Before it was Icarus Tours, it was Teton Con, but before even that it was just an idea. Not surprisingly, when I pitched the idea to run a vacation style gaming convention in Jackson, WY not everyone was convinced it would work. In truth, I wasn’t entirely convinced myself.
When I decided to get started in the gaming convention business, like many other gaming entrepreneurs, I was starting off from a limited position. I had a 9-5 job, a family and a very limited budget, but in many ways my trappings were equally important starting points. I had a great business sense from my career and with my kids a bit older, more and more free time. With a family to support I also had a healthy bit of pressure not to flush a bunch of money away. Living in Idaho, with limited time off, my selection of destinations was small to say the least.
I spent about a year getting the details together, pricing the vacation, and pulling together a website (which was horrible). I went live with the site and the business by running an ad on boardgamegeek about a year in advance and patiently waited. I figured if I could get 15 people to come to Teton Con it would validate the concept of the company and I would be able to expand it to other destinations in the future. The concept was that people were growing tired of the traditional gigantic gaming conventions that dominated the industry. Smaller more intimate cons were already popping up everywhere, but I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to combine a true vacation destination and feel with a high quality gaming experience. The concept was quickly verified when a couple registered and paid in full within a few weeks of going live. My target of 15 people was smashed in the first month and we ended up with 40 guests in 2013. The road it has lead me down since the early days have been well beyond my expectations and are the subject of this blog.
When I decided to get started in the gaming convention business, like many other gaming entrepreneurs, I was starting off from a limited position. I had a 9-5 job, a family and a very limited budget, but in many ways my trappings were equally important starting points. I had a great business sense from my career and with my kids a bit older, more and more free time. With a family to support I also had a healthy bit of pressure not to flush a bunch of money away. Living in Idaho, with limited time off, my selection of destinations was small to say the least.
I spent about a year getting the details together, pricing the vacation, and pulling together a website (which was horrible). I went live with the site and the business by running an ad on boardgamegeek about a year in advance and patiently waited. I figured if I could get 15 people to come to Teton Con it would validate the concept of the company and I would be able to expand it to other destinations in the future. The concept was that people were growing tired of the traditional gigantic gaming conventions that dominated the industry. Smaller more intimate cons were already popping up everywhere, but I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to combine a true vacation destination and feel with a high quality gaming experience. The concept was quickly verified when a couple registered and paid in full within a few weeks of going live. My target of 15 people was smashed in the first month and we ended up with 40 guests in 2013. The road it has lead me down since the early days have been well beyond my expectations and are the subject of this blog.
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