The concept for a business can come from anywhere. For Jessica Fracalossi, The Handle Bar’s founder and head of brand and marketing, it came from a lifelong interest in wellness. During a business trip while working at a start-up activewear company, Jessica took a cycling class. The quality of the experience blew her away.
“My wheels started spinning (no pun intended) and I started to think there wasn’t anything like that in Boston,” she said.
Coming soon in September, Jessica will share her journey during Startup Boston Week 2024. But before then, Startup Boston caught up with Jessica to chat a bit about bringing The Handle Bar to fruition, expected (and unexpected) wins and challenges, and lessons learned for new founders.
Startup Boston: After your experience taking that cycling class, how did The Handle Bar get its start?
Jessica Fracalossi: For me, it was difficult to work in a business environment, specifically a start-up environment, and also think about my own thing. I needed to do something for income that didn't take away from my creative juices. And so I waited tables and wrote the business plan.
Ultimately, a college friend of my brother's was thinking about opening a cycling studio in San Francisco. We compared our numbers and models, and they lined up. Then a couple months later, he said he wasn’t going to leave his job but wanted to invest in my effort. That was the beginning. He then introduced me to four other people in his network. They became a group of angel investors to raise the initial capital to open the first studio.
We got a space in South Boston and I was teaching a good amount. I was working every desk shift. Slowly but surely, I started hiring some desk staff and more instructors. It took off right away. Because I had investors and I hadn't gone the route of doing bank debt or a friends and family loan, I had a healthy pressure to expand.
We started right away looking at a second location and narrowed it to the Fenway neighborhood, which was an up-and-coming spot with our target demographic. We opened but it was much slower going. If that had been the first studio, I don't know if we would’ve opened number two so quickly. It took about three years for the Fenway studio to get to profitability, whereas South Boston was cash flow positive in just a few months.
My investors pushed me to open a third and we opened in Harvard Square. It was three studios in two years and it took some time to settle into multilocation operations.
SB: What were some of the expected (and unexpected) wins and challenges you had?
JF: For early challenges, it’s the amount of time it takes to really build out a great business plan. A business plan is never done, and every conversation you have with smart business people adds a layer to your plan.
I think getting the money is not the only hurdle. It's proving that concept to a landlord when you don't have anything to point to. You really need somebody to take a leap of faith on you. So an unexpected challenge was how long it took to find real estate. And what I learned later on was that it was a great fit for us to be an amenity to the tenants of the building.
Unexpected wins, I would say, was inspiring employees to join, take a leap of faith, and get behind a mission. A lot of those initial hires were around for a long time. A big piece of my long-term success was creating a healthy place for somebody to work and somewhere where they want to remain. When your employees are happy, they spread the mission and they're ambassadors for the brand. That kind of an unexpected win proved to be very important over the last 11 years.
SB: At Startup Boston Week 2024, you’re speaking on the panel “Getting Past Go — Bringing your Startup Out of the Idea Stage”. Where did the momentum come from? What was the tipping point when you remembered you got past ‘go’?
JF: I was starting to feel defeated in my search for fundraising. It was a lot harder than I thought to raise the money. Having conversations with investors when you don't have a business background and it's your first business plan, it's very vulnerable. They point out a lot of things that you didn't think of, and it can make you feel sort of like a fraud.
I think getting the phone call from John, my partner, saying ‘I’m not leaving my job and I believe in you as an operator. I'd love to help you, I'd love to invest in you, and help you raise the money.’ That was a good day.
SB: The focus of The Handle Bar goes beyond physical wellness – it focuses on community and mental wellness. You recently partnered with Noah Kahan to raise money and awareness for mental health. What was the driving force of this approach?
JF: We opened three studios back-to-back-to-back. In my immediate family, I had somebody struggling with chronic mental illness and also somebody recently diagnosed with cancer. It was a stark contrast to me to see how easy it was for people to talk about and share condolences surrounding a cancer diagnosis, yet how challenging it was and how absent it was for people to talk about and share condolences when it came to a chronic mental illness diagnosis.
We started Handle With Care, which remains a movement within the community. We do a couple things a year (usually events based) surrounding fundraising and awareness raising to help battle the stigma associated with mental illness. Right off the bat, our first couple of events were well-received and a joy to be a part of. People coming to our studios were coming, in many cases, for more than their physical health. They were there to serve their mental health as well.
SB: You’ve been in business for eleven years now and have seven studios. For anyone who’s looking to bring their startup from ideation to creation, what are some of the lessons learned you have that you can share?
JF: One thing that I always go back to is everything is going to cost twice as much money as you thought, and it's gonna take three times as long as you thought it would. If you're business planning and you can wrap your head around that and map that into your expectations, then you'll be let down a lot less frequently and you'll be able to be more patient. That was a good piece of advice I got.
To learn more on this topic from Jessica, sign up for Startup Boston week and attend her panel here.
About the author: Kathleen Ohlson is a Boston-based content writer with a background as a high-tech reporter and storyteller. With a passion for creating content that resonates with audiences, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.
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