Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Shiffrin.
Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The why I started Escapely is simple: I’m an escape room junkie. I’ve played hundreds (maybe thousands) of rooms, including many by myself! Apparently after four back-to-back escape rooms, some people are ready to do something else. (I can’t offer an explanation, just reporting facts.)
I’ve also tried a lot of the scavenger hunt activities out there, but none of them quite hit the mark. I wanted something storyline-driven that put me as a main character in the mystery. And I didn’t want to just find things – I wanted to SOLVE them, just like in an escape room.
I decided to create the exact game I was looking for. But in March 2020, just I was in the midst of launching it, the world shut down. Not exactly the best time to release a game that takes place out on the town (maybe, actually, the worst). Right away, I received a call from an event company that had contracted to sell my game. The gist: “Obviously we won’t be able to move forward because your game would never work over Zoom.” Click.
I didn’t try to convince him. But I did get to work. Within a few weeks, I had a ready-to-play version of my game that would very much work over Zoom. The virtual games took off. My first employee and I still reminisce about taking turns sleeping between trying to manage the incredible volume of events we were booking.
Once people returned to out-of-the-house activities (and after we got a little sleep!), it was time. I launched the first seven cities. It was clear right away that we were really onto something. I couldn’t keep up with the emails asking us to release new games and suggesting new cities. Players were even offering to work for us for free!
But a game that takes place in the real world also comes with its own share of challenges. Plaques disappear! Businesses close! Giant art installations that seem permanent are dismantled and removed overnight! Cities hold events and build scaffolding right on top of our clues (how dare they?)!
We received emails from worried players saying they don’t know how we’re existing at this price point, but please, PLEASE continue, because they really need more of our games. (And my friends, that’s all the juice I need.)
But we weren’t in that many cities and we weren’t selling that many games. To this day, to make the costs possible, I assemble the boxes in my garage and ship them out from my house. Enter our first holiday season. We simply could not make boxes fast enough to keep up with the orders pouring in. I called in my tribe. My 5-year-old was on insert duty, my husband called in sick to work, friends came by when they could to stuff lock boxes, my 80-year-old mother applied closure stickers. You get the picture. For weeks we worked overnight. And it was the first time I could truly envision our path to growth.
Now we have 54 cities (and counting). Through all of the ups and downs, bringing this vision to life has been a dream come true. The most common reaction I get is, “It must be so much fun to do something so creative!” The answer is an unequivocal yes. What we create – these outdoor escape games – are a passion for me. And running a business is one big creative puzzle that challenges me every day.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am not a serial entrepreneur – someone with a business background looking to start and grow businesses, any business at all. I’m a person with a passion. Everything I know about business I’ve learned since launching. I had to learn marketing, advertising, operational process, systems. I built a spreadsheet CRM that I used for months before I realized there is a multi-billion dollar industry that has created software to do just that. I taught myself sales, A/B tested on my own, built our first website, cold called, cold emailed, learned best strategies as I went. But I know my business and my product better than anyone else on earth, and I think there’s something to be said for trusting my own instincts when it comes to our customer. I AM our customer.
To speak to the challenges specifically in Escape the City, this is a game integrated within the real world. The real world changes! We have gotten very smart about how we design our games so that we can make updates on the app portion of the game without changing the printed clues. It’s worth the struggle, but it’s a complicated game!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As I said, this business is a passion for me. I’m a creative and I’m always on my toes coming up with new ideas, whether it’s our games themselves or strategies for my business. The fun thing about running a business, as a creative, is that running a business is, in and of itself, the most creative thing a person could do. Yes, my company is selling creativity as our product. But the actual running of a business, from daily operations to future vision, is one giant creative puzzle. I love every minute of it. (Okay, state payroll compliance is a puzzle I could live without. But I love everything else.)
One thing that sets us apart is that Escape the City is the first game of its kind. It presents a marketing challenge because we have to explain what it is, but it’s exciting to be creating something new and then see how well it resonates with our customers. They are SO happy it exists!
What am I most proud of? I love my business. I truly do. But my true calling in life is as a mom. In another (distant) world, I could have been a mom without a business and would have felt completely fulfilled.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I was very lucky to have parents who believed in me, encouraged me, instilled an incredible work ethic (if you’re going to do something, do it all the way, no matter how big or small), and trained me to think outside of the box.
My favorite childhood memory is probably Thanksgiving. We were a very on-the-go family who traveled a lot, did tons of activities, and never really slowed down. Thanksgiving was the one time every year that we stayed home all weekend, had relatives and cousins in town, cooked, stayed up all night playing board games, and just spent time together. Most of our family inside jokes were born out of a Thanksgiving weekend.
Pricing:
- $59.99/box
- We also offer team building experiences with a leaderboard for large groups
Contact Info:
