Columbus startup launches outdoors app
A Columbus-based app and website hopes to offer a powerful new tool to outdoorspeople of all walks of life.
Global Outdoors is an app and website that aggregates and promotes outdoor experiences all over the world.
According to the company, the new app allows users to find, rate, review and book all types of outdoor experiences and activities, from hunting and fishing to water sports and hiking trails.
The company was founded by Mark Alexander, Sr. along with his son, Mark Alexander, Jr., and Wade Leonard. All three are from Columbus, Miss.
“I travel all over the world, and I noticed that it’s easy to find information about hotels or restaurants or just about anything, but it’s extremely difficult to find information on the Internet about places to hunt or fish,” Mark Sr. said. “A handful of people have websites, but many do not, and many outfitters and business owners rely entirely upon word of mouth. I thought it would be great if I could find all outdoor experiences on one platform, similarly to the way I can find information about hotels or airlines.”
Global Outdoors is free to use and already lists thousands of outdoor experiences. After creating an account, users can decide what kinds of outdoor experiences they want to see and which they don’t want to see.
“Some people love hunting and fishing and some people love hiking and winter sports,” Mark Jr. said. “Some people might want to use the service without necessarily engaging with some activities, we really built it to accommodate everyone’s interest. Our only rule is, ‘if you do it outside, it can be listed on Global Outdoors.”
The company has worked with Jackson-based Life-cycle Solutions to engineer and structure the platform and Addison Hall Design to handle the user interface The entire Global Outdoors team is based in the Magnolia State.
“The most exciting thing to me about Global Outdoors is our ambition to become an international presence and be based right here in Mississippi,” Leonard said. “The three of us are all from Mississippi, and when you think about it, there is no good reason all digital companies have to be located in California. If we are successful, that means jobs for Mississippi. That means recognition of Mississippi. That means putting Mississippi on the map, in a good way.”
Global Outdoors is free to use for both general users and people who want to list their businesses. For business owners, subscription models are available to unlock tools to further promote their businesses.
“For some business owners, getting an Internet presence is intimidating because of the technology,” Mark Jr. said. “But if you can set up an email account you can build a Global Outdoors page. We are very proud of that.”