Owner/Founder iSmash. Building the largest rage room company on the planet. 100+ franchises and counting!
Joined October 2020
- Tweets3.6K
- Following1.2K
- Followers683
- Likes3.1K
Pinned Tweet
3.5 years between location 1 & 2
2 years to go from to 2 to 3
6 months for 3 to 4
Sold 11 franchises in 12 months.
Then, sold over 75 in the next 12 months.
The flood gates will open if you keep at it.
If someone forgets to bill you, is it up to you to make them aware?
In my opinion, I’m happy to take the interest free loan.
Not my responsibility to be your AR department.
1
1
119
For anyone who supports the current admin, I’d genuinely like to hear what your rebuttal is to this video.
I’m more curious how you defend this.
1
2
856
My one and only political post:
Republicans got what was coming to them.
The Trump 2 admin has been a total disaster, and people expressed that at the polls.
I’m a lifelong R and have always voted their way. However, I’ve never been more discontent with the party.
People talk about gas prices, and only think about the nominal amount more they pay at the pump.
The real pain is felt with longer shipments, which is what my company relies on to transport breakable goods.
Want to know what happened when diesel skyrocketed?
$2000 shipments became $3000
Then businesses have no choice but to raise their costs.
All because of a war that most Americans could care less about.
Trump literally preached 1000x how he was the anti war president.
Then today, he says “I’ve kept all of my promises.”
Above all else, the biggest issue people have is the economy.
Tariffs increased costs, and the Iran war was the cherry on top.
The average American is drowning trying to afford rent, health insurance, food, etc.
Young people can’t buy homes.
People want to see a path forward for this to improve.
Instead, they saw Trump and his posse enriching themselves on the taxpayer dollar.
They witnessed the top 1% get massive tax cuts and get exponentially richer.
The admin is out of touch with problems middle class Americans are facing, and that’s why they lost.
Oh, and not to mention that Trump all but solidified the fact he was in the Epstein Files. Still, somehow his base doesn’t care that he’s a legitimate pedo.
Hope Republicans can get it together in 2028. I believe we can come back stronger than this.
Franchisor here.
The reality is that any business you start has risk.
The problem is that most franchise newbies think:
Buying a franchise = no chance of failure
Starting my own = high risk
This is far from the case.
Franchise units fail all the time, albeit at a much lower rate than non-franchised businesses.
What franchising actually does:
Provides access to elements of a business or concept that would be very expensive, time-consuming, and overall difficult for an independent operator to obtain on their own.
For example, at iSmash, we have a nationwide network of smashable vendors, and they only deal with us because of scale and reputation. They wouldn't work with one-offs.
If you started a smash room on your own, most of your headaches and time would be related to sourcing breakables.
It's a huge factor in why people decide to go with us.
What Greg is describing sounds like an instance of a franchisor having minimal material value to its franchisee to justify the fees.
If you are looking at buying a franchise, always ask this question:
"What are your biggest value-adds as a franchisor that I'd struggle with if I did this without you?"
If they can't answer that question well, I'd start having second thoughts.
i'm gonna attempt to explain why literally no one on earth should buy into a home service franchise. it might take a while to explain but hear me out...
(disclaimer- i'm kind of an idiot, but that's also why i bought into a home service franchise in the first place. this is the same franchise i recently spent nearly $200,000 to sue. so this is also why you should probably listen to me, because i have been around the block when it comes to navigating the fuckery that ensues in the aftermath of buying into a home service franchise)
first off let me explain how it worked financially to buy into my brand.
franchise fees were $132,000, three territories. i split this 50/50 with a business partner, so i was out $66,000 cash from day 1.
SBA loan of THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, which in hindsight is literally f'ng insane. i do not, under any circumstance, advise taking out a personally guaranteed loan of any amount to buy a business that quite literally does not exist yet.
so i'm on the hook for 150k of that split with my partner (which will be way more over 10 years with interest) plus the 66k in cash that i put in personally.
$216,000 per business partner to buy a company with 0 revenue, 0 employees, and 0 reviews (remember when i said i was an idiot?)
ok, whatever, a lot of money out the door but it's all so I could get a head start. because franchising is an accelerant, right?!
surely i'm buying into a "proven" system with "dedicated playbooks" and "done-for-you marketing" and "comprehensive training" and whatever dog and pony show was on the initial marketing materials the "franchise development" guy sent me. surely i couldn't figure this all out on my own but, with all of this expertise, i'll be fine. so this is good... right?!
*rips bandaid off*
those systems and playbooks and marketing strategies and trainings and dogs and ponies? they almost definitely DON'T EXIST. And if they do, they are organized by corporate employees with shitty salaries who have never even thought about running the business you're attempting to run, and/or marketing agencies those same low-paid employees have good relationships with that ALSO HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE HOW TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
ok, well that sucks. so now what? i have to pay my $4,700 a month SBA loan or the government is going to evict my wife and kids from our house! this feels pretty serious, can i get a refund?
LOL
here's the truth, which is sobering but also why it was so important to lay the groundwork before getting to this point.
you paid a literal shitload of money for the privilege of owning a business you could've started for 10-20x less, to take advice from people who have literally no fucking clue what they're doing, all so you can be forced to operate within a one-sided contract that will either (a) lower your exit multiple at sale because of said contract (if you get there, and kudos to you if you do) and/or (b) make it twice as expensive to leave than it was to buy in (liquidated damages) and/or (c) limit the scope of services you can sell if your primary category doesn't work out so great and/or (d) give the franchisor perceived authority to say "the contract explicitly states i can change my mind any time and pretty much do whatever i want"
in other words- YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN AND NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU.
either figure it out on your own or die. there's no in between.
"but wait- if i have to figure it out on my own, why did i buy into this franchise in the first place?"
THAT IS EXACTLY MY POINT
you are paying for the quite literally zero privilege.
in fact, you could take a fraction of that money you spent and offer to pay other business owners WHO HAVE ACTUALLY DONE THIS BEFORE to help coach you on best practices. You'd be shocked at how many SMB owners on here will let you come shadow them for 1-3 days (please offer to pay them for their time, don't be cheap).
And you'd be equally shocked at how much more value you get out of those visits than out of the collective franchise experience you bought for $200,000+
Oh, and you don't have to give away ~50% of your profits as royalties and operate under a super restrictive contract.
But maybe the craziest part is that you don't even have to do that. For most local service businesses you can get started for almost nothing:
Google Business Profile (free)
Facebook account to post in Facebook groups (free)
Supplier accounts (free)
Subcontractor relationships (free)
Yard signs and/or door hangers (cheap)
Unshakeable belief in yourself (free)
Optional:
Ad dollars (yourself or through agency, ~$1-5,000 a month)
Figure it out as you go. Expand with the cash from profits on early jobs.
Rinse and repeat into oblivion. Or fail, and close the business and move on without being on the hook for $200,000+ in liquidated damages.
if you're reading this and considering buying into a home service franchise right now, my one ask here is that you DM me first. It's free. and the consequences of your future actions are about to get a lot more expensive than free.
stay safe out there friends. there are a lot of money extractors out there.
3
20
3,217
The people who agree with this will be the ones getting screwed.
I use AI for hours daily, and there’s no way I’m letting Claude handle my tax and legal matters.
In our business of franchising, there’s consistently liability from unforeseen angles.
No way I’d trust a subconscious being to guide me through precarious situations.
There has already been numerous occasions where AI provided legal advice that would have totally screwed me.
You need a thinking humans critical reasoning and experience to advise on matters with serious ramifications.
Here’s what actually will happen:
Rates will get more competitive in these industries because of AI efficiency.
And those not leveraging AI will be left scrambling.
Please, whatever you do, don’t treat AI as your accountant or attorney.
This quoted post is unavailable.
Today has always been a special day for me.
It's the anniversary of when I started the first iSmash in Rochester! (It was Smash Therapy)
8 years ago today, at 21, I opened this crazy business. (that everyone said would fail)
Now, we're a franchise with almost 30 open locations!
Highlights:
$5M+ in lifetime sales
43,000+ bookings
Never missed a rent payment
Expanded 4 times and added 5 new experiences
No forceful closures (COVID doesn't count!)
Onward and upward!
8
23
1,596
I will never in my life understand this.
Why do local governments require lengthy, expensive approvals for you to open a generic business?
Like we want to open a strip club next to a school.
I’d like a non government employee to explain the purpose this serves.
2
349
Here’s an actual story from last weekend being an SMB owner:
Cleared my plate on Friday. After working 30 days straight, I was looking forward to a quiet weekend.
Manager texts me at 4pm:
“Hey, they didn’t empty the dumpsters and we have a busy weekend. Not sure what to do”
30 minutes on hold with the waste company.
“Sorry, we didn’t have the man power today. We’ll be there tomorrow for sure.”
Didn’t trust them. Spent another 30 mins calling alternatives.
No success.
6pm, ready to go home.
Manager texts again:
“One of the digital games isn’t working and we have a party at 7pm.”
Okay, not leaving yet.
Another hour back and forth with the Chinese manufacturer.
Game working.
Saturday:
Manager texts:
“Dumpsters weren’t emptied. Waste piled up in the back. What should we do?”
Improvise. Start dumping it into whatever you can find. Worry about it later.
Can’t let the gravy train stop following.
Stopped by in the afternoon to ensure all was well.
250 people booked for the day.
Absolute chaos when I walked in.
Manager: “We had two call outs. Pretty overwhelmed.”
Didn’t ask for my help, but they needed it.
Can’t get any 1 star reviews.
Spent the next 4 hours directing 50 people in my lobby at all times.
Sunday:
Bookings are lighter. Nice day outside. Time to finally relax.
Manager on site texts: “One of the digital rooms is acting up again and there are a bunch of bookings. Can you show me how to fix it?”
Just spent $250k launching these games 3 weeks ago. Can’t give a bad first impression.
Go up to the store again.
More troubleshooting with my Chinese counterparts.
Fix the game before any of the bookings need them.
As I’m about to leave, a parent is complaining about her party.
I decide to personally handle the rest of the event to avoid a potential negative review.
3 hours later.
Minimal relaxation on what should have been a quiet weekend.
Oh, and this is in addition to managing a 12 person franchise team, 60 franchisees, and 30 open locations.
My iSmash store might make $200k+ per year. But it’s by no means hands off.
“Now boarding, Group D,” the PA announces, and you stand up to join the line for the 7am flight. You’re headed to Atlanta for your day job — you’ll be defending some anemic numbers to the executive team.
As you stand in line, your phone buzzes. It’s Ricardo — “Hey boss, the Isuzu won’t start, not sure what to do. We tried jumping it off the F-150, but no luck. Probably a bad starter.”
You step out of the boarding line. “Okay, does anyone on the team know how to replace a starter?”
“Sure, James probably can, but what do you want us to do today? We don’t have the parts to repair it right now.”
“Hang on, I’ll call you back.”
You open up your CRM on your phone — the one that took months to implement and just about killed your team — to look at the schedule. Ugh, today’s one of those multiple small job routes…5 little stops.
“Now boarding, Group E.”
You call the local truck rental shop, they confirm they have a landscaping truck available for $375 for the day, but not until 8am.
You confirm the rental, and text Ricardo the details. You tell him to just have the crew clean equipment to kill 30 minutes.
You message your scheduler Maria, asking her to reschedule the first client of the day, but that you’re expecting the crew will still get to the rest of the jobs.
Maria calls instead of texts. “Boss, I can’t reschedule the first client, that’s Mary Stevens. She already got rescheduled from last week, and she’s pissed.”
You sigh audibly. “Okay, how about you reschedule the last client of the day, and move Mary to that slot?”
“I think she has to be in the mornings, she’s told us that in the past.”
“Okay, let’s just reschedule the second client then and move Mary back by an hour.” Ricardo is calling you too now. “Gotta go, Ricardo is calling.”
“Now boarding, Group F.”
“Hey boss — James is saying he wants more money if you’re gonna have him do repair work too.”
You knead the bridge of your nose. “Can you tell him I’ll discuss that with him when I’m back in town on Friday?”
“I’m not sure boss, he seems kind of pissed off. You know how he gets.”
“Ricardo, I’m sorry but I have to get on this plane. Tell James I’ll call him later today when I land.”
“Final call for boarding flight 1247, service to Atlanta.”
You hustle back to the boarding line, which is now empty. The attendant scans your boarding pass, and smiles warmly. “Thank you for being a OneWorld Ruby flyer, we appreciate your loyalty.”
You do your best to smile back and then walk up the jetbridge. There’s no line anymore, so you go straight to your seat.
You call your local Isuzu dealer, but they’re not open yet. You leave a voicemail asking about they have the starter in stock, and if not, if they can order one.
The plane begins taxiing to the runway as the flight attendants do their safety briefings.
Maria texts — “Mary’s pissed, she said she wanted the first appointment of the day because she has a doctor’s appointment around 9:30am.”
You text back, “Apologize and tell her we’ll knock $100 off her work today.”
Ricardo calls again. “Boss, James is saying he’s not gonna work today unless you give him a $2 raise.”
“How are your numbers today? Can you make it worth without him?”
“I’m not sure boss…it’ll be a tough day.” You know Ricardo generally understates difficulty, so if he says it’ll be a tough day, it’s probably damn near impossible.
“Please turn off all devices or set to airplane mode at this time.”
“Okay Ricardo — tell him I’ll give him the $3 for this week, but we’ll discuss it in person when I’m back. We’re taking off now, so I’ll be off my phone until I can get on the WiFi.”
A text rolls in from your wife. “Hey — the school emailed, apparently Emmy has been getting disruptive in classes and the school wants us to come in to discuss. I’m going to schedule that for Friday, when you’re back. I know work has been brutal on both sides, but I need you to show up for this.”
You put your phone on airplane mode and close your eyes.
Talking to the right-hand man at a local business. (not a partner)
10-15 employees. Decent-sized operation.
Said he's struggling to make ends meet for himself and his family.
Meanwhile, I saw the owner on FB recently buy a new, large house, and he drives a luxury car.
Is it a red flag if the owner is eating good while his point person is strained?
Seems kinda messed up to me.
20
41
5,342
I run a brand that you could consider to be similar to Crumbl, and this is a wise move.
Brands like iSmash and Crumbl run on heavy word-of-mouth "network" effects.
Less customers = fewer people talking about you = lower sales
The inverse is also true.
They're trying to get the snowball moving back in the other direction.
Acquire new customers through a cheap offering and get previous customers back in the door.
It's going from "$18 to get a few cookies" to "$5 for a couple of cookies and a drink".
The former causes hesitation and the latter drives demand.
Slick strategy, and along the lines of what I would have done.
How do you think this pans out?
Crumbl Cookies just dropped a VALUE MENU and it's actually... pretty good?! 🍪
Starting today Crumbl has some new value options start with Chocolate Chip Cookie Thins for 99 cents each - those were previously 2 for about $5 in their normal menu.
Dirty Sodas also have gotten big price drops with 12oz for 99 cents, 24oz for $1.49, and 32oz for $1.99 with up to 3 mix-ins or you can choose the existing creations.
You can save another 30 cents if you combine a Cookie Thin and Dirty Soda with a 24oz Dirty Soda (or just regular soda) and Cookie Thin for $2.19. For comparison, near me at McDonald's a 24oz 'Crafted Soda' is $3.59 by itself.
What do you think of the Crumbl value menu?
#crumbl #crumblcookies #cheapeats #cookies #soda
1
303
Here come all the franchise hate posts.
This is an overgeneralized statement and can't be broadly applied to an entire industry.
There are certainly franchisors that don't provide material value to franchisees, where the fees are unjustified.
On the other hand, lots of franchise brands provide immense value, and it is most definitely worth it to leverage the system.
Lots of people don't have the wherewithal or desire to figure things out from scratch.
This is the exact reason franchising exists. If there were no demand, the industry couldn't survive.
This is literally one scenario in an ocean of instances. Tons of people choose to go the other direction, following proven systems instead of reinventing the wheel.
But since X loves hating on franchising, it gets a lot of attention!
This is 100% the move. And the same logic applies 10x to buying a franchise.
Ask yourself: if somebody gave me the 100-125k territory fee as start up capital for a business, could I figure it out on my own?
Most of the time, the answer is yes. And chances are you could figure it out for a fraction of that amount, and not sweat an SBA payment.
Happy for this dude.
I run a physical entertainment brand with 25+ locations operating.
This entire game is coming down to who can charge the cheapest price to acquire customers.
Earlier this year, we surveyed thousands of consumers in the US.
57% of respondents said price is the #1 determinant if they decide to visit an amusement venue.
86% said $35 per person or below is their ceiling for going out and doing something.
26% said they'd go out and do an activity they didn't like, just because the price was cheap.
The economy is in a precarious state, but people still need entertainment.
But they're gravitating towards the cheapest options.
Top Golf understood that their price point was a barrier, and are now pivoting.
The guy who ran Chuck E. Cheese for six years now runs Topgolf, and he's turning it into Chuck E. Cheese for adults.
The $45 dinner-and-golf deal Topgolf just rolled out is step one.
Here's how a Topgolf works money-wise. A big one costs $30 to $40 million to build. Rent and staff cost about the same at 5pm on a Tuesday as they do on a Saturday night, so every hour a bay sits empty on a weeknight is money they're never getting back. Think of an airline seat that flies empty, except it happens every hour, all week long.
And weeknights have gotten a lot emptier. Sales at existing locations have been dropping since 2024. In one quarter last year they fell about 12%, and corporate events fell 13%. Those after-work company outings used to be a big chunk of the Monday-through-Thursday crowd.
Now look at the deal. Two entrees and an hour and a half of play for $45, Monday to Thursday after 4pm. At a lot of venues the bay alone runs $30 to $40 an hour on a weeknight, so that same night usually costs you $80 or more once the food shows up.
And they left drinks out of the bundle, which is the whole trick. Two people standing in a bay for 90 minutes are going to order a couple of beers. The food costs the kitchen way less than what's on the menu, and the bar is where places like this make their real money.
He ran this same play at Chuck E. Cheese. His name is David McKillips, and he took over Topgolf in February. At Chuck E. Cheese he launched the Fun Pass, unlimited visits starting at $7.99 a month. They sold about 400,000 of them in 2024, up from 79,000 the year before, and the company says someone on a yearly pass is worth six to eight times a one-time visitor. In his own words, "we need to drive multi-visitation."
He's already bringing it over. He told D Magazine that traffic is up this year even as the average check drops, and Topgolf is rolling out three-tier memberships. He's fine with you spending less per visit as long as you keep coming back.
He needs it to work, too. Callaway paid $2.66 billion in stock for the part of Topgolf it didn't already own back in 2021. Last November it sold control at a $1.1 billion valuation for the whole company. McKillips himself admits only about 35% of golfers even go to Topgolf.
Topgolf is still planning three to five new venues a year.
He'd rather sell you a $45 Tuesday than watch a $40 million building sit empty.
2
2
389
Such a condescending take.
This is probably someone with 6+ hours of daily screen time telling us that a couple of hours of gaming here and there is detrimental.
There is no correlation between older guys playing video games and being unsuccessful.
I've consistently gamed my whole life, and I'd argue it's been a net positive for my success.
Tons of gamers I know are also very well-put-together people.
The issue is that gaming is correlated with fat, lazy, unemployed men sitting in front of a screen for 8 hours/day.
The reality is that most gamers are casual (5-10 hrs/wk).
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that level of moderation.
I could name off 5 FAR more destructive habits young men could partake in as opposed to gaming.
Gaming will continue to remain one of the all-time best habits for adults.
This quoted post is unavailable.
1
1
333
One change increased event bookings at iSmash by 84%.
Earlier this year, we realized our party packages had real problems.
They were too convoluted and didn’t offer enough options.
So I hired a couple of executives from Sky Zone to overhaul them.
The new packages are cleaner and simpler, with a cheaper tier for different budgets.
It was a big risk. We have 28 locations, so every change gets heavily scrutinized, and the old structure had been in place for 5 years.
It paid off.
Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to make a major adjustment.
If we’d stuck with the status quo, we’d have left a lot of money on the table.
2
5
465
We have access to our franchisees' cameras too.
The big difference is that we are basically never watching them, nor would we ever issue a fine for anything seen on camera.
iSmash has considerably more liability than other brands. It's imperative for safety protocols to be followed in order to protect the system.
It's concerning that they've felt a need to prioritize a corp team member watching camera footage. Is that the best use of their time?
New story on Crumbl posted. The company has publicly acknowledged its sales challenges and is working to improve marketing. One such plan: To start offering a zero calorie dirty soda and a thin chocolate chip cookie for $1.99 later this week.
But sales continue to be weak. "October was a disaster," one franchisee said. One six-unit franchisee has filed for bankruptcy and some others are trying to get out.
And then I'll just include the segment below.
restaurantbusinessonline.com…
2
406
This hypothesis is utterly false and pure gaslighting from the global elites.
If you think these behemoth companies will suddenly start "giving back" to the average Joe, you are naive.
At what point have the Amazons of the world not bled and sucked every consumer dry for .00001% more profit?
You believe that once AI revolutionizes society, they're all going to go, "Here, take some wealth for yourself"
Nope. They'll engineer ways to keep you in the rat race.
And the financial gains of AI for themselves.
All of these companies have fiduciary obligations to their investors for maximum returns.
You aren't seeing any of that.
AI could change the game for society.
But the true benefits will be kept far away from the average consumer.
AI might be the biggest bubble in US economic history.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta plan to spend about $725 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, up 77% from last year.
OpenAI plans to spend $856 billion on compute through 2030 and run $278 billion in negative free cash flow along the way.
Revenue is growing fast, but costs are growing with it. OpenAI spends roughly $1.65 for every $1 it brings in.
Completely unsustainable.
None of the major AI companies turn a profit. Their valuations are a bet on a future where AI transforms nearly everything.
Meanwhile, about half of US adults still don’t use AI at all.
Now, pure AI plays like Anthropic and OpenAI are lining up for trillion-dollar IPOs.
Providing liquidity to investors who have no clue when they'll see an actual return.
If one major player can’t sustain the burn, confidence breaks and the dominoes start falling.
AI is a fantastic tool, and it isn’t going away.
But “useful tool” and “worth trillions on future promises” are very different claims.
1
3
276
We accidentally vibe-coded the most robust franchise support platform I've ever seen.
Cost: <$30/mo
Earlier this year, we wanted to build a ticketing platform for our franchise system.
It has since turned into a consolidation of all of our platforms into one.
5 figures in SaaS subscriptions saved across the system.
Here's a preview of everything it does:
1. AI assistant.
Access to every help document, manual, training, email, meeting notes, and anything else ever said in our system to assist with inquiries.
In addition, it has an "agent mode" that can help complete tasks on the platform itself.
2. Comprehensive ticketing system.
Inquiries auto-assigned to team members and departments based on the topic.
Internal notes across teams, can attach files, AI-assisted replies.
3. P&L analyzer
Franchisee connect their QuickBooks account.
Financials are analyzed against system benchmarks. AI will provide recommendations for adjustments.
Helps project future performance based on booking volume and historical system data.
4. Schedule builder
Automatically builds franchisees' staff schedules for maximum efficiency. Uses historical and projected booking data.
5. Online training program
End-to-end solution for the digital aspect of our training.
PowerPoint with voiceover, multiple-choice questions, and a login for each user.
6. Inventory planning
Our system will automatically suggest your inventory needs to help with future planning.
7. Pre-opening checklist and project management
A built-in tool that functions just like Asana, Monday, Notion, etc
Additional integrations: Google Calendar, Google Drive, Looker Studio, Google Docs/Sheets
20+ features that I hadn't even listed.
In progress: Booking platform/POS system & full CRM for customer data and email/SMS marketing.
I used to think the "vibe code" hype was propaganda.
But we're a living, breathing example of this.
0 experience coding, btw.
9
10
644