Episode 434: Case Lawrence talks about the power of relationships, joy-based entrepreneurship and influencer-based experiences

Looking for daily inspiration?  Get a quote from the top leaders in the industry in your inbox every morning.   Every year, millions of attraction visitors lose hours in line instead of making memories. Since its inception, accesso’s virtual queuing has saved more than 4.5 billion minutes of wait time, freeing guests to pack their day with more rides, eats, and excitement. The result? Happier guests who spend more and a better bottom line for you. Ready to turn waits into wins? Visit accesso.com/ROIClinic. The queues are virtual. The results are real. Case Lawrence is the founder of CircusTrix. After helping shape the trampoline park category through early growth and major consolidation, he helped unify CircusTrix, Sky Zone, and Rockin’ Jump under the Sky Zone brand, navigating adversity including COVID and the long work of integration. He later stepped away from day-to-day leadership and brought his hard-won lessons into the classroom, teaching entrepreneurship at the BYU Marriott School of Business, which also helped him translate years of stories into principles for new experience builders. Case’s new book, Off the Ground, chronicles his journey in entrepreneurship and the trampoline park industry. In this interview, Case talks about the power of relationships, joy-based entrepreneurship, and influencer-based experiences The power of relationships “One of the key things I learned is the power of relationships.” Case frames Sky Zone’s evolution as proof that big outcomes are rarely just the result of strategy on paper. He points to the trust between Jeff and Rick Platt, along with himself, as the glue that held a shared vision together through adversity, saying the three leaders “became partners in every true sense of the word” and stayed unified when outside forces could have splintered the effort. He also pulls the lens closer to the human side of deals, noting that founders bring emotion, identity, and fear into negotiations. “To really get a complicated deal done, especially these big mergers, you’ve got to delve into the human side.” For him, the win is not only the transaction, but building enough credibility and empathy that everyone can cross the finish line feeling respected and secure. Joy-based entrepreneurship “Most discretionary dollars now are in search of experience. They’re in search of joy.” Case explains that entrepreneurship education has long centered on solving pain, but entertainment and attractions thrive on creating something people choose because it elevates their day. He argues we’re entering a moment where the market is hungry for “heightened experience,” and that demands a new set of tools for identifying and building ideas rooted in delight, not frustration. He connects this to how experiences are becoming more accessible to create, pointing to trampoline parks as a breakthrough that proved you can deliver “outlier, non-everyday experiences with limited capital.” That shift unleashes imagination, invites more founders into the space, and sets the stage for the next wave of innovation, especially as tech-enabled experiences expand what’s possible. Influencer-based experiences “Look to YouTube, look to the influencers, look what the young people are watching on TV now.” Case predicts that what audiences binge online will increasingly become what they demand in-person. He describes influencers as experience designers in public, building appetite through episodic “wild experiences” that viewers will soon want to participate in, not just watch. In his words, “the merging of influencer culture with FEC attractions is going to be big.” He also highlights the operational artistry required to translate entertainment into something guests can actually do. Using Ninja Warrior as an example, he notes that the job is to make it feel authentic while adjusting it for real people: “allow them to feel like they’re participating in this authentically, but dumb it down, ease it down in a way that they can participate in it… and make them feel like a Ninja Warrior.”   Case says Off the Ground is available for pre-order now on Amazon, and will be publicly available on January 20th, 2026. You can also learn more about Case at caselawrence.com. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:   Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas   To connect with AttractionPros: AttractionPros.com [email protected] AttractionPros on Facebook AttractionPros on LinkedIn AttractionPros on Instagram AttractionPros on Twitter (X)