We were lucky to catch up with Kathryn Nelson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kathryn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I began to customize by delivering exactly what the clientele were asking for, by stepping into their shoes, by keenly observing their experiences with and reactions to our services, by asking them directly for useful feedback – whether through surveys or informal conversations, by creating a community around our product, and by constantly pushing myself to reach the next level (which is my style.)

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I own Alley Kat Adventures, a global custom event design company. We are based in Austin and offer online 1) live-hosted team building games, 2) extreme citywide scavenger hunt races in 300 cities in North America and the Bahamas, and 3) custom hand-crafted events that are small to grand scale. My background as a teacher and professional actor allows me to create engaging and unique experiences with that wow factor. We help travelers make memories of a lifetime. We curate hidden gems of an area so that our guests will feel like locals of a town when they’re done with one of our adventures.

We help our corporate teams bond, share laughs while getting outside their comfort zones, and see new sides of each others’ personalities. For our custom events, we take a clients’ vision and then run with it! We personalize custom events so that our guests feel truly special and celebrated, from proposals to bachelorette hunts to yearly summits for large corporations. We do it all, and we truly love our jobs. Our goal is to inspire in others that the world is just one giant playground and that life’s way too short to take it too seriously! It’s all about spreading joy, and we are tickled that we get to do that on a daily basis!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Because my business is part of the travel industry, I lost all of my future bookings overnight when the pandemic hit. So many were affected by the sudden impact of the lockdown in similar or even worse ways. I had to adapt fast! After consulting with past loyal repeat customers, my staff and colleagues, I translated my city scavenger hunts into an online virtual format almost overnight. I beta tested it eight times and then was ready to audition for a panel of Airbnb executives who gave it the green light! My virtual game almost immediately became a best seller on Airbnb online experiences and has remained so ever since.

I hosted my heart out, many hunts a day – sometimes in the wee hours of the night! My game was all about sparking joy and creativity and connecting with others during those uncertain times. I had the privilege of virtually visiting the homes of folks in many countries all over the world. I felt that the laughs we shared and friendships we made were so good for the souls of everyone involved at a time when connections were needed most. It definitely helped me get through the darkest days of the pandemic while I was also juggling homeschooling like all parents everywhere.

The game continued to thrive and I added my first cohost after a little over a month. By the end of 2020, my team of cohosts and assistants had grown even more; and I was beginning to slowly and carefully open up our city hunts as well. Fast forward to now, and we have hosted over 40,000 guests in our online games. That survival story taught me the importance of always shifting, evolving, and expanding in both large and small ways. It has really sharpened my sixth sense allowing me to keenly recognize and respond strategically to shifting market trends constantly.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Earlier this year we got an inquiry about a treasure hunt/boat race in Exuma, Bahamas for an extremely large custom event. Yes, please! Will travel for work! The vision the client had was grand and magical. We had never done anything like this so jumped at the challenge. We constantly embrace unique opportunities like this – it’s what we do! I Iove that there’s never a dull moment. The client and boat company in the Bahamas were a dream to collaborate with. We even buried treasure on one of the islands and customized the hunt to reflect the couple’s personalities, backstory, fun facts, inside jokes, and more! I had the best time on the trial run the day before the event swimming with wild pigs, picking up iguanas, hugging stingrays, and scouting locations for photo ops. One of the challenges even involved a snorkeling element where each team had to a pose together underwater for a spectacular shot! Of course, during my trip I also seized the opportunity to build a regular Bahamas scavenger hunt to add to our ever-growing lineup of cities. My job never feels like work and it especially didn’t on that getaway to paradise! This charmed treasure hunt will forever be one of the fondest highlights of my career; but in many ways it was just the beginning.

Contact Info:

• Website: alleykatadventures.com
• Instagram: @alley.kat.adventures
• Facebook: @alleykatadventures
• Linkedin: Kathryn Burns Nelson

Image Credits
Kelsey Edwards