Venture concept no. 1

Opportunity

Born of the need for fun places to bring children under five, 1, 2, 3 Play is intended to help parents and their babies, toddlers and Pre-K'ers by providing a safe, stimulating and weather-proof environment. Florida is gifted with beautiful weather year round; we have very few cold days. However, we have a long rainy season, particularly in the Tampa Bay area where storms frequently come in over the water, and when it rains, parents lack options for indoor fun. We are either forced to create indoor activities at home, which only amuses the kids for so long, or to go to the same few crowded places (i.e. the mall, the aquarium) over and over again.

Parents want more options. 1, 2, 3 Play is an indoor facility with over 100 exhibits to keep kids busy. There are more than 100,000 children under the age of five in the Tampa Bay area with many more who flow through because of tourism. It's hard to say how long the window of opportunity will be open for a facility like 1, 2, 3 Play, but as of now, there just isn't a place to support parents of young (<5) children and their play.

Innovation

1, 2, 3 Play is inherently innovative. Other businesses and nonprofits have targeted older children, but no one has gone after the Pre-K and under crowd yet. Developmentally, they have different needs. I think there is a general consensus that children under five can derive value or have fun with activities and displays created for older children whereas older children cannot engage with something designated for younger children--"that's baby stuff"--so in order to capture the most people possible, places have aimed for the elementary and older market and assumed those parents will bring their younger children along, parents of younger children have no other options so they'll test it out and possibly add it to their rotations and overall, they'll end up capturing the entire market.

There is a large enough market to focus on children under five and their caretakers. Local businesses centered around moms and babies, like stroller exercise classes, are thriving because stay at home parents have the need to get out and participate in activities with their children. If you have children, especially if you've stayed home with them for any length of time, you know you have to get out in order to stay sane. Creating routines is key to happiness. I used to go to the library for story time on Wednesday, a mommy group Tuesday mornings and strollga Fridays--there was never enough to fill our schedule. We would go to the zoo, aquarium, mall, Grandma's, play dates and I still craved a place I could safely put my baby down, let him crawl, play, socialize.

Only $5 for a day pass means it will be affordable for most people to go to 1, 2, 3 Play. You pay per child rather than per adult; I know I've been irked by paying $50 for myself and another adult then an additional $15 for my child for something only my child will get any value out of. Rather than incorporating an annual option right off the bat, I would like to test the market for 3-6 months. I tend to think a family pass for $125 would be on target, but I'm not sure yet. I would really like feedback on the pricing!

Venture Concept

Well, I don't want to be redundant, and I think I've explained how 1, 2, 3 Play will meet the needs of my customers. Parents need places to bring their littles. I want to provide a place that not only meets but exceeds their expectations. 1, 2, 3 Play will have activities that cater to all the developmental needs of children under five, like a "farm" where they can harvest crops, tend to animals and drive tractors and a touch wall of different textures.

I can't divulge all the company secrets, but all aspects of the business have been designed with kids in mind and would be reviewed by child development professionals. There is no direct competitor. The closest businesses would be Great Explorations and the Glazer Kid's Museum, neither of which is geared toward children under five and largely lack incentives for the age group I'm focused on. In order to foster loyalty, customer experience is my top priority.

As a parent, the best experience, for me, means it isn't too crowded, there aren't much older children running my child over while he tries to play and everything is clean and SAFE. If I have to walk around patrolling my son(s) because I can't trust my surroundings, that diminishes the value of the experience for me. I would limit capacity, though I think it would take a little time to figure out how many people is too many people in the space. The biggest trouble with the crowd-limiting concept is whether to look at the number of children, the number of adults or both. A gradual roll out, rather than over-marketing, would help curb the crowds. Promotions would take place during the week rather than on weekends, which would be peak times. Would some customers complain about discounts being during the week when they're working? Perhaps. But I don't foresee that being a sticking point for people, meaning I think those patrons would still come to 1, 2, 3 Play.

The roles available in the business are many, but due to lack of capital, hiring would be modest at first. Admissions, janitorial staff, employees who supervise play are all necessary.
  

And the fine details

Is there a secret sauce? I think 1, 2, 3 Play would be hard to replicate primarily because of a high barrier to entry. For those who lack the passion and are strictly looking at the venture from a business perspective, it doesn't look like the biggest profit margins are here. After securing a building through either purchase or lease, everything has to be outfitted and people have to be hired--there's a high set-up cost. A business-minded person would then feel it necessary to have a blow out opening with a goal of filling the place with customers. The problem with that strategy is that customer experience would suffer, leaving people with the first impression that 1, 2, 3 Play is too packed and chaotic to enjoy.

As I mentioned in my Amazon whisperer post, the next move for me would be to incorporate food service into my business model. After that, I would build out an exterior play yard, provided I had the space and financing. And then? Well, as much as I love the business, I would sell it and find my next love, the next unmet need I can help provide.

Booby traps?

I may have fallen into some of the booby traps described by Dr. Pryor in the write up guide, but I like to think I've written this concept in a way that's easily readable and digestible. I would be happy to listen to any suggestions for the future and can't wait to see what others have done with their concepts. Leave a link to your post...with your constructive feedback, of course. I'm planning to read more than my allotted share of these this week so I'll be searching the blogroll for concepts to comment on.