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Paying for a good scare

Young entrepreneurs, including an FLC student, begin an outdoor haunted house

One person’s dream could be another person’s nightmare.

Fort Lewis College sophomore and theater aficionado Austin Minard and a longtime friend are attempting to start a rather spine-chilling business – a haunted camping experience.

“There is nothing like this in the whole United States,” Minard said.

The attraction would incorporate more than just the usual scare tactics with a combination of actors and props. However, most of the induced fear is physiological, he said.

The things you can’t see are the ones that will scare clients the most. You need more than just gore and guts.

Planning for the business, Fear Walk: an Interactive Haunting Experience, started about two months ago, but the idea lurked in the back of Minard’s mind since childhood.

“I’ve always been a fan of the woods; they terrify me,” he said.

The company was founded by Minard, 19, and Leonard Davis, 19, a childhood friend who is majoring in business administration at Ithaca College in New York. The attraction would operate out of Durango, and if successful, potentially expand across the nation.

The camping experience primarily would cater to the Durango-area tourism industry. Many longtime business gurus know that starting a niche business isn’t a piece of cake, though.

Bob Kunkel, executive director of the Durango Area Tourism Office, said starting a micro-business can be challenging, and the entrepreneurs, such as Davis and Minard, have to make sure their service matches the market.

“I think all those specialized services are worth a try, but marketing those services is difficult,” Kunkel said.

Many factors come into play, he said, such as funding, insurance, marketing and research.

Kunkel suggests people looking to start this type of niche business look into the Small Business Development Center at FLC and speak with the center’s director, Joe Keck.

Also, he advises those involved with Fear Walk to test their assumptions, because starting a micro-business is a gamble.

Yet, the desire and ingenuity to start a business is noble.

“You have to recognize and congratulate creative thinking,” Kunkel said. “He just has to recognize the scope of the risk and do his due diligence.”

Minard is the company’s chief executive officer, and Davis is the chief financial officer and handles duties such as fund disbursement, marketing and investments.

His team mostly is college sophomores and juniors.

And despite their age and capital limitations, Davis and Minard have done a lot of the preliminary requirements before starting a business, such as buying a domain, mass-producing business cards and merchandise, obtaining trademarks and seeking investors.

The marketing campaign has been essential. The business plan also was entered into a business competition judged by a group of successful entrepreneurs.

Davis entered the business model into the Ithaca College Business Idea Competition.

As an underclassman, he figured it would be very difficult to place, but ultimately the Fear Walk business model won second place in its category of systems of entertainment or services. The company used the $750 in prize winnings to fund equipment and marketing, Davis said.

The judges of the competition asked few challenging questions, and they were more interested in when the business would begin running, he said.

“One of the biggest excitements for both Austin and myself and the individuals incorporated in the process is that we are doing this at such a young age,” Davis said. “None of us are over 21.”

Though Davis and Minard have done some of the preliminary work, there remains plenty to be done.

The crew is raising capital for the startup via Kickstarter.com, a website used to help fund small businesses. Online, Fear Walk has raised about $700, but in total the company has $2,800 of the $175,000 it needs. The fundraiser on Kickstarter will end just after 11 p.m. Jan. 10.

The experiences will vary from group to group so one customer can’t ruin the fun for another.

“Each person will be living their own horror movie,” Minard said.

After reviewing finances and hurdles the company still needs to jump through, the duo calculated about $175,000 is crucial to making the experience worthwhile, Minard said. The company currently is seeking about 20 acres of private land to lease.

“Haunted houses aren’t just the ‘boo’ thing anymore,” Minard said.

vguthrie@durangoherald.com

On the Net

To check out the Fear Walk: an Interactive Haunted Experience online pitch visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/385607073/fear-walk-an-interactive-haunted-experiencetm?ref=discovery.

Fear Walk

An Interactive Haunting Experience

Steven Crow

Alissa Cugliari

Leonard Davis, chief financial officer

Sam Garcia

Diore James

Cameron Kinchen

Hannah Mae Bernat

Austin Minard, chief executive officer

David Truscott



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