IDEA Lab Kids Franchise Information

Executive Q&A with Founder Ghazal Qureshi

What inspired you to start IDEA Lab Kids?

I had two selfish reasons. One was that I had previously been in corporate America and wanted to stay home with my kids. I had three small kids and they were growing up so fast and I thought, “My nanny gets to take them around and do all of these cool activities with them.” I wanted to be there with them the whole time. It was very impulsive. I decided to leave my job and be a stay-at-home mom. I loved spending time with my kids but I missed the camaraderie and work interactions of a full time job. It brought me joy and satisfaction to be home but I was also Uber Mommy and completely engrossed in kid language all day long with no other interactions. I was providing the best educational opportunities for them and put all the passion and energy for the job I had into my kids, which was awesome for them but losing that second income was also very tough. I still wanted to spend as much time with my kids as possible and I did not want to go back to work, so I had to figure out how to make the right opportunity happen. 

What about IDEA Lab Kids makes it unique within its industry?

I feel we were blessed from the get-go in two ways. For one, I had the drive and knew what the company needed in order to be the best-of-the-best in education. IDEA Lab Kids is also blessed by not having the typical restraints that come with education. We really can think outside of the box. I was able to stand as an outsider and think about what it is we would want to provide for kids and what they really needed without having our hands tied. We were able to put these programs together in such unique and amazing ways. I believe that is the most differentiating thing about IDEA Lab Kids. We just didn’t have those restraints and we didn’t have to answer to anyone. We just had to put together programs that would be the best-of-the-best to challenge young minds.

What have been some of the brand’s most important milestones, especially over the last five years? 

We started as a one-location entity in 2011 and later opened a few other locations in Houston. In February of 2017, we formed our franchise company. That was the biggest milestone we could have achieved. We signed our first franchisee, who was in Austin, that same month. Since then, IDEA Lab Kids franchises have opened across the United States and around the globe. We’ve had developers who have signed on for the states of California, Georgia and Tennessee, as well as for the city of Toronto. We also had a campus open in Ecuador under one area developer and we recently signed an area developer for the Republic of Lebanon. About two years ago we launched our Innovation Lab, which has an R&D arm to it. This year, our focus has been on developing our e-delivery platform, so we’ve been very tech-focused. We have truly become an innovation hub for education. 

What plans does the brand have in the coming years? 

We are looking to expand rapidly across the globe. We are looking to launch into many new countries and across the United States. That’s the franchise side. In terms of education, we are launching online workshops, DIY workshops and other programs. There is also a heavy push for our campuses to teach entrepreneurship and business education. We’re also pushing for preschool STEAM education, since research has shown that early STEAM exposure makes a huge difference in the development of young minds.

What does an ideal franchisee look like?

Someone who has first hand involvement in education, and when I say “education,” I’m not saying that we necessarily need a teacher or administrator. It could be a parent who sees that their kids need something like this in order to compete for the jobs of tomorrow; someone who has that insight into what kids need in order to be that global citizen of the near-future. 

Why is IDEA Lab Kids a good investment?

When someone gets into a business it’s to make money; however, when there is a business that tugs at your heart and makes you feel good about what you’re doing, that to me is where the passion comes in. Having a business that you are passionate about makes you want to do your best every day and IDEA Lab Kids combines both of those things because you are touching so many lives and impacting your own community.

How does IDEA Lab Kids support franchisees?

We have a lot of different support systems. When franchisees come in, their first year is about building their roadmap. It’s a lot of collaboration and providing as much support as they need, from marketing campaigns to IDEA Lab Kids awareness campaigns. We work hand-in-hand with franchisees to help them with pre-enrollments and business development and to give them the support they need on all aspects of marketing, from digital campaigns to collateral. On the curriculum side, our teams work on developing first-year roadmaps, designing program offerings and making sure schedules are built correctly and staff is trained. We have a training portal where we provide hundreds of hours of training for every class and every module.  With our Innovation Lab, we’re rolling out new programs and new ways to teach. We have workshops and classes. We are also at the forefront of new technology we can incorporate into our curriculum and making sure our franchisees are set up for success. 

What does success look like to you?

On the franchisee side, it would be running a profitable operation where the community is able to gather and take advantage of the knowledge that IDEA Lab Kids provides and having satisfaction in their business. On the personal side, my kids grew up in IDEA Lab Kids. They were right there with me. They had me close by as a parent and they were also engaged in these amazing programs. It was the best of both worlds. Today, two are in college and one is in high school, and they have been positively affected by the education they’ve received. That is success for me, personally. I tell our franchisees all the time that they are getting twice the benefit—they are stewards of an amazing business but they also get to invest in children in the community. We’ve been lucky enough to achieve so many milestones, so what is next is just continuing to be the premier STEAM education company. We’ve already come so far. We want to continue to touch many different families and students and communities. We also want to be able to take our model into underprivileged areas and provide opportunities for kids and families who cannot afford these services. That would be the ultimate success. 

What market gap does your brand fill? What was missing in the space before? How was it identified? What inspired you to start?

We’ve had the luxury of being able to observe first hand at a microlevel the way kids are learning, which has completely shifted from even just a few years ago. The generation going through preschool and K-12 is what we call the Swipe Generation. They think differently, absorb information quickly and tend to have shorter attention spans.  Because we’ve been able to observe this, we’ve shifted the way we developed our curriculum and program delivery. We have been able to make changes on the fly, which benefits not just the kids but also the teachers and the franchisees and helps them keep the kids engaged. Also, kids are no longer sticking with the same interest for a long period of time. IDEA Lab Kids is ideal in that it provides children with a variety of activities and subjects. We often see that a child comes in interested in one subject matter and then wants to try something different. Also, as a parent with multiple kids, I know that not all siblings are going to have the same interests. It’s very hard for a parent with multiple kids to drive to multiple places; IDEA Lab Kids is one place to bring all of your children, as we have different classes and workshops going on all at once. 

What are you doing well right now? What are your brand’s differentiators?

We are really keeping our finger on the pulse of what is coming next and not just looking at what we are supposed to be doing today but also what we should do next year, in three years and in five years. We feel like this is the most exciting time for us to be growing our business. So much is changing so fast and the best thing we can do is to stay ahead of the curve and keep our classes innovative and engaging. 

What were some learning opportunities that the brand leveraged to get where it is now? 

We learn every day. The learning doesn’t stop.We are always listening and we are always plugged in to what is coming next. We are listening to parents and kids and tuning in to what they are trying to achieve and always remaining open to feedback. That has always allowed us to learn and grow and become set up to be a leader in the STEAM education space.