| 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 $85K 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 $85K. Full details in [[project-studio-noir-capital-reality]]. |
| L07 |
We build in phases, not all at once. |
$85K 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 5-month cash reserve, always. Base case $45K. |
We do not spend the whole $85K on buildout. Roughly $45K of the $85K is untouchable reserve for rent, insurance, utilities, and equipment lease for the first months when memberships are ramping. Higher than the earlier $25K because monthly fixed opex grew with the two-lever capital stack. |
| 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 uses a two-lever capital stack: $85K cash + landlord TI + equipment lease. |
Instead of forcing the entire buildout onto Taj’s $85K, we take landlord TI allowance (~$50K) to fund most of the affixed buildout and equipment financing (~$11K) for poles/sound/lighting. Adds ~$1,400/mo to fixed opex (rent up $1,000 for TI amortization, lease $400) but delivers a full-spec buildout, reduces Taj’s cash-at-risk by ~$20K, and cleans up wind-down optionality. Break-even shifts from 40 to 46 members. See [[capital-stack]]. |
| 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]]. |
