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Jeff Platt is the 32-year-old CEO responsible for growing Sky Zone’s business. It’s the world’s first indoor trampoline park. Jeff stops by the podcast to talk global growth and share advice for entrepreneurs. Listen to this episode to learn:
Learn more about this episode on The Huffington Post.
“I think the thing I am most proud of is the 10’s of millions of people every year we are getting to play, be active and move. There is nothing better than seeing the smile on someone’s face, dripping with sweat…
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CircusTrix Holdings of Provo, Utah, bought Sky Zone last month, bringing the 195-unit trampoline park chain under its umbrella and changing the game for Jeff Platt, former CEO of Sky Zone. Platt is now president, reporting to Case Lawrence, founder and CEO of CircusTrix. The investment adds both capital and new rules to the once-free-wheeling Sky Zone. The last time I visited Platt at Sky Zone’s Los Angeles headquarters, in 2015, he was padding around the office wearing orange jumping socks, like they give customers at their trampoline parks, and for our photo shoot he bounced on a trampoline while one of his staffers shot him with a Nerf gun. It seems the new owners have a more buttoned-down approach. In the past when I wanted to talk to Platt I’d call him or his outside PR firm and we’d be on the phone within hours or days. This time, the PR firm let me know CircusTrix would prefer to conduct interviews about this acquisition via email, something that rarely results in meaningful content so I passed. Here’s the word from the press release: The combination of CircusTrix and Sky Zone creates the largest indoor active recreation trampoline park company in the world, with nearly 300 owned and franchised locations. CircusTrix bought Rockin’ Jump in March 2017 following an investment in December 2016 by Palladium Equity. Sky Zone, founded in 2004, "launched our industry when it created the first indoor trampoline park almost 10 years ago. They have since grown to become the largest brand in the trampoline park market," said Lawrence in the statement. Back in 2015 when Sky Zone ranked No. 2 on the Franchise Times Fast & Serious list, Platt told me he credited his father, who had owned a scrap-metal business, for "having the guts" to invent the sport of Dodgeball on trampolines in the first place, and his board of directors, including two outside directors for keeping the company on track. Platt said he hired carefully at Sky Zone, requiring each prospective employee to meet with many current staffers, who are charged with assessing the cultural fit. "You don’t want them to just fit in the culture, you want them to add to the culture," he said back then. He agreed at the time the open workspaces, without any offices, and the general chaos weren’t for everyone, but those who fit, thrive. Here’s hoping the new culture at CircusTrix will keep the spring in the step of this engaging and youthful entrepreneur for years to come.
The 21-year-old CEO. Jeff Platt became CEO of Sky Zone at the age of 21. Read more Related Is there a sky zone in Georgia? Sky Zone is in Atlanta. Most of the locations in Georgia are in Atlanta. Sky Zone Newnan is one of the Sky Zone. The NOW Massage is a fast-growing franchise concept that offers high-quality, affordable massage services in an inspired setting. Over the course of 15 years, Jeff has built a successful business framework and turned it into a renowned brand. People also ask what was sky zone before?Sky Mania This first facility went under the name of Sky Mania and was the beginning of a brand-new industry: Trampoline Parks. Two years later, we opened a second Sky Zone location in St. Louis. In 2009, Sky Zone started franchising and opened over 200 locations in more than 11 countries over the next several years. Can you get a 7ft trampoline? The 7 ft Mat size not too huge, and fits well in the garden,without swamping it. John E. Took a while to arrive but it's an Excellent Trampoline! Easy to set up, very sturdy. What is the best size trampoline for a 12 year old?Trampoline Size Chart for All Ages Age in Years Standard Trampoline Size Indoor/Outdoor 7-9 Years Age 8ft to 12ft Trampoline Outdoor 10 Years Age 12ft to 14ft Trampoline Outdoor 11-13 Years Age 12ft to 16ft Trampoline Outdoor / In-ground 14-16 Years Age 14ft Trampoline+ Outdoor 5 more rows ? And another question, what is the biggest trampoline size? Related What is Sky Zone net worth? Sky Zone has built a franchise of 140 parks that have generated $240 million in revenue. Sky Zone went from a failed extreme sport to a $300 million business. Also, is it ok to leave a trampoline out in winter?If you live in a location that tends to get large amounts of snow or experience high winds during the winter months, it may not be a good idea to leave your trampoline outside. The weight of snow can ruin a trampoline, and high winds can blow it around your yard. The cold alone does not typically damage a trampoline. People also ask can you jump on a wet trampoline? You can jump on a wet trampoline, but you should be careful. Jumping on a wet trampoline won't damage the trampoline, but it isn't very safe for you or the kids. If you jump on a wet trampoline, you should have a safety net. Don't jump on a wet trampoline with lightning about due to risk of electrocution. Life can be like jumping on a trampoline — you're not always sure where you'll land. Sky Zone planned to be one kind of business, but necessity forced it to morph into something else. It was also supposed to be run by one man, but his 21-year-old son had to take over when the family matriarch received a fatal diagnosis. "I was completely thrown into the fire to try and figure things out on my own," said Jeff Platt. Fortunately, he bounced back. Literally. Sky Zone is a chain of 140 trampoline parks in five countries. Inside the parks are a series of wall-to-wall trampoline courts, where you can jump or play games like basketball and dodgeball. There's a workout area — jumping burns up to 1,000 calories an hour — and a foam pit people dive into. Kids come for birthday parties during the day, and adults can jump by black light at night. Most of the parks are franchised, and total revenues last year were $240 million. "I feel like when you're jumping, you're totally present in the moment, you're thinking about nothing else in the outside world," said Platt, who is CEO. "You just completely come alive." Jeff Platt, Sky Zone CEO CNBC Platt's father, Rick, started Sky Zone in 2002 with plans to begin a new professional trampoline sport: "a combination of the traditional four sports with quidditch," said the son, referring to the fictional game played while flying on brooms in the "Harry Potter" books. The Platts raised $2.5 million dollars from friends and family and opened the first park in 2004 in Las Vegas. They fielded teams and even held a championship. But no one understood the new sport, so they couldn't get any traction. "We quickly realized that if you're going to start a professional sport, you probably need ESPN as your partner and hundreds of millions of dollars behind you," said Platt. Sky Zone was running out of money. Then someone at their R&D center in Vegas came up with an idea. Skateboarders outside their facility would often come in and jump for free. "One day when they knocked on the door, we said they could jump, but we told them it was $8," Platt said. When the kids balked, "We said, 'Well, we're in business now.'" The kids paid, and the next day they came back with friends. The family soon realized this was the way to make Sky Zone successful, and Jeff Platt credits his father with being smart enough to see it. "It's always hard for an entrepreneur to take what is their original vision and switch directions, or accept the fact that whatever that original idea was is not working." Jeff Platt became CEO of Sky Zone at the age of 21. CNBC Platt said just as the company was starting to grow, "The best thing and the worst thing happened to me." He had opened Sky Zone's second store in 2006, choosing St. Louis. That's where he attended college and attracted the interest of local investors when he presented a class paper on the company. Five weeks after the St. Louis location opened, Platt's mother was diagnosed with cancer. She would not survive. "My dad, rightfully so, said, 'I've got to go take care of your mom, good luck.'" Suddenly the 21-year-old kid was running the company. Platt threw himself into the work, learning every detail of the business. "I always felt like because it was a family business, I had to work extra hard to prove that I deserved to be in the position." He did every single job. "I got to clean up the vomit when it would be on the floor and not in the trash can." Even so, the new CEO loved it. "It was a blast." Ten years later, Jeff Platt is 31 years old and a veteran CEO. He was also the youngest CEO to ever appear on "Undercover Boss," where he got an earful from employees. Here are some lessons learned along the way. "I learned over time that if you're ever really going to truly scale or grow a business, you must delegate to your team, you must empower your team, you must let them make decisions," Platt said. "Who you need for the next six months is very different from who you need in two years." Platt suggests start-ups pay more for talent in the beginning, even though that's expensive. "The cost of hiring someone right now, training them, and then in six or 12 months later having to get rid of them because they can't scale, that's way more costly." Woman jumps on trampoline at Sky Zone. Source: Skyzone As Sky Zone has expanded outside the United States, it's learned to tailor parks to meet cultural norms. In Saudi Arabia, for example, some Sky Zones segregate jumping areas between "men" and "families." In Australia, they've created performance trampolines where customers can run up a wall. "They're an 'extreme' culture," said Platt of the Aussies. "They're extremely athletic." Up next? "We're actually under construction now in India." Success is breeding copycats. "There are over 600 trampoline parks in 16 different countries around the world," said Platt. "It is a real industry now. It generates over $1 billion in revenue." Of course, a business like this comes with high liability insurance premiums, which equal nearly three percent of revenues. Accidents happen, but Platt said no one has died jumping at Sky Zone. "There's risk, that's why they call it risk management, not risk elimination," he said. As for the original idea of launching a new professional trampoline sport? It's back, except with a sport everyone knows: dodgeball. "Everybody knows dodgeball, everybody loves dodgeball," said Platt. Sky Zone has started an international trampoline dodgeball league. Fox Sports aired some recent championships, with sponsors like Pepsi. "We actually did the whole business backwards," Platt says of the way Sky Zone started. Fortunately, he helped turn the enterprise around. Sitting in his stocking feet preparing to jump, Platt remembered the reaction of his peers back when he took over the family business. "A lot of my friends at the time were going and working for companies or investment banks or Goldman Sachs or becoming lawyers. They were looking at me like I was crazy as a general manager of a trampoline park. I never imagined it would be like this, but it was fun, and it turned out OK." |
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