ID No.

1931175

Abstract

Go Ape was founded by Tristram Mayhew and his wife Rebecca in 2001with a
investment of £ 1, 35, 000 as a small firm. Here we will see that how Tristram
Mayhew earned name and fame for his firm as he started his Go Ape with the
slogan of “live adventurously” and how the firm grow by leaps and bounds.

INTRODUCTION

Go Ape Ltd. is outdoor pursuit company which runs 26 high wire adventure
courses in the forests of England, Scotland and Wales consisting of rope
ladders, zip-lines, rope bridges, trapezes and swings. Go Ape has won a
number of business awards as in 2003 company won the best tourist attraction
award. In 2007 it was shortlisted for the best Norfolk attraction award at the
tourism in Norfolk Award. Last year, Go Ape won the small to medium size
business of the year at national business award. Go Ape is also listed in fast
track 100. Now they want to spread their business all over the world and they
have started this process by opening their course in U.S.A. and Australia.

INTRODUCTION OF TRISTRAM MAYHEW:

Tristram Mayhew was a tank commander in the Royal Dragoon Guards, but he
left army in his twenties and joined coca cola and then GE. In an article he said
I enjoyed my army life but I wanted to get marry and I did not want to drag my
family around the war. After leaving army he started working in corporate
world. He said about his jobs that “jobs that I did after the army were
interested and people were good but at the end of the day they were big firms
and their motive was only to make money”. He wanted to start his own
business in Britain so that he can he live with his family. He got the idea to
start Go Ape when he went to France. Then with this idea he met forestry
commission and got an agreement for 26 years.

Mayhew says that your customers are the most important in any business. In
an interview Mayhew said that it is very important understand your customer
in any business and deliver them what they want. He also says that it is very
important that how you do marketing for your business. Go Ape have 400
employees and its plan to increase it courses to 40 in UK by 2012 and 80 by
2015 globally. Last year visitors number increased to a record of 5, 34,000 with
a turnover of 10.6 millio
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TABLE OF CONTENT

Reason to start
business……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………….

BUSINESS
EXPERIENCE………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………..

RESOURECES………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………….

STARTING THE
BUSINESS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…….

BARRIER OF GROWTH AND

SUCCESS……………………………………………………………………………………………..

MANAGEMENT
STYLE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…

FUTURE PLANS…………………………………………………………………………………………

KEYFINDINGS……………………………………………………………………………………………………

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………………
 ID No.1931175

Reason to start business

Before starting his business Mayhew had a job in London. That was a good job
but he was not happy with it. He wanted to create better life style for his
family. He wanted to work in his own way. His wife Rebecca also encouraged
him to start his own business. They were mulling over several business ideas,
meanwhile they went to France on a holiday were they saw adventure course
and decided to start in U.K.

Business experience

For any founder his business experience matters the most. His experience can
help him to grow his company and earning more profit. Although this was the
first time for Mayhew to run his own business but he had a very good
knowledge of business as he had been working in big firms. In an interview he
said my grandfather was an example that how not to run business. He had the
knowledge to understand costumer needs and deliver what they want. On the
other hand his wife Rebecca also had good understanding of business. Their
knowledge helped them to grow their business.

Resources

Capital is the biggest problem for any businessman to start business and
Mayhew also faced this problem. He did not have enough money to start
business. To start his business they sold the flat of Rebecca and started his
business with a capital of £1, 35,000. In the second year of his business when
he had no working capital he borrowed money from his mother for some time.
To increase his business he mortgaged his everything to get loan. In this way
he increased his business.

FOUNDTION OF GO Ape

Tristram Mayhew wanted to start such a business that allowed them to live in
the country with his family and do things together. When he saw an adventure
 ID No.1931175

course in France he thought it may work in U.k.as well. Mayhew was

immediately taken with the idea of opening the similar business in Britain.
Mayhew contacted the Forestry Commission which at the time was suffering
from a drop in timber prices. After viewing a home video of the French course
and a PowerPoint presentation, the commissioner offered Mayhew a 26 years
deal for the whole England. It was a good deal Mayhew was expecting it for 10
years.

After signing an agreement in November 2001 for 26 years, he sold his wife’s
flat and raised a starting capital of 1, 35,000 and moved into a ramshackle
farmhouse in Sunffolk, using the garden shed as office. The first course was
opened in 2002 in Thetford forest. In the same year employing the French from
the Auvergne course. The company setup 35 different kinds of wobbly bridges,
lines through trees, plus harnesses over an established area. It took just six
weeks “we were mobbed by pushy parents on the first day, as they, d seen us
building it over the previous weeks”. So they did not have to do any real
marketing in the starting. Customers love the experience and Go Ape turn over
in the first year was £1, 50,000, and earned a profit of £10,000. Eager to have
copycats Meyhew decided to invest in new sites and they remortgaged their
everything to build three new sites. One site was delayed as per planning and
second could not perform as expected. They were running out of money,
Meyhaw asked his accountant, he told they have enough cash through the
summer but very soon it became clear that did not have. After one year
business Meyhaw could not understand the working capital side of business. It
was lucky that Mewhay got money from his mother for some time. This year
they went back in black. But Meyhaw learned from his mistakes. He got
finance director for his company and very soon their business expended in
Britain and Scotland. Their sales are 2.3 million before interest and tax and
depreciation of £7 50 000. Now Go Ape provides 21 different courses. In May
2010 they opened their first course in United States at Rock creek Regional
Park.

Vision of Go Ape
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The vision of Go Ape is pretty simple and clear –“we want to create adventure
and encourage everyone from kids and family to young adults and corporate
life to live life adventurously and take care of the safety of every tourist”.

Barrier in growth

Like many first time entrepreneurs Mayhew also faced the problem of cash. He
had to face many difficulties to raise the funds and maintaining the working
capital for his company. Second barrier was lack of experience and because of
that he made many mistakes in the starting. There were some external barriers
also in the growth of the Go Ape. It was a new business in U.K. but then also it
worked very well in the first year. But in the next year they faced lack of
customers and had to do lots of things to attract the customers. Their
marketing resources were limited and even they did not have much to spend
on marketing .It was a first time for the people in U.K. so they cannot believe
easily about their safety in the forest.

Management style of Tristram Mayhew

Tristram Mayhew worked very hard on his business concept and used different
entrepreneurship theory of acquisition expansion adding value to the
service.ee

Tristramt Mayhew and his wife were working in London, the left their jobs and
got in to the business. Mawhey said that they knew that their business plan
was very r. I had no idea if people would want to play swing through trees. It
was not something that could be product test. They gave up their career for
the business. Fortunately they successfully identified their customers and to
attract them. They started their business with staff of 90Their strategic brand
work was used by the Go Ape team to brief a design agency for the new brand
identity and more broadly when making strategic decision about the business.
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Anew identity was launched in 2010. They make many slogans to attract the
people like “live life adventurously.

Mayhew was very encouraged after earning profit of £10,000in the fist
year.Mayhew and his wife both were very ambitious they have received a little
success but they thought it is just a starting. Next year he decided to invest in
three more places inU.K. .He faced many problems in the second year, he did
not get result as he expected and he went back in black. He became short of
working capital, and then he got money from his mother. He learned from his
past mistakes. Now some of the business strategies of Mayhew are given here-

1 Attracting more and more costumers

Mayhew’s first business policy is to attract more and more customers by

providing more adventure thrill.

2 Marketing

Mayhew said that in this competitive world marketing plays a vital role for
business. Mayhew have many marketing ways for his business.

3 Good staff that help in the growth of firm.

Mayhew select his staff very carefully so that they can handle the costumers in
a good way.

4 Giving more satisfaction to costumers

5 Costumers safety is one of the important things and for that everyone is
given 30 minutes of training before leaving in the forest.

Future plans of Go Ape

Popularity of Go Ape is growing very fatly and their plan is to open bunches of
courses all over the world. Go Ape future plan is to become one of the biggest
tourist attraction firms. Their objective is to increase and expand their business
in other countries. Despite the recession he plans to open new sites in U.S.A
and Australia. They expected that by 2015 they will have 40 courses in U.K. and
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80 all over the world. They have introduced many games or courses like
Tarzan,swing,climb,crawl and zips. They both have taken their ventures and
planning as a challenge. The dynamic combination of Tristram Mayhew and
Rebecca has very positive point for their business. Their ambition and desire is
to grow as much they can. They already have opened their business in U.S.A.
and in Australia it is under process.

KEY FINDIINGS

Go Ape is a fast growing and innovative firm. Tristram Mayhew is a very

talented, visionary and object oriented entrepreneur.

Risks are a part of business and every businessman has to take it if he wants to
grow and Tristram Mayhew is a risk taker.

Even after the recession there is no adverse effect on the Go Ape company
profit and they are planning to open their business in other countries also.

Climb through the long as you’re over 10 years old and can climb up a
rope ladder

Conclusion

Looking at the characteristics theory of an entrepreneur we find many

entrepreneur qualities in Tristam Mayhew and his business policies are very
effective. He is a big risk taker and as he dared to started a different business in
U.K. and then mortgaged his everything to increase it. But all in all he has good
management qualities. He know very well that were and when to invest. He is
a very good learner as he learned from his mistakes and improves himself and
as a good businessman keep patient he was short of money.

REFERENCES
Frank Martin, Ken o’ Neil & simon Bridge.(2009),entrepreneurship theory and
practice.

www.Go Ape .co.uk