I was going to open a sim racing center

I was going to open a sim racing center.

I got as far as arguing with myself over whether the guest pass should be 25% off or 50% off.

The floor plan was done. 26 by 76 feet. Rigs along both walls, open space in the middle, couch near the front, LED strip running the length of it. I knew where the lighting went before I knew what I was going to call the place.

Pricing was done too. Rookie at $29 a month. Pro at $99 with three hours of prime time. Family at $250. Corporate at $1,500 for four hours, $2,400 for eight.

Then I went looking for something to actually run it on

What I found was a calendar with a payment button attached. Nothing understood what a prime-time hour was. Nothing could tell a Pro member from a walk-in. Nothing could stop two people from booking the same rig at the same time.

So I started building that instead. Took considerably longer than the floor plan did.

The center is still a maybe. The platform is not.

Three venues run on it today, and Skip Barber and Speed Experience take real bookings through it every week. I build and run the booking and operations platform they run their business on: reservations, memberships, POS, gift cards and a self-serve kiosk.

I still have the napkin. The handwriting has not improved.