A couple years ago, Daniel Henderson’s wife told him it was about time to start looking for summer camps for their children. It was a few days before Thanksgiving.
Henderson’s wife went on to detail a process Henderson described as involving “tons and tons of manual manipulation”—visiting camp websites, checking dates of availability, making spreadsheets of options and activities, attaching notes to said spreadsheets, and so on.
“There’s got to be a better mechanism than this,” Henderson recalled thinking.
He decided to get in touch with his friend Brett Dooies, an engineer with whom he’d worked for years at nCino. When Brett confirmed that he’d also experienced the tedium of advance camp planning, the pair determined that there was value in finding a solution. And Campy.ai was born.
Building Campy
The real problem that Henderson and Dooies zeroed in on as they set about building Campy.ai was that planning for summer camp involved too many unconnected variables. Between them, the co-founders have five children, and they had experienced first-hand the complexities of seeking out different camps and activities for each of their kids—not to mention different start dates, sign-up processes, logistical details, and more.
“I don’t have a singular place to help me organize, execute and manage these programs across multiple children,” Henderson said. “Now what if I created a solution that… aggregates all of that and allows me to do those activities?”
Building on that premise, Henderson and Dooies conducted a flurry of research with camps, parents, and parent groups within school systems. They ultimately determined that there was not only value in a solution, but desire for one.
That solution has since come into focus as the Campy.ai platform, which uses artificial intelligence to aggregate up-to-date camp information and help parents organize it according to their needs.
The platform has scenario and calendar builders that enable parents to choose camps, input their dates on a calendar, and organize them by “kid profile.” They can then view additional details (such as whether a camp is whole-day or half-day, whether it might be all boys or all girls, what activities are offered, etc.), tag options as “favorites,” and easily access camps’ respective websites.
The end result is that parents can logically map out a summer’s worth of available camps and activities for all of their children.
Beyond searching and booking
Henderson acknowledged that there are some existing tools that exist to help parents search for camps and book space. Where Campy.ai sets itself apart, he conveyed, is through “clean, trustworthy, up-to-the-moment data.”
For instance, he said, “If a camp cancels on a day, then we’re able to provide that information.”
Campy.ai also goes further to equip parents with a full range of relevant details and features. Beyond just helping parents find camps, the platform sends alarms when registration opens. Once a child is booked, Campy will also send parents packing list reminders, necessary weather-related updates, and even ways to share information with a sitter or relative who may be picking up children.
“Those are the elements, the full experience beyond finding and booking that we intend to incorporate into Campy to make it unique and more valuable,” Henderson said.
Right now, Campy is providing these elements via a combination of AI aggregation and manual training of the platform’s model. This is helping Henderson and Dooies refine the service to focus only on the most relevant, applicable camp findings.
The market for Campy
As of this writing, Campy.ai is in an alpha state that Henderson projected to last through the month of March. Thereafter, the team will expand reach and access for broader application in and around the Wilmington market this summer. Henderson envisioned that ultimately, as the platform is refined and its value is proven, expansion throughout North Carolina and the Southeast will follow.
Campy’s primary source of revenue in the early going will be parents paying for access. However, Henderson noted that there is potential to develop multiple additional streams of revenue. One may be camps may paying for benefits like simplified registration; another might involve advertisement for camp-related materials.
QUICK BITS
Startup: Campy.ai
Co-Founders: Daniel Henderson, Brett Dooies
Founded: 2023
Team size: 3
Location: Raleigh
Website: www.campy.ai
Funding: Bootstrapped
“We think that there are multiple tendrils for revenue opportunities from this,” Henderson said.
Ultimately, though, Campy.ai is being built to address a common pain point among parents. As the startup continues to evolve, it will provide parents with streamlined, comprehensive planning of summer activities for their kids.
Henderson asked that those who might be interested in being early adopters, eventually using the platform, or simply providing feedback reach out to him (hendo@campy.ai) or his co-founder, Brett Dooies (brett@campy.ai).
