Life can be like jumping on a trampoline — you're not always sure where you'll land.
Sky Zone planned to be one kind of business, but necessity forced it to morph into something else.
It was also supposed to be run by one man, but his 21-year-old son had to take over when the family matriarch received a fatal diagnosis.
"I was completely thrown into the fire to try and figure things out on my own," said Jeff Platt.
Fortunately, he bounced back. Literally.
Sky Zone is a chain of 140 trampoline parks in five countries. Inside the parks are a series of wall-to-wall trampoline courts, where you can jump or play games like basketball and dodgeball. There's a workout area — jumping burns up to 1,000 calories an hour — and a foam pit people dive into. Kids come for birthday parties during the day, and adults can jump by black light at night. Most of the parks are franchised, and total revenues last year were $240 million.
"I feel like when you're jumping, you're totally present in the moment, you're thinking about nothing else in the outside world," said Platt, who is CEO. "You just completely come alive."