The challenge
Elletourage connects women with experienced female mentors, coaches and advisors. Sam Chung came to Midstride with an existing Elletourage platform and a bigger vision for it: one place where a woman can find the right expert, book time with her and pay, and where experts can run their mentoring like a small business.
The approach
Rather than patch the old platform, we rebuilt it from the ground up, starting in October 2021. We worked closely with Sam throughout, shipping in small steps so each piece could be tried and refined before the next one was built.
What we built
- Profiles for both sides. Mentees describe what they want to learn. Experts are guided through setting up a profile with their industry, skills and services.
- A directory worth browsing. Mentees can search experts by name, industry, skills or language, then filter and sort the results.
- Booking that respects time zones. Experts set their availability, mentees pick a time that suits them and send a request, and the expert accepts.
- Payments handled. Mentees pay by card through Stripe, experts get paid out, and discount codes, cancellations and rescheduling all work without anyone stepping in.
- Staying in touch. Built-in messaging, email updates at each step, and a reminder an hour before every session.
- Tools for the team. Reviews after sessions, and an admin area where the Elletourage team can look after experts, members and bookings.
Growing with the business
As Elletourage learned what its members needed, the platform changed with it. In 2022, “mentors” became “experts”, to make room for coaches, advisors and sponsors as well. In 2024 we added discount codes, session reminders and a simpler way to reschedule.
Results
Elletourage is live at elletourage.com, with experts from Canada and the United States in its directory. Women can find an expert, book a session and pay in one place, and experts can mentor, coach and get paid there too.