How to Move Mountains, the enovatika way
Long story short: A ski school turned into an online platform catering to all outdoor enthusiasts, with 7 ski resorts and 38 collaborators already on board. They recently received the Best Product award at Innovation Labs 2023, and they aspire to become the most complex adventure tourism marketplace in Romania. But this is a story worth telling, so we won’t give you just the short version. In fact, we’ll talk about our journey together, because enovatika joined Move Mountains to help them reach new heights (pun intended).
by
enovatika
•
11 min read
Who wants to Move Mountains?
A team of four people who enjoy the great outdoors and wish to make this kind of experience more accessible for everyone: Raul, Kitty, Octavian, and Michaela.
Move Mountains started as a simple ski school in the western part of Romania. Driven by their desire to digitalize, they soon managed to create a presentation and booking website for their team of six instructors.
Everything went well, so due to growing demand for online bookings, card payments, and the customer's desire to connect with instructors before they choose a professional, this winter they have launched the product nationwide, specifically in seven ski resorts, with the collaboration of 38 additional instructors.
Why do we need to move those mountains in the first place?
Most of the time, customers who want to book a ski course or participate in tourism events face a lack of information, unaccredited organizers, and poor communication. In addition, most instructors do not have an online platform to manage their activities or a secure payment method and deposit retention. Moreover, when booking a course or experience, people desire a connection with their instructor or facilitator, as it enhances their personalized experience.
To address these issues and provide a comprehensive, secure, and efficient tourism experience, Move Mountains plans to improve its offerings and expand into other activities throughout the year, including hiking and mountain biking.
How did enovatika help?
“Like any other start-up at the beginning of its journey, we started by sharing how we envisioned the website with our developer friends. Along the way, we understood the importance of collaboration between designers and developers, and the need for structured processes. With the help of enovatika, we are now in the process of improving our product, and we are happy with the organized way in which we are getting things done”, says Raul Cojocaru, one of the Move Mountains team members.
“The mentorship with enovatika helped us realize the importance of taking a holistic view of the product, avoiding fixation on certain ideas, and trying to see things more from the customer's perspective. After the mentorship, we completely restructured the homepage of the website and worked on improving the UI/UX aspect of the all-season product.
Our website was initially launched only for ski courses, and now we are revamping it to be accessible throughout the year. Their advice has been very helpful in ensuring we provide the customer with the most enjoyable experience possible”, he adds.
What drew our attention to the Move Mountains project?
“I could relate to their purpose. I’ve come across the problem they are trying to solve but from a B2B perspective and I immediately saw the opportunity. I’ve seen it happen in an instant. I am sure there is a market fit - the challenge was to create the expansion for B2B and start doing a pipeline. Now we are validating ideas, in order to solidify their presence, and to create a scalable product”, says our Design Lead, Alin Vacian.
When it comes to our core contribution, we like to say that it’s not about the ideas we brought to the table, but especially the questions we raised. When you start asking questions a lot of opportunities can arise. In terms of contribution, we are supporting the project with UI & UX insights (design system, color, accessibility, user journey, and reusable components), and providing their team with the tips & tricks to make the product scalable, thus easily introducing other opportunities in their business model.
Expectations vs. Reality
“Our expectations from the mentorship with enovatika were to receive feedback on UI/UX, to better structure the website architecture, and to understand what is most important to Move Mountains' customers”, said Move Mountains founders.
After a beautiful and intense process, they already made improvements to the product as a result of the mentorship, ranging from completely changing the website's homepage and other details to taking steps toward expanding into other niches and further development.
“Although it may be frustrating at first to hear that many things you’ve been thinking about for days and that seemed really cool to you don’t actually make sense or wouldn’t be strategically good for your business, it’s crucial to receive feedback and learn how to filter and objectively take any constructive insights”, is the conclusion Move Mountains drew.
Our team also had some learnings to do. We’ve learned about pacing and flexibility. In a group it’s essential to understand that things don’t change overnight and your perspective may not be others too. Alin shared that “one thing that worked for me is to say your opinion and don’t influence the outcome. Embrace the outcome even if it doesn’t contain your perspective. The team’s opinion is more important than one single perspective”.
Future plans?
When asked about their ambitious plans, the Move Mountain team says “As a business, we are currently discussing with potential collaborators and partners to better understand their needs. This way, we can work as a team to fulfill those needs and build a product that brings significant value to the industry. We plan to launch our website this summer, where customers can find verified adventure tourism experiences, such as hiking, mountain biking, and more”.
Meanwhile, we at enovatika, are always on the watch, seeking the next challenge and the next project to hop on. That could be yours – just saying!
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enovatika is a UI/UX design & development agency in Timisoara, Romania. We partner with Startups, SMBs, and SMEs to deliver impactful web and mobile applications worldwide.
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