# La Mongo 2 — Vision note (v1, 8 Sept 2026)

*Draft for iteration. Figures are indicative orders of magnitude from the v1 financial model and the La Montgolfière benchmark; nothing here is validated by an opening.*

## In one sentence

A social wellness club for premium French cities outside Paris — La Montgolfière's social club, Soho House's membership, a recovery and performance lab in the middle — with an AI coach that every member gets and every partner licenses.

## What we are

Three things under one roof, for one persona (30–45, CSP+ or independent, trains 3–5×/week, already pays €30–40 a class in a boutique studio and would rather have one place that is studio, gym, spa, café and office):

1. **Train, together.** Coached group classes are the product — reformer, Hyrox, strength, cycling, mobility, run and trail sessions that leave from the club, and signature formats you can't find elsewhere. The gym floor is there, but it is on top, not the reason you join.
2. **Recover & measure.** Sauna, hammam, cold plunge, massage; a performance lab (VO2max, gait, body composition) and blood-test partnerships (Lucis-type) so members track health, not just workouts.
3. **Belong.** Café, coworking, events, a capped membership. Health replaces nightlife as the reason to gather.

The AI coach ties it together: it knows your tests, your training, your recovery, and programs your week. Members pay nothing extra for something the best apps charge €50–120/month for.

## Why €179 is not expensive

The comparison is not the €25 gym; it is the boutique studio our persona already uses. Outside Paris, a reformer or Lagree class costs €28–38 drop-in, €25–35 in a 10-pack, and €220–350/month unlimited with a six-month commitment (Marseille: Studio Apato €30 / €245 unlimited; Wondercamp €35 / €289; Aix: Capsule €35 / €350; Bordeaux: Lagree Lab €35 / €239; Lyon: Yes Club €40 / €390–430). Cycling and HIIT sit at €20–30 a class, CrossFit in Marseille at €92–95/month for three sessions a week. A member doing two boutique classes a week already spends €250–300/month, for one discipline, in one room, with no spa, no café, no lab.

At €179 we are the price of five drop-in classes. Unlimited classes across every format, plus recovery, plus the lab, plus the place. That is the value proposition in one line, and it is the reason the price filters for the right member rather than scaring them off.

## Why now

- Health is the new reason to train: 52% of French exercisers cite health first (2025), Gen Z is 46% of new gym sign-ups (2026), and fitness penetration in France (~10%) is half of Spain/Netherlands.
- Loneliness is a market: 24% of French adults report frequent loneliness, 28% in cities over 100k.
- The category exists and works: La Montgolfière filled 1,500 members at €195/month in 14 months; Remedy Place, Othership and Rune prove recovery-led social clubs. Nobody has taken this outside Paris.

## The plan — five clubs, then the network

| Year | Milestone | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Club 1 opens (Marseille) | Demand: paid memberships, retention, referrals |
| 2028 | Club 2 (2nd city) | Repeatability beyond the founder's network |
| 2029 | Club 3 | The playbook works with a hired team |
| 2030 | Clubs 4–5 + first franchises signed | The brand travels without our capital |
| 2031+ | 20+ franchises, first hotel partnerships | Network effects: one membership, many cities |

**Franchise (from year 4).** Two formats: the full club (1,000–1,500 m²) and a compact format (coached classes + recovery, no gym floor). We supply the brand, the playbook, the programming and the AI stack; the franchisee supplies the building and local capital.

**Hotels (year 5+).** Health-centered hotels with a partner operator: we bring the club, the programming and the AI; the partner brings the property. Members travel between cities and sleep in the network — the Soho House move, without owning real estate.

## Equity story — two layers

**The holding (what investors buy).** Owns the brand, the AI coach and the operating playbook; holds the franchise and hotel rights and a controlling stake in each club. Raises a seed now (~€1.5–2M: HQ, AI product, pre-opening of club 1) and a Series A at three clubs. This is where the multiple lives: a network + tech asset, not a chain of gyms.

**One SPV per club (how clubs get built).** Each club is its own company, ~€2–2.5M all-in, funded 40–50% by local business angels and family offices (the Montgolfière model — different investors per club) and 50–60% by bank debt. Local investors get a local, cash-generating asset; the holding keeps control and the upside of the network.

**Exit paths.** Strategic (fitness or hospitality groups building premium networks), private equity at network stage, or a hospitality partnership vehicle for the hotel layer.

## EBITDA story

**One club at maturity** (indicative, from v1 model + benchmark): 800–900 members × ~€138 net/month ≈ €1.5M membership + 20–25% ancillary (coaching, recovery à la carte, tests, F&B, events) ≈ **€1.8–2.0M revenue, 30–35% site EBITDA (~€0.6M)**. Year 1 is negative; monthly EBITDA turns positive around month 8; payback ~4 years.

**The group** (illustrative, 5 owned clubs then network):

| | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2033 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owned clubs open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Franchises | – | – | – | 3 | 8 | 20+ |
| Group revenue | ~€0.9M | ~€2.5M | ~€4.5M | ~€7M | ~€10M | ~€14M |
| Group EBITDA | ~–€0.3M | ~€0.2M | ~€0.8M | ~€1.5M | ~€3M | ~€5M+ |
| Margin | – | – | ~18% | ~22% | ~30% | ~35% |

Three levers drive the curve: (1) site EBITDA at 30–35% once a club is full; (2) HQ costs (~€1M/year) diluted over more sites; (3) fee income at 70–80% margin — franchise entry fees (€50–80k), royalties (6% + 2% marketing) and the AI/tech licence (~€2–3k/month per site, incl. hotels). By 2031 fees are ~10% of revenue and ~25% of EBITDA; that is what moves the multiple.

## The AI edge

Remi built the coach for himself; it becomes the product's nervous system. Three roles:

- **For members:** included. Programs training and recovery from real data (VO2max, blood markers, sleep). Perceived value €50–120/month, marginal cost near zero → retention and price justification.
- **For franchisees and hotels:** licensed. The AI plus the programming library is the reason to franchise us rather than open a gym.
- **For the network:** one member profile across cities and hotels. The data layer is the moat a copycat club can't buy.

## The star

An athlete or public figure at the capital, not on a poster: equity-for-presence, co-designs programming, hosts a few events a year, opens their network. Three profiles to test, ideally rooted in Marseille:

1. **Marseille champion** — a swimmer from the Cercle des Nageurs (Florent Manaudou or Camille Lacourt type): local, aspirational, health-not-nightlife.
2. **Hybrid / endurance figure** — a French Hyrox elite, trail or triathlon athlete with a strong community and content habit; matches the training pillar and Remi's own network.
3. **Longevity voice** — a doctor, sports scientist or performance coach with a media presence; credibilises the recovery and testing pillar.

The choice is a brand decision: profile 1 sells the city, profile 2 sells the training, profile 3 sells the health.

## What we ask, and what we prove next

Seed for the holding, one SPV for Marseille, and three weeks of validation (site, price, presales) before anyone writes a cheque. Everything above is a hypothesis until a member pays.