This week’s feature is on Tyler and Emily, a husband and wife duo, and their startup Funspree! This is their story.
Tell us about your Funspree.
Funspree delivers unique and memorable experiences right to your door. It’s a really BIG idea wrapped up in a small local business (to start). Imagine a world where people owned less stuff – but experienced more things. We’ve launched with 4 experiences (more coming soon!):
- Backyard Movie Night
- 8-Person Laser Tag
- Tandem Paddle Boards
- Glamping
With Funspree we’re betting on 3 mega trends:
- Status will be increasingly defined by the experiences we have not the things that we own (ie. What’s on your Instagram? vs. What’s in your storage locker?)
- The next generation of consumers will question traditional ownership models (ie. Uber vs. owning a car, Netflix/Spotify vs. owning library of DVDs/CDs)
- Collaborative consumption can make a meaningful difference to the planet
What made you decide to become a business Ownr?
The original kernel of an idea came during a family trip to California when we stumbled upon a company that rented out all the gear you’d need to enjoy a perfect “Family Beach Day” (e.g. umbrella, cooler, beach mat, beach toys & games, etc.). It was easily the best day of our entire trip – and that’s saying a lot considering the trip was built around taking our kids to Disneyland! The “Family Beach Day” package cost about $30USD compared to paying $654USD for four 1-Day Park Hopper Tickets to Disneyland.
We started to think of all the things we’d love to do if we had easy/affordable access to gear without the burden of actually owning/storing everything. It was a laundry list of experiences that had been on our bucket list for years (camping, paddle boarding, backyard movie nights, etc.). We worked backwards from there and began mapping out how to build a business that would give people easy/affordable access to everything they’d need to organize unique and memorable experiences.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Depends on the day of the week!
Thursdays & Fridays: we’re delivering experiences to the doorsteps of our customers.
Mondays & Tuesdays: we’re picking up the experiences so we can get them back in the shop to be cleaned, serviced and ready to rock for the following week.
Wednesdays: are madness… you might find us cleaning tents, scrubbing old-timey popcorn machines, recharging laser-tag blaster batteries and dozens of other glamorous tasks.
Weekends: we’re secretly hoping some of the experiences have gone unrented so we can enjoy them ; )
In between all of that we’re researching what experiences to launch in the future and reaching out to various tastemakers, media companies and bloggers in hopes they’ll spread the word about Funspree amongst their followings.
What has been your biggest success or earliest win in running your business thus far?
The biggest wins have been all the great stories we hear from customers when we’re doing pick-ups on Mondays and Tuesdays. Folks talking about how surreal it was to watch a movie under the stars with loved ones in their own backyard. Parents raving about a wildly successful birthday party for their 8-year old. People expressing zero regrets about their sunburns after spending a little too much time on the water with our paddleboards.
Those stories confirmed early on that Funspree was going to be special.
Was there anything you wish you knew before launching your business?
How challenging it is to capture someone’s undivided attention. We were naive about how challenging it was going to be to get on people’s radar. It’s not as simple as inviting all your friends to like your Facebook page or throwing $50 of promotion behind your top Instagram post. We found the only route to acquiring our first 100 customers was through hand to hand combat. Walking around the neighborhoods we service, handing out Funspree postcards and explaining our offering in person to anyone who’d give us their ear.
Do you have any tips that you would like to share with other Ownrs?
Invest in quality partners. It’ll cost a premium but it’ll pay dividends. We hired a design studio to help bring our Funspree vision to life through compelling design and top notch photography. Our website is the first touchpoint we have with customers and it’s uniquely ours because we leaned on professionals instead of a one-size fits all template.
Where can people find your business?
Website: www.tryfunspree.com
Facebook: TryFunspree
Instagram: @TryFunspree
Every Friday, we feature a Canadian business that was founded with Ownr. If you started your business with us and would like to be featured here, let us know in an email to [email protected].
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