| L01 |
Raleigh-Durham (RDU) is the flagship market. |
The Triangle holds concentrated wealth (RTP tech and finance corridor: Cisco, IBM, Epic Games, Red Hat, Fidelity Cary, MetLife), Duke and NC State athletics, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL), a growing global hub airport (RDU), and it is Taj’s home city. Nothing in the luxury vertical wellness lane is well-served in the Triangle yet. (Pivoted from Charlotte on 2026-08-10 — see change log.) |
| L02 |
The brand name is STUDIO NOIR. |
It says pole vault, wealth vault, and quiet sanctuary at once. Short, easy to say, easy to tattoo, scales to national IP later (THE NOIR INVITATIONAL). |
| L03 |
Taj is founder, face, and creative director. Never operator. |
She never opens the doors, covers a class, or sets up gear. Someone else runs the day-to-day. This is a hard rule based on standing feedback: no plan puts her back in ops delivery or setup. |
| L04 |
Trill is Chief Strategy Officer. |
He does strategy, brand, competition production through The Walker Group, and capital raising. He does not draw a salary from STUDIO NOIR. He earns indirectly through TWG production fees on THE NOIR INVITATIONAL later. “CSO” means the senior strategic partner, not a salaried employee. |
| L05 |
The Walker Group produces the competition IP. |
THE NOIR INVITATIONAL is the annual pole and movement championship, produced by TWG. This is the national IP that scales the brand beyond four walls. It launches after the flagship opens (Phase 2), not Phase 1. |
| L06 |
Real starting capital is $84K from Taj. |
This is the number we plan against. Not the $1.5M we modeled earlier. Everything downstream (buildout scope, hires, timing, distributions) sizes to $84K. Full details in [[project-studio-noir-capital-reality]]. |
| L07 |
We build in phases, not all at once. |
$84K funds Phase 1 (Boutique). Phase 2 (Flagship) gets built after Phase 1 proves the model and we raise real money against real numbers. Phase 3 (Franchise) is Year 5+. |
| L08 |
Phase 1 is a boutique studio, not a small flagship. |
It is a different product. Smaller footprint (roughly 1,500 to 2,500 square feet), focused on pole plus movement, without the sauna, cold plunge, café, retail boutique, or broadcast floor. Same STUDIO NOIR brand and hospitality standard as the flagship version. |
| L09 |
SoftPlay Era is winding down. Target 60 days. |
Taj’s attention moves fully to STUDIO NOIR. No new SoftPlay bookings, no new equipment, no new content. Existing bookings honored and closed out. See 15_SOFTPLAY_SUNSET for the wind-down plan. |
| L10 |
Positioning is gender-neutral luxury. |
Tagline: “Where athletes train and artists perform.” Not women-only. Pole is a discipline, not a gender. |
| L11 |
The hospitality standard is 5-star. |
Prosecco at the door. Concierge greeting by name. Signature scent through the space. Ritual arrival, ritual departure. Aman or Peninsula hotel standard is the reference. This is intact in Phase 1 even at boutique scale. If it does not meet that standard, it does not ship. |
| L12 |
STUDIO NOIR IP LLC exists from Day 1. |
The trademarks (STUDIO NOIR and THE NOIR INVITATIONAL) live inside the franchisor entity, not the operating company. That way when franchising activates in Phase 3, we do not have to restructure. Setup cost is a few thousand dollars, savings later are large. |
| L13 |
Phase 1 opens by end of 2027, ideally sooner. |
Lease signed by Q1 2027, buildout in 6 to 10 weeks, soft open by summer 2027, full open by fall 2027. If we can compress, we do. Every month closed is a month not compounding. |
| L14 |
Phase 1 keeps a ~4.6-month cash reserve, always. Base case $32K. |
We do not spend the whole $84K on buildout. Roughly $32K of the $84K is untouchable reserve for rent, insurance, utilities, and equipment lease for the first months when memberships are ramping. Reserve is shorter than the prior $44K version because $12K was redirected into buildout (Bucket 3) to compensate for zero TI, and the Chase credit facility now sits between overruns and the reserve. |
| L15 |
Membership starts with 2 tiers in Phase 1. |
Access (unlimited classes) and Studio (unlimited classes plus perks). Black Card tier arrives in Phase 2 when the amenities exist to justify it. Placeholder pricing: Access $199 per month, Studio $349 per month. See 03_CONCEPT_PROGRAMMING. |
| L16 |
Phase 1 capital stack: $84K cash equity + Chase business credit facility + equipment lease. Zero landlord TI in the baseline. |
Reversed the prior TI-baseline stack on 2026-08-10. Taj’s $84K cash funds legal + lease + full buildout + soft launch + reserve. A Chase business credit facility (Ink Business Preferred + Business Line of Credit, ~$75K undrawn at open, personal guarantee) is the buildout bridge and emergency reserve. Equipment lease (~$11K principal, $400/mo × 36) covers poles/sound/lighting. Any landlord TI we negotiate is upside, not modeled. Rent target moves down to ~$4,000/mo all-in (no TI amortization), fixed opex drops to ~$6,900/mo, break-even lands at 35-38 members. Taj also holds personal capital outside the $84K as a last-resort backstop — not drawn from unless the credit facility exhausts. See [[capital-stack]] and [[startup-budget]]. |
| L17 |
No Founders’ pre-sales or prepaid dues before doors open. |
Off-brand for the luxury frame, puts sales work on Taj, triggers NC’s Prepaid Membership Contract Act, and violates the integrity call: no member money before there is a building to walk into. See [[feedback-no-prepaid-memberships]]. |
