raise?
Presumably the amount will dictate which parts of your strategy you implement?
Having invested with crowdcube before, it strikes me that for the casual investor there is quite a jump between the 150 and 500 award levels so people who might have gone for 250 or 300 ukp are going to invest 150. I know there is no way of altering that now.
Are the investment options limited to those values then? I'd assumed they were just bands for the different rewards, but the actual money you could invest would be variable within the bands.
Edit - think I may have misunderstood your point. You're saying well I'm not going 500 quid, so for the same reward I may as well just do 150 instead of 250.
You can invest any amount. Those levels aren’t fixed.
Have a good weekend everyone.
any questions you can post here (I’ll be monitoring) or message me direct.
I was reminded of this interview I gave around a year ago and how it gives an inside view in how I’ve tried to manage the business side of magazine subscriptions. It’s long and technical and for most I imagine it’s pretty dull. But it’s an insight into how and why we do stuff like we do.
Supposing someone was thinking something like "well, I've had a lot of value from this place over the years, and I would really quite like it to continue, and indeed improve. So I might be willing to give some support in the form of a hundred quid or two. But frankly I don't much care about the investment side of things, or having my name in the magazine etc."
Would it be more helpful for you guys for that guy to invest, or to simply chuck the money at you directly via previous routes for extra support?
(I would assume the latter, but sometimes things aren't as simple as that.)
A donation would always be welcome and the level of support we got in 2024 through donations was incredible but thiso time it’s a bit more than that. I WANT you guys to have a stake in the work we do that goes beyond just a donation. It may sound odd but I find the prospect of sharing ownership quite motivating.
Stake in a website with two thirds of the screen covered in Temu adverts!You've got a nerve
£7.99 and the ads disappear for 2 months.
That said, I've just made some changes to the ads (It's a new ad provider we are using and it takes a some time - weeks - for the ad networks to learn our site and start letting the larger/better advertisers run their ads on our pages - hnace lots of TEMU ads currently)
The change I'm testing is an 8 page limit on ads if you are logged in. So, your 9th page onwards should have no ads. The count resets after 2 hours.
I have read the information and the pitch deck. I have got a lot from Singletrack over the years and am minded to invest a little. But what I don't see anywhere is what's the exit plan, how will I ever get my money back? If I can't then it is not an investment just a way to support you guys. Not a bad thing but not the normal sort of investment opportunity you see on crowdcube.
The plan is to get Singletrack sustainable with a long future ahead of it. There's always the opportunity for some larger investor to want to buy it but that's not the plan here with this investment campaign. There is a mechanism within Crowdcube for private individuals to buy/sell their stake but it's not something I've looked into in depth at the moment. The shares have full dividend rights so future profits can be distributed to shareholders. Crowdcube is a platform for investing in private companies (ones NOT listed on any stock exchange) and the intent is often to keep the companies private rather than public for as long as possible.
I have found this information though which I hope is useful...
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Find a buyer:You are responsible for finding a buyer yourself, as Crowdcube does not help with this process.
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Initiate transfer:Once you have a buyer, contact Crowdcube support to help transfer the shares to the new owner.
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Handle payment:Any payment arrangement between you and the buyer must be handled privately and independently.
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Check Articles of Association:The company's Articles of Association may have restrictions on transfers, such as pre-emption rights, which could impact the timeline. Crowdcube will confirm these with you once your request is submitted.
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Company-led exit:This is a common way for investors to sell, as it often involves the sale of the entire company's shares.
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Voting opportunity:Crowdcube will set up a vote for beneficial owners to decide on the sale opportunity.
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Terms of sale:The terms of the vote will make clear the specifics of the transaction, such as whether it is an "all or nothing" sale and if you can sell all of your shares.
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Company approval:The company can approve or decline the transaction or choose a different buyer.
- No public market: Shares in private companies are not traded on a public stock exchange, so liquidity is limited to these types of exits and secondary sales.
- IPO: An Initial Public Offering is another exit option, but it is less common for private companies that have crowdfunded.
- Fees: Crowdcube charges a transfer fee for secondary sales.
You would have to pay me to buy shares in this website
Isn’t that the idea? You buy shares, STW gives you a dividend?
You would have to pay me to buy shares in this website
Massive rule one failure. If you don't want to, just keep it to yourself instead of being unkind.
One example is video production is a stalling point for us. It's what the market wants - it's what users engage with and it's what the industry wants including in their packages. We can do it, but not at the scale we need to be able to take advantage of the market.
Hmm, it seems the market and me have a difference of opinion. I really don't want video content. That's put me right off TBH.
I really don't want video content. That's put me right off TBH.
I don’t invest in mining companies because I want or like coal. I invest because it makes me money, because, sadly there’s still dozens of countries that still use it. There’s lots of other materials they produce, but to make money for the investors you’ve got to have a product that people want to buy to protect the future of the company whether you like it or not.
I understand your outlook if you were donating like the 502 club, but this is investment. I’d only make an investment if I knew I was to get a return on my original sum. The only thing I’ve heard so far, which would make we want to invest is to up the video content. I’d like to hear more about future plans to increase revenue, even if it means sacking off the mag. Sadly though, there’s not enough info to this regard for me to make an investment.
My inbox and DMs are open for any questions.
Edit - think I may have misunderstood your point. You're saying well I'm not going 500 quid, so for the same reward I may as well just do 150 instead of 250.
Exactly. Like others I am not sure of the potential exit strategy / cash profit on the investment here, but I see it as a small financial support for the fun I get from the magazine and the website.
As one of the original life members, and therefore not paying an ongoing subscription, I see the 502 club and this as an alternative to that subscription but that is a very personal view. I don't expect a share in Go Far to help fund my retirement. Also, having been on one of the lifetime subscribers rides in Calderdale and blown up halfway up the second climb, I am not sure the invite to the owners ride is that great of an incentive for me unless they decide to hold them somewhere a bit flatter.
One example is video production is a stalling point for us. It's what the market wants - it's what users engage with and it's what the industry wants including in their packages. We can do it, but not at the scale we need to be able to take advantage of the market.
Hmm, it seems the market and me have a difference of opinion. I really don't want video content. That's put me right off TBH.
I don't mind video content, but on MY terms... My bugbear with Pinkbike is the auto-play videos which i'm sure generates a LOT of clicks, but they're complete and utter bollox clicks as they only last 2s until they're stopped/paused or navigated away from. However i bet it shows the right stats that the video made 4,000,000 clicks... but really.. it never.
It depends on the content though.
Content however is massively lacking these days on here from STW in any form. You used to get decent articles from people like Hannaha, but apart from that little one about DH racing recently i can't think of any STW written articles...
TBH apart from the magazine i never read, i have no idea what STW does all day.
STW gives lots of publicity for the racing exploits of your son?
Which I do enjoy reading!
Well yes, but that's my content, not theirs... My point was that STW don't seem to make the content, not that users don't make it... Users here make lots of superb content.
They give you the platform. Be a shame if they saw your sentiment and thought, you know what, we’ll put a stop to that, no?
You’ve said yourself you had 2 sponsors from here, where would you have got them from if not here? A small motorbike forum?
Hmm, it seems the market and me have a difference of opinion. I really don't want video content.
But STW might be able to create video content that appealed more to you (and their grumpy middle-aged audience generally).
Or they might just do more of the clickbait-y dramatic thumbnail-but-generic content stuff that's already all over YouTube.
It'd be nice to see them have a go, but my opinion is moot as I'm not in a position to put my hand in my pocket for this.
They give you the platform. Be a shame if they saw your sentiment and thought, you know what, we’ll put a stop to that, no?
You’ve said yourself you had 2 sponsors from here, where would you have got them from if not here? A small motorbike forum?
I think you've missed my point... my point was that i don't see content from STW being created as regularly as it used to. We used to have context from Benji all the time, Hannah all the time and others, every day or two you'd have articles coming up with various things, now a lot of them i don't think interested my hugely, but some did. There were kit reviews all the time, new bike reviews, ride reviews, adventures, but they've all gone away.
I don't want to get into the sponsorship debate massively as this thread isn't really the place. But no, even without STW we'd still have both sponsors i believe. They do post/read/view here, but that wasn't how we got them as such. But i've been told off a couple of times for posting even a picture of the boy or his 'stuff' and STW have actively told me off for it. Hence now i don't post any pictures or mention his sponsors at all.
Also, having been on one of the lifetime subscribers rides in Calderdale and blown up halfway up the second climb, I am not sure the invite to the owners ride is that great of an incentive for me unless they decide to hold them somewhere a bit flatter.
😆 "It's bad news I'm afraid ladies and gentlemen. The major stumbling block in our plans for world domination, the one flaw that we hadn't considered, is that our subscriber ride wasn't flat enough" 😉
One example is video production is a stalling point for us. It's what the market wants
This is a generational gap thing. I'm a similar age to Mark and Chipps, I was born and raised in the 1970s. Screens weren't a thing, books were. I read. I read a LOT and I read quickly. I don't want to watch a video where they tell you what they're going to tell you, advertise something, trail some other videos you might watch, ask you to HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON, then slowly and painfully explain something. I can read the article in about a tenth of the time it takes to watch a video.
Younger people though seem to have an aversion to the written workd and need someone on screen showing and telling them what's happening and how to do things.
I suppose then it depends on the target market and the usage profile of the site.
I'm considering investing, but not as a commercial thing - more to say thanks for being here and doing what you do, I've been knocking around since the start and have got a lot out of the site, even if we no longer read the magazine itself.
There’s no doubt that the loss of Hannah and Amanda have affected the content of STW but I’m amazed at the amount of content from such a small team, Ben must be out on the hills all day testing stuff!
Yes, the “glitches” are frustrating but it goes back to it being a small team. Hopefully this flotation will help, I can’t afford to lose any money but I have advertised (paid for) and will continue to do so along with continuing my subscription.
My inbox and DMs are open for any questions.
This seems an odd response to someone who highlighted that more details on the plans would be helpful so they can see what funds will be used for and decide if that is likely to result in a return on their investment.
I was also interested in investing but the lack of clear and upfront information on the what the raised finance will be used for is very disappointing. Surely it is up to the current owners to publish all the available information to encourage people to invest? At the moment it all seems quite secretive or suggests that you don't have a full business plan - if so why haven't you published that alongside forecast financials (P&L, Balance sheet and most importantly cashflow...cash is king!) as part of a pre investment pack?
I'm afraid at the moment this doesn't seem like an investment but more an additional request for donations which fundamentally will just be used to keep the mag (or perhaps more pertinently the forum) going and pay the owners their wages.
Perhaps they don't want to post all of the sensitive info on a public forum?
There is a discussion section on Crowdcube where you can post questions.
Understood but it could be sent direct to potential investors or maybe it is all available on the Crowdcube site and I havent seen it. Either way I think the onus is on those wanting investment to provide the information rather than expecting individual request/statements.
I get that. But there's a few issues that I need to be very careful about. One is that the campaign is FCA governed, which means as director anything I put on the site here and in public has to be considered very carefully. I'm not allowed to make any claims publicly that are not already laid out in the pitch on Crowdcube. Everything I say is considered financial communication when I say it publicly.
That's not an excuse - that's legal advice I've been given from Crowdcube.
There is a pitch deck document that is available through the campaign but at the level we are operating at and have paid for this is available only to Crowdcube's elite tier of investors.
Also, explaining in detail our business plan in public can be problematic. I've always been as open as possible when it comes to what we do at Singletrack and how the business is run and funded but publishing a complete business plan is probably a step too far and any business would be wise to consider what they make public for commercial reasons.
All that said - SOME broad strokes.
The plan breaks down into areas of the business that can be expanded in order to increase revenue and reduce operating costs. I've already alluded to video production as one area we have identified as a bottle neck. Video is lucrative - regardless of what your personal thoughts on it as a content medium. Personally I agree with some of the comments above regarding video. I prefer reading content to watching it. But I'm not here to run the business for me - it has to be run to be profitable.
Travel is another area for development that is profitable. It opens up new markets in the travel sector for us to earn revenue from. eg. Air Canada as a sponsor of our in production Canadian destination guides. Plus the associated tourist authorities that support this kind of content.
Marketing of our content is another area that needs development/investment. For 25 years we've relied on the fact that the website brings hundreds of thousands of visitors every month - that has meant we have not needed to spend on external marketing to gain subscribers/readers. That landscape has changed quite dramatically and there's a number of markets that we need to target to increase subscriptions growth. 1 example being lapsed subscribers (there are several in the plan). That level of marketing needs budget and time/staff. We don't have enough of either at the moment - hence the reason for investment.
Each of those examples (there are more) require time, skill and money. There is a detailed plan behind each.
One new idea that has come out of the Crowdcube campaign thanks to the chat I've had with a potential investor who wants to remain anon, is ringfencing editorial budget to be spent on paying for content from contributors under the age of 30. This very much fits with the long term objective of attracting new readers and new audiences. One problem I intend to tackle is the issue of the content creators creating content for their age group. If we keep cranking out content from our current demographic without considering younger audiences then the market we serve will shrink as, frankly, we all die off. I'm not looking to continue Singletrack as it is - that's like holding on to your CD collection and vowing never to stream anything.
One more project we created and then stalled due to lack of resources was the moderation tools on the forum - a topic I'm sure we can all relate to. We had developed an AI/LLM tool that was designed to help moderators home in on potential 'issues'. This was based on an early Google tool called sentiment analysis. In a nutshell it could detect if conversations were getting heated and then alert moderators that there may be something to keep an eye on. We built the tech behind it but we couldn't spare the time and money to polish it into a final product. My thoughts on that were we could build a system that could be sold/licenced to other online forums - potential R&D fuding etc..
So, we are not without ideas and we certainly have a lot of experience in this area. We are small and can adapt to big changes in the market without having to run thing sup a corporate flagpole - But the limiting factor really is time and money. Singletrack needs to adapt and change with the current markets and tech and trends in MTB if it's going to be around for another 25 years. That's not possible without investment in time and money.
Additional: I posted that having just come out of a meeting with a company/agency called BidX. They help companies develop bids for grant funding in areas of R&D and tech innovation. This is another avenue I'm currently looking at - In general though, grant funding requires the company to have a percentage of the funds in place. Again, that's predicated on a successful crowdcube campaign.
editorial budget to be spent on paying for content from contributors under the age of 30
ewwwwww.... young people?! What do you want that for?! 🤮 😉
NBT has perfectly summed up my position, and I think illustrates a key divide, between the 'fans' who see investing as an extension of the other donations and subscription they may have, and the more serious/ sensible 'investors'. The appeal is a bit different to the two groups.
Question: was the answer that this is UK only (you can register a non-UK CrowdCube account, but this offer is only available to UK investors)?
What else can I tell you?
I've just started a mini MBA at Lancaster University in Business Growth and Mangement. I've been doing this for 25 years but it's never too late to learn more and I want to make sure that IF we succeed with this investment campaign that I give that investment the best possible chance of working.
Thanks for all the updates and question answering - appreciated.
Do you have a minimum figure in mind that you need to raise?
I have a number of investment total points at which I've adjusted the plan. £40k is where are target is currently with more in the plan if we exceed that.
We used to have context from Benji all the time, Hannah all the time and others, every day or two you'd have articles coming up with various things, now a lot of them i don't think interested my hugely, but some did. There were kit reviews all the time, new bike reviews, ride reviews, adventures, but they've all gone away.
This hits the nail on the head for me. Apart from the forum Im not sure what else is being bought / invested in. I subsrcibe to the magazine but am rarely interested in more than half the articles as they dont cover my interests in the sport and I have no interest in gravel. Since I started subscribing many years ago the mag / site seems to be drifting away from core mountainbiking. That might be a deliberate stragegy or an accident of chaging interests of the editorial team, I dont know. But gone are the days I used this site to find out whats new or happening in the sport.
Increasing our editorial output IS very much part of the plan. One reason for the reduction in output is the simple fact the team is much smaller and so we have to pick our jobs very carefully.
@Mark the pitch deck is very high level. From my naive reading of the financial numbers revenue is down and loss is up year on year - is there a plan to address this? Can you share?
What's the relationship between gofar and singletrack media ltd? It's mentioned in the accounts for this year with transactions between the companies and a shared director. Does gofar or singletrack media ltd own the core IP assets (i.e the brand, the web address, user data, etc)?
I'm fairly inclined to invest as I've got so much value from this place over the years, but it would be good to see more of a plan...
Two years of losses up to Feb 2024. The latest accounts will be better - they are being prepped for filing at the end of November. Turnover is up for the last financial year by around £20k and costs have been considerably reduced in that period. I can't comment on the actual profit as that's not currently finalised.
Singletrack media is a legacy company that we mothballed 18 months ago. It came about from a time around 18 years ago when we considered a company name change from Gofar to Singletrack Media. We didn't bother in the end. It has no assets and owns no IP. We used it to manage a studio we rented for a time as it was there and we could. But it is in the process of being wound up.
Can I be rude and ask what Chipps involvement is on a day to day basis?
To the casual observer it seems he's semi-retired from STW contributing the editorial for each magazine, the email newsletter and a few articles now and again. Especially as he's no longer a director of GoFar Enterprises. And why did he resign as director if still actively involved in day to day running of the company.
If you are basically running the show should the dilution of shares come from Chipps holding and not your own (not sure how this is doable!).
Re Singletrack Media Limited - it's been charging a management fee of around £50k per year to Gofar Enterprises - what was that for if it was essentially a dormant company?
Singletrack Media did do a job for Gofar Enterprises ltd for a time. It managed a studio, equipment and dealt with rents but it was just a pain to run and for net zero benefit, which is why we decided to simplify and wind it down.
Chipps is very much active in Singletrack. He checks in daily with the rest of us from France and he's currently neck deep in proofing and editing all the content for Issue 164. His shares are his shares (currently 50% like me). I suppose he could offer them up for sale somehow but then what is raised would be his and not be available to invest in the company. By creating more shares for investors we dilute our own shareholding BUT the investment raised through the sale of the new shares all goes to the company, where it's needed.
I'm sure there are lots of different ways to do this but going through a service company like Crowdcube means we don't have to get buried in the legal stuff - they are the experts at this kind of thing and we are not - they will be handling all the legal and financial jobs for us and we can focus on making the investment work.
Since I started subscribing many years ago the mag / site seems to be drifting away from core mountainbiking.
I don't think it's drifted. When it was launched it occupied a space between MBUK (shredding the gnarr) and MBI (preoccupied with racing, although the bike reviews were good). It seems to me that that is still the space it occupies - some special events, big days out in the hills (in the UK and abroad), natural stuff, no bike parks. Question is whether that is still a viable position.
Is this the thing that was talked about a year ago (or that’s how it feels)
I genuinely hope it works out for STW and those that invest
However I don’t see the core demographic changing , or an attempt to try and change the core demographic.
If it’s going to change from what mtb to what zimmer frame then fair enough, but STW doesn’t appear to be attracting a younger user. Also the forum appears at every step to try and discourage new users and be happy with a strategy of we don’t care and it’s better if you pay.
Is this the thing that was talked about a year ago (or that’s how it feels)
I genuinely hope it works out for STW and those that invest
However I don’t see the core demographic changing , or an attempt to try and change the core demographic.
If it’s going to change from what mtb to what zimmer frame then fair enough, but STW doesn’t appear to be attracting a younger user. Also the forum appears at every step to try and discourage new users and be happy with a strategy of we don’t care and it’s better if you pay.
what makes you think every website visitor is a forum user? Compared to here, pinkbike’s forum is a ghost town, maybe 10 long running threads that get updated every other day, next to no non bike threads, yet they seem to manage.
It’s important to not focus on one aspect. I’m certainly not. It’s a holistic change. Video is one piece, the forum is one piece, albeit the most visible piece. The magazine is another, our demographic with its strengths and weaknesses is another. Travel content, content aimed at 30 somethings, marketing of what we offer, website ads, print ads, sponsorships… I could go on. It’s all of the above and more that fit together to make Singletrack. The core business is very diverse. To succeed we need to address all of it. We can’t while we are spread too thin but we can with your support.
The landscape is changing and while the print mag is not what matters to many people it is certainly a solid part of the whole. What I’m seeing across all specialist media (not just bikes) is that the strongest brands still have print in the mix of what they do. Print is a strength if done well and for us it certainly is. Having a physical product is really important. I know that for many reading this it is far from important, but as a business asset it is still key. Print is NOT a money pit for us, despite what is commonly thought. Being in a position to offer a marketing spread across ALL media gives us an advantage that pure digital do not have. Not just in terms of a physical medium but also in credibility. Publishing digitally is pretty easy - we all do it to one level or another on all the social platforms. But print is really hard to do. We do it well and in marketing conversations with advertisers it’s definitely a strength.
But print is still just one part of the business. The key to success is bringing them all together to work as a brand that you guys can get behind and also the wider bike industry (and other markets).
The point of this investment campaign is to put us in a position to do that.
Everything that@nbtsaid above re video. I was trying to find a way to write exactly that but he nailed it.
I think the risk with video is that if it's very good, it gets lost in amongst the dross and if it's very poor, it just is the dross...
That's like being a new musician and saying you will not be releasing any music because it's 1887, poetry books are still popular and a few people who bought your poetry books previously have said they don't like gramophones.
OTOH every other advert I get at the moment is for AI enabled browsers that will watch a youtube video and summarize it for me. So don't drop the written content!
The problem I'd question with that as a business decision though is that GCN/GMBN have already saturated the market with "how to fix a puncture" videos which are likely the ones that get the regular clicks and drip feed income for years to come. ST magazine has always generally been more about ride/routes/stories/interviews/travel and that sort of video content is going to be significantly more expensive to do well than studio content, how to videos or yet another variation on the question whether aero or weight saving actually matters. ST feels more like the longer format documentaries following endurance athletes on the TCR/HT550/GBDuro and that comes from established media companies like Red Bull with added brand sponsorship. I'd be curious to know what something like "I just want to ride" cost to produce. That got ~2million watches, most similar similar documentaries get ~200k. Unfortunately cycling is niche media*, there are narrowboat blogs with higher figures!
*mass participation though, we just don't watch youtube it seems.
Oh don’t expect us to be copying GmBN et al. You won’t be seeing g puncture fixing videos from us 🙂
what makes you think every website visitor is a forum user? Compared to here, pinkbike’s forum is a ghost town, maybe 10 long running threads that get updated every other day, next to no non bike threads, yet they seem to manage.
Fancy having a biking website where the forum is dominated by threads about biking. Whatever next
And yet MBUK manage to keep the lights on with hardly any meaningful online presence, an old tech website and a YouTube channel that brings in views but nothing with mega viewing figures - just the one that's nearing 200k. 🤷♂️
Looks like they've knocked out a lot of content in the last ten months since their channel started - not sure what their ROI is - perhaps Mark has some insider info!?
I'll be honest looking the the CrowdCube figures I take my hat off to Mark and the team - you are doing a cracking job on what looks like a shoestring budget! 👍
Two years of losses up to Feb 2024. The latest accounts will be better - they are being prepped for filing at the end of November. Turnover is up for the last financial year by around £20k and costs have been considerably reduced in that period. I can't comment on the actual profit as that's not currently finalised.
Singletrack media is a legacy company that we mothballed 18 months ago. It came about from a time around 18 years ago when we considered a company name change from Gofar to Singletrack Media. We didn't bother in the end. It has no assets and owns no IP. We used it to manage a studio we rented for a time as it was there and we could. But it is in the process of being wound up.
Thanks @Mark much appreciated.
Fancy having a biking website where the forum is dominated by threads about biking
Yes, but... part of the appeal of the STW forum is the off topic stuff.
Shows how out of touch I am - I'd completely forgotten about Bikeradar! It somehow never seemed mainstream.
huh - I tend to visit it a few times a week. Not all the content is up my street, but it is well written and engaging, so works for me. Different from STW though, of course
Firstly, just to get this off my chest: it is Algorithm, not Algorythm (pitch slide 2)
From what is shared I get why you need investment and change (although I had to cross-reference between the equity offer and pitch it isn't clear in either individually). However, there isn't enough shared on what the intended change is or how you intend to change to entice me to consider a significant investment. Too many unknowns creates uncertainty, and uncertainty leads to cold feet.
I know from my work in innovation that, when setting out to change, building the right thing is usually the bigger & hairier problem compared to building things right. I appreciate that there is a level of detail you don't want to share publicly. However, I feel that sharing, at a conceptual level, what you intend Singletrack to become and your longer-term plans/role/commitments as the two existing shareholders would really help to eliminate uncertainties and help people to judge the risks and rewards enabling them to make investment decisions.
Also, you only mention mountainbiking, which gives me the impression that other sectors of offroad cycling (namely gravel) are not part of the growth plans - I perceive that to be limiting potential opportunities.