PT FunSports - The Genesis

Well, it's been too long since my last post, but what a ride it's been!
Last time I covered some background about myself and what I was facing as a new startup in this economy. Now I would like to get into how the idea behind PT FunSports was derived.

Like most of the world out there, I was a little familiar with Segways from what I've read and seen on TV here and there through out the years. I didn't closely follow this gyro-based personal transporter balancing technology since I couldn't justify the price tag... now keep in mind, this was BEFORE I had ridden one. It's like anything I suspect, that your perspective changes, even slightly, once you've experienced something, but riding a Segway is usually a huge change that no one can even come close to anticipating. Part of the problem was these machines were rarely seen, much less experienced by the public. Segways were just a nerdy invention with no real practicality for it's core use as a commuting platform. It was supposed to change the world, but as we especially know in the US, it takes a lot of marketing and public interaction to have a chance to proliferate. Unfortunately, Segway corporate never placed much emphasis on marketing originally... but more recently, their second generation enhanced design PT coupled with the many global Segway guided tour operations, and a growing helping hand from Hollywood, the popularity and public comfort with this technology is significantly building.

Back in the summer of 2008, my family and extended family held a little reunion get together in Branson Missouri. We attended some of the newer shows, etc. but what caught my attention one day was a sign that said "Segway Experience". We saw a couple people riding these Segways around this graded track. It looked like fun and it offered a chance to finally ride one of these mysterious machines. We turned off immediately and drove in to find out the cost. It was $20 for 20 minutes, which felt pricey at the time, so we opted for just my dad to try it. They offered some quick instruction and he was off. My dad loved it so much that he paid for myself, my son and my two brothers to try it out. It was a blast getting used to the feel, but after about five minutes I was completely comfortable zipping around their track. But I began to feel a little limited, and felt like there could be more to this experience. Other riders joined us, and before you knew it we all were going top speed in the same direction without much of a chance to play around. It became more of a Segway highway and it began to lose it's appeal near the end of the ride. Once we stepped off, we all were smiling and couldn't stop talking about the feeling of freedom while gliding standing up... definitely a new experience. My family had four wheelers (ATV's) and other motorized toys, but nothing felt like this. It was a new challenge that we conquered, but there wasn't much left to do at that track unfortunately.

On the plane headed back to Florida, I kept replaying that Segway experience in my mind. There were many positives, but as usual, I kept thinking about how to improve on a potentially recurring fun time. Then I began to tie in my experience with Whirlyball, a quirky team sport where you use scoops to pass a wiffle ball around to score by hitting a basketball backboard sensor, all while riding a proprietary indoor electric bumper car. I thought it would be huge if we could use Segways and create adapted sports like that. This was all prior to any knowledge of any Segway Polo that had existed, but again, it wasn't so much the idea of sports and recreation on Segways, but making these activities available for on-demand rentals that I zeroed in on.

When I got back to my home in Clearwater, FL, I began to research everything around Segways, Segway tours, and Segway sports. For further research, my wife and I went on several Segway tours to get an idea of what tours offered and to gain more experience around training. I quickly found that tours are cool to go on, but if you want more to do on Segways, there wasn't much of anything offered out there. During the tours, I felt limited again since I had to follow along with the guide in line and step with the others. My wife and I didn't really have much interaction time during the 1-2 hour experiences. Sightseeing was fun, but I was intrigued with the machine, and that eventually took over all my thoughts as to what else could be done on this unique platform. There are operations that offer 2-3 hour reservations for you and nine friends to meet at a park to play polo or hockey, but those operations are extremely rare nationwide. Also, the price tag is steep, especially if you don't know if you can or want to play for that long.

So, the niche PT FunSports idea materialized into a phase one for a startup service that would offer Segway sports and recreation rides for period as small as ten minutes at a permanent location, as well as offer party and event rental periods onsite or at a remote location utilizing our mobile delivery option. We would start off with Segway Hockey and Segway Lacrosse for our initial sports concepts, then adapt more sports with time. This will open up the Segway fun for more of the public on a much more affordable scale, while removing more of the time commitment associated with tours or reservation services. Segways are foreign to most, so they need to be able to dip their toes in to test it out, but then have the option to graduate to a full belly flop going all in to play sports on Segways. Another aspect behind PT FunSports is the model to create repeat interest and growing challenges by offering unique interactions with other Segway riders. With that PT FunSports is positioned to meet those challenges and fill a gap currently in the Segway riding industry, while increasing public familiarity with the gliding experience, while also benefiting sales and guided tour operations.

PT FunSports - Some Background

My name is Chad Whitaker and I live in the beautiful city of Clearwater, FL. I am starting this blog to provide updates on the progress of my new personal transporter business based on Segway sports, PT FunSports http://www.ptfunsports.com/, as well as to provide my thoughts around the electric personal transporter industry in general.


PT FunSports is focused on bringing personal transporter recreation to the masses, but I'll leave that for the next posting. I would like to start off by providing some background about myself and how I've arrived at this idea.


My career, up to a few months ago, has been entirely in Information Technology and in the specialized field of Business Intelligence\Data Warehousing. I have been around the block in all types of employment arrangements from independent consulting to the ball and chain of corporate full time employment. If you knew me and you know the corporate world's commoditization of technical professionals, you would agree it's the last place for me and for anyone with a dream and traits to make it happen. Unfortunately, the world immediately around us likes to keep us in a safe place and to keep us believing that taking a chance and failing would mean a lifetime of failure for some reason. The timing was right for me to take the biggest step I've taken toward my dreams with a long list of potential business visions in hand... unfortunately and fortunately I have a beautiful family to take on this risky road with me. I can't think of anything that personally defines success in life more than time with my wife and kids, extended family and friends. So I look toward this first step out as one on a mountain ripe to conquer and not a step or stumble that is emminent for failure with no return off a cliff with no bottom to rise again from.


With that, I hope to contribute to a long list of entrepreneurial advice and be another encouraging voice among other entrepreneurs and small business folks that can relate to the fear of stepping out and creating your own path, taking that chance on yourself, and not depending on something you "feel" is secure, i.e. a job.


Look for my next posting to describe how the idea behind PT FunSports was derived...