Idea
Wimp2Warrior: an asset-light, licensed 'rite of passage' fight program
Shaan breaks down the Wimp2Warrior business: it licenses a 'turn an average Joe into an amateur fighter' program to gyms as a customer-acquisition engine, supplying brand, marketing, and star athletes while the gym operates. He calls it a far better model than Tough Mudder or Spartan Race because those carry a ton of operational overhead.
“It's better than Tough Mudder, better than Spartan Race, better than all those because they take on a ton of operational overhead. They're a traveling circus. And so I like this model a lot better.”
Steal thisLicense a turnkey transformational program to existing operators as a lead-gen engine — keep it asset-light and let them do the work while you own brand and marketing.
Framework
Make it Instagrammable: experiences win when they're photo-worthy
Shaan argues the Combine works now (vs. SPARQ's era) because of Instagram: the shareable photo and certificate at the end are a core part of the value, the same engine behind Tough Mudder and the Museum of Ice Cream.
“That's like a big part of it because you're basically, not just are you gonna go have the experience, you get to talk about the experience on Instagram or wherever you're kind of getting your social clout. I think that's underrated, right? That's why Museum of Ice Cream works. That's why Tough Mudder works, right? Because they are social and they are photo-worthy opportunities.”
Steal thisDesign the shareable photo-and-trophy moment into the experience itself, not as an afterthought.
Idea
A 'Tough Mudder for esports': pop-up gaming tournaments for teens
Shaan pitches pop-up esports tournaments - approachable, social, photo-worthy events for the many kids who play games like Fortnite but can't easily host their own tournament due to the hardware and networking overhead.
“One that I think is interesting because I'm in the world of esports is essentially a Tough Mudder for esports. So most kids play video games. So like more people play Fortnite than play basketball in the world. Uh, you know, yeah, in terms of playing. And so, you know, they've seen people compete, they've seen tournaments, but it's very hard to like do your own tournament or have a tournament nearby because it takes a lot of overhead to like set up a bunch of computers, get the networking to work, blah, blah, blah.”
Steal thisTake a successful experiential-event format and clone it for a passionate niche audience that has no easy local version.