Tiny Whirlwinds

The Company

Tiny Whirlwinds runs baby sensory classes out of Farnham's only dedicated sensory studio — professional light shows, tactile stations, and intimate groups designed around early years development. Not a church hall with a few props. A proper, purpose-built space.

Stage: Pre-launch (2 weeks out) Team: Solo founder, bootstrapped Demand Score: 68/100 Verdict: CONDITIONAL GO

What She Thought

Jess had built something genuinely special. Parents who attended trial classes raved about it. The studio was beautiful. The curriculum was thoughtful. She'd left a successful tech career to build this — co-founded a software company previously — and brought that same rigour to the product.

With launch two weeks away, she was already thinking about franchising. Multiple locations. A brand. The product was validated. Surely the hard part was done?

What the Diagnosis Found

The diagnosis landed like a cold shower. Not because the product was wrong — but because every single distribution channel was either missing or broken.

Effectively invisible.

Instagram was 2 days old. 90 followers. One post. No Google My Business profile. No listing on Happity — the app every local mum uses to find baby classes. No partnerships with health visitors, NCT groups, or local cafes. When a new parent in Farnham searched for "baby sensory classes near me," Tiny Whirlwinds didn't exist.

The diagnosis put it bluntly: "You have a beautiful studio that nobody can find. A brilliant product that nobody knows exists is a failed business."

Only 4 term bookings.

Launch was 14 days away. Jess needed 8–10 per class to break even, 12+ per class to feel healthy. She had 4. Not 4 per class — 4 total. The trial sessions had gone brilliantly, but there was no mechanism to convert trial interest into term commitments at scale.

Franchise ambitions before proving unit economics.

Planning multi-location expansion before filling the first studio is a classic founder trap. The diagnosis flagged it directly: "You're designing the franchise manual for a business that hasn't proven it can fill one room." It stung. It was also completely right.

Solo operator risk.

One illness = cancelled classes = refunds + reputation damage. No substitute teacher. No assistant. The diagnosis modelled the scenario: a two-week illness in the first term would mean refunding 60% of revenue and losing the momentum that's hardest to rebuild — word-of-mouth from happy parents.

Marketing skill gap as existential risk.

Jess was transparent about this from the start. Her background was tech, not marketing. She could build a product, design a curriculum, set up a studio. But social media, local outreach, community marketing — she'd never done any of it. The diagnosis rated her ICP clarity at 80/100 (she knew exactly who her customer was) but her distribution at near-zero.

"You're a founder who can build a 10/10 product but has never had to sell one locally. That gap isn't a weakness — it's just the next skill to learn. But you have 14 days."

What Happened Next

Jess didn't wait for the full 48-hour report turnaround. She started acting on the interim findings the same day.

Week 1: Leaflet blitz. She printed 500 leaflets and personally visited every soft play centre, baby-friendly cafe, and community centre within a 15-minute drive of the studio. Five venues agreed to display them. The local children's centre put them in their welcome packs — reaching every new parent registering in the area.

Week 1: Health visitor connection. This was the single highest-impact action in the entire diagnosis. One health visitor in Farnham sees every new parent in the catchment area. Jess brought her in for a free session. That health visitor started personally recommending Tiny Whirlwinds to new mums at their 6-week check-ups. One relationship. Worth more than 10,000 Instagram followers.

Week 2: Bring-a-friend launch offer. Every existing parent got a free session to give to a friend. Three of the four existing bookings brought someone. Two of those converted to term bookings on the spot.

Instagram went from 1 post to 4 per week. Real content — not polished marketing. Videos of babies experiencing the light shows for the first time. Parents' reactions. Behind-the-scenes studio setup. Authentic, shareable, exactly what local mums engage with.

By launch day: 11 term bookings across two class slots. Not 4. Not barely viable. Properly healthy numbers with a waitlist forming for the second term.

Within 6 weeks of launch, Jess had 23 active families, a 4.8 rating on Google (from zero to 12 reviews), and a waiting list for the next intake. The Happity listing alone was driving 40% of new enquiries. Instagram hit 800 followers — organic, local, engaged.

She hasn't mentioned franchising since. She's focused on filling every slot, building the waiting list, and proving the unit economics work before even thinking about location two. That's not a retreat from ambition — it's ambition with a foundation.

The Prescription

Forget franchising. Get 20 new parents through the door in 30 days. Three actions: visit 5 local venues with leaflets this week, activate a bring-a-friend offer for existing parents, and post on Instagram 4x per week.

Health visitors see EVERY new parent in the area — one recommendation is worth 100 Instagram followers. Get them into the studio. Let the product sell itself.

Don't spend a single minute on franchise planning until the first location is consistently at 80%+ capacity for two consecutive terms.

The Number That Matters

80/100 ICP clarity — crystal clear who the customer is (local mums, 0–15 month babies, seeking gentle sensory experiences in small groups). The founder IS her own ICP. The gap was purely visibility. Once people could find Tiny Whirlwinds, the product did the rest.

What Jess Said

"I'd spent three months perfecting the studio and two days on marketing. The diagnosis made me realise I had the ratio completely backwards. The health visitor connection alone filled half my first term — and I would never have thought of it. I was so focused on Instagram because that's what everyone tells you to do. Sometimes the most powerful marketing channel is a person with a clipboard in a doctor's surgery."

— Jess, Founder, Tiny Whirlwinds