Bounce Boot Camp before Shark Tank
Kids these days tend to be a little less active than ever before. Daymond brings it up in this segment, “I don’t really hear kids talk about going outside to throw the football anymore.” And it’s true. I see a surprising amount of kids on online video games, some even at shocking hours like midday or well past midnight. Kids have taken to a more sedentary lifestyle. However, what they see might inspire them; something like soaring through the sky like the Angry Birds or storming a beach like Master Chief might inspire them to try something a little more physically active.
As a kid, I did martial arts, but that might not be something accessible to all kids. Bounce Boot Camp seeks to fill that niche of children who need to be more active, along with giving them an experience that is memorable and does give them some positive reinforcement that keeps them coming back for more. Read on to find out more about how Bounce Boot Camp does on Shark Tank.
Bounce Boot Camp on Shark Tank
Thomas Hill is the founder and creator of Bounce Boot Camp, and he is in the Shark Tank seeking $30,000 dollars in exchange for a 20% equity in his business.
One in three children today in obese, and that number only continues to grow. Thomas’s business seeks to change that. Bounce Boot Camp is the first and only mobile obstacle course of its kind, inclusive with bounce castles and booths for a fun fitness program designed for children. He came up with this idea when his daughter, Jamie, invited him into a bounce castle. After only a few minutes, he found that his heartrate was up, his legs were burning and he was sweating like crazy. The idea hit him, how awesome would it be to create a fitness program for kids based around the inflatables? Combining these ideas, Thomas came up with Bounce Boot Camp.
In order to demonstrate, Thomas has his children help demonstrate the program – there is an obstacle course in the inflatable bounce house which features vertical-standing “logs” that can be pushed aside, which Thomas’s daughter runs through. Another child performs a planking pose, while the other swings ropes back and forth to build upper body strength. The children perform their tasks then switch out, with the child that goes through the bounce house switching stations when they exit. Thomas asks which sharks want to try, and Mark, Robert and Daymond all stand up to test out the bounce house, each Shark racing a child through the Bounce Boot Camp bounce house course.
At the end of completing the Bounce Boot Camp, each child is awarded a dog-tag like medal, which Thomas hands out to each one of the three sharks that participated in the demonstration. Kevin asks how revenue is generated – how is money made through a portable bounce house business? Thomas explains that people can call for the Bounce Boot Camp service to be set up in an appropriate area, at which point the entirety of the Bounce Boot Camp equipment is packed up, deflated and flat-packed, into trucks and shipped to the area, then inflated and set up as appropriate. Each camp has a different configuration of inflatables, so one day there may be three inflatables and another day there may be four. Since so much space is required, Bounce Boot Camp typically goes to parks, schools, rec centers. Unfortunately, Thomas says that he still has to pay for the space, which is typically out of his own pocket – however, places do pay for Bounce Boot Camp to make an appearance.
Each class lasts around 60 minutes, so what happens is that kids will sign up for either 8, 16, or 24 classes
which range from plans starting at $99 all the way up through $250, and they can earn different colored dog-tags as they promote through the ranks. This is similar to a karate or martial arts system for young children; Bounce Boot Camp has privates, cadets, sergeants, majors, junior colonel and colonels as well. Thomas has the vision of licensing the system out all over the nation, and allowing for a Bounce Boot Camp to be created in each city.
Mark asks about Thomas’s background, who says that he has a background in fitness and specifically with children’s fitness. Mark then asks about a real heavy business topic – the revenues. As of 16 months of sales, Bounce Boot Camp did $43,000 a sales, which was only working one day per week. Robert asks about sales in the past month, and Thomas explains that sales were only $2.500 in the past month. Kevin asks about the value of the business, which Thomas explains he has valued at $40,000; $20,000 for all the mandatory equipment, and then an extra $20,000 for the people behind Bounce Boot Camp and the people staffing it.
Mark says that he loves what Thomas is doing and how he is thriving, as most entrepreneurs just do not have the fortitude to persevere through the hardship. Once a week, Thomas is working on Bounce Boot Camp, and Mark asks about the other six. Thomas also has a job in pharmaceutical sales. Mark points out that that Thomas has a great full-time job, a wife and kids, but points out that Thomas is ultimately caught up in the entrepreneur’s dilemma – should I quit my job since I have bills to pay, or do I fully commit and go for this other unique opportunity? Mark insists that $30,000 is not enough for Thomas to really go for it and that it is not enough to go out and hire for it; despite the fact that Mark loves what Thomas is doing and sees a lot of potential in the way Thomas has handled him so far, he finds that Bounce Boot Camp is not a business that is ultimately ready for an investor at the moment and is the first Shark to exit the deal.
Lori speaks up next, saying that she thinks Bounce Boot Camp is clever and creative; she loves the idea. However, instead of franchises, the idea should be made into a solid, year-round idea that is naturally fleshed out through Thomas’s zealous personality. However, since Bounce Boot Camp is not at the point where they do have a proper year-round model, the business is just not at the point where she would feel comfortable investing; Lori is also out.
Kevin explains that he thinks Bounce Boot Camp’s business model is flawed, and that Thomas may as well receive the truth from Kevin, aka Mr. Wonderful. The problem is that Thomas is selling his services for $40,000; the guy next to Kevin does not have to pay the same $40,000 to get the same thing, and there is nothing proprietary about Bounce Boot Camp. Thomas disagrees, saying that the idea is unique and sells itself, but Kevin says that he has been unimpressed the entire time and would have been far more impressed if Thomas had taken Bounce Boot Camp and sold it to 10 people for $40,000 per sale. However, since Thomas has not done this, there is just not enough proof for Kevin to buy in that a business like Bounce Boot Camp is scalable, and he is also out of the deal.
Robert says that he thinks that the business is just a little too soon, but Thomas interrupts and explains that this is all just a start-up and he is looking for an investor, a Shark, to get in at the ground floor. Since he is not asking for a lot of money (only $30,000), he is primarily asking for time and patience, as well as the Shark Tank name to back him while he does the work and creates a solid rock for the brand. Robert continues, saying that he respects how hard Thomas works, but does not find a way where he could invest today and help to grow his money; he wishes Thomas the best, but is also out.
Daymond explains that Thomas has a noble cause in his business, but at this point, the business model simply does not work. Daymond is the last and final Shark to exit.
Thomas does not find his $30,000 investment for Bounce Boot Camp.
Bounce Boot Camp after Shark Tank; 2018 Update
Bounce Boot Camp is not exactly a failure; it seems to have found a lot of success in two branches. Bounce Boot Camp has expanded itself to a permanent location in Phoenix, Arizona, where children and young adults are able to attend sessions. Bounce Boot Camp offers classes to as few as 10 but as many as 75 children and comes equipped with custom sessions, such as outings for local youth groups and for birthday parties.
Bounce Boot Camp also offers a “Patch” program, which transports some equipment to a location and offers a premade 60 to 90 minute workout session that will help “challenge children’s individual strength, endurance, balance and mental focus,” as per the website.
Bounce Boot Camp is still seeking investors that want to open up their own Bounce Boot Camp franchise; investments start at $50,000, with a maximum of $70,000 allowed to invest into Bounce Boot Camp.
