A rogue CIA agent has escaped from under the nose of headquarters, poised to set off a series of irreversible events. The consequences are calamitous. The threat of World War III hangs in the balance. You are a federal investigator, hot on the trail of the rogue agent, and you’ve discovered the agent’s abandoned, secret apartment. However, you only have 60 minutes to prevent sheer destruction and solve the apartment’s hidden clues.
This is the scenario at Lockdown Austin, a live escape room experience owned and operated by Byron ’02 and Sarah Bradbury ’07 French and five other co-founders. Teams ranging from two to eight persons work together against the clock in either the “World War III” or the “Casino Heist” room. In the high-profile Las Vegas “casino,” participants must rob the vault before time expires and the police are called.
“In these rooms, we want you to feel like you are part of a story, where there is high drama going on and you are a key part of it,” Byron says. “We were deliberate in creating an intense story.”
The Frenches embarked on this journey after participating in an escape room in February 2015 with their friends. The group decided they could offer a higher-quality experience and a practice escape room was created in the Frenches’ spare bedroom. After plenty of test groups enticed by free meals, the doors of Lockdown Austin opened that August. In addition to teams of families or friends, Lockdown Austin also entertains corporate groups who are often looking for a team building exercise.
“A whole side of our business is to encourage corporate team building,” Sarah says. “It is neat to see because groups have to learn how to reorganize their structure, work together, communicate, and sometimes listen to a person they might otherwise not listen to.”
Byron agrees, calling the escape room experience “a very interesting psychological observation.” Nevertheless, the Frenches don’t spend as much time at Lockdown Austin as they would like, as both Byron and Sarah hold full time jobs. At Maximus, a project management company, Byron is a senior manager who oversees the company’s call center. As a former manager of student calling programs, like Phonathon, at Trinity, Byron jokes that call centers are “in his DNA.” Sarah directs the fundraising team at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, where her team amasses the annual $9 million budget. To keep things running smoothly at Lockdown Austin, the Frenches and five co-owners retain one full time employee and six part-time workers.
For Sarah, a business administration and economics major, a key motivator is interacting with their employees and serving as a job provider. She says that she never really considered a career in entrepreneurship, but that this opportunity felt right for herself, Byron, and their friends. Sarah credits the success of their business with clearly defined roles and agreeing on certain things as group decisions.
Also a business administration major, Byron says that the strength of their ownership team is rooted in diverse backgrounds where everyone brings something to the table. He says it has been great to be “able to bounce ideas off of people” and to have people whose advice he can trust.
“I am driven by delivering a great product and providing a high-level experience for our customers,” Byron says. “My favorite part of this is seeing groups having an amazing time through what we created. That makes it all worthwhile. That’s mission accomplished.”
With plans to expand the number of rooms, Byron and Sarah are optimistic about the future of Lockdown Austin. From shopping for props to rewiring light systems, the Frenches are having a great time delivering “the best product” that they can, whether that means scouring the globe for a fugitive CIA agent or looting the vault of a Las Vegas casino.
Whatever the challenge, one fact is certain. Your 60 minutes starts now.
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