TRAINlete.com

TRAINlete is an online community that helps athletes of all ages reach their next level of success by safely connecting them to a great private sports trainer or coach.

  

We had the utmost pleasure of interviewing Mr. ‘Jeremy Clouse‘; Co-Founder and CEO of the US (Atlanta, GA)-based start-up “TRAINlete”.

“TRAINlete“ helps athletes of all ages reach their next level by safely connecting them to the best private sports trainers and coaches in their area.

Below is the full interview that we have conducted with Mr. ‘Clouse’ regarding his start-up company ”TRAINlete”;

1. What is it exactly that you do and what “TRAINlete” is all about?

TRAINlete is an online community that helps athletes of all ages reach their next level of success by safely connecting them to a great private sports trainer or coach. Through TRAINlete’s “Peace of Mind Process,” we give athletes (and their parents) the most efficient way of connecting to a great private sports trainer. For our community of private sports trainers and coaches, TRAINlete helps generate new client leads, become easier to find online and allows them to build a stellar online reputation…all of which will help grow their business.

2. When has “TRAINlete” been founded? And what stage is “TRAINlete” currently at?

TRAINlete was founded in July, 2011 and the site launched nearly a year later in June of 2012. We are currently in our Beta Phase. During this phase we are focused on four areas, and they are listed in no particular order of importance. Number 1, we are growing our community of great private sports trainers and coaches. Number 2, we are working to establish and grow relationships with youth sports organizations in the communities in which we operate. Thirdly, we are forming meaningful strategic alliances with organizations that have similar goals and interests. Finally, we are perfecting our value proposition to athletes and trainers/coaches.

3. What is “TRAINlete”‘s business model and how does it work?

Our focus is to connect athletes to private sports trainers/coaches. TRAINlete enables these two segments to communicate in efficient ways that previously did not exist. Trainers create detailed, unique, personalized profile pages where they outline their experience, background, training style, certifications and pricing to help market themselves and their services. Athletes (and their parents) have the ability to search through profiles of trainers in their area and connect in a variety of ways to narrow down their decision. An athlete or parent can connect directly with a potential trainer candidate, ask them to provide references, execute a background check or view previous feedback from clients on TRAINlete’s grading system on each trainer’s profile. We are passionate about providing and promoting a direct connection between these parties. We don’t take a piece of the transaction or mark up the cost of our trainer’s session. Our model is built off advertising, sponsorship, membership fees and other e-commerce.

4. How did your team meet? And who in your team does what?

The TRAINlete Team is comprised of three life-long friends. I had the idea for TRAINlete and called up Eric Blumenthal and Blake Sundberg and informed them of my vision and we hit the ground running. I am the CEO. Eric handles our marketing, graphic design, public relations and business development efforts. Blake is our CFO and also manages our strategic alliances/partnerships. And we also have a development team that we work with day-to-day on maximizing our site.

5. What, exactly, makes you different from existing options, what will make your product and/or service stand out in the marketplace? In other words what’s unique about you and what’s new about what you make?

The athlete-to-private sports training market is virtually untapped and TRAINlete stands out in the marketplace because we are one of the very few players in this space. Our users, the ‘trainer seekers’ have the ability to search through a community of great private sports trainers and connect in any way that makes sense for them. Other sites control the communication between trainer and trainee, not at TRAINlete. The trainee also has the ability to pay for the service they receive in any way that works for them. We do not mark up our trainers’ sessions and we will not take any piece of the transaction between the trainer and trainee.

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