Building a $1B Youth Enrichment Platform From Rejection
By Sherin Shibu · Entrepreneur · August 7, 2026
When Michael Browning Jr. set out to open a trampoline park in 2011, every bank and investor said no. At 26, he was told he was too young and that the idea would never work. So he turned to family instead: his father, who had a construction background, helped him build the very first Urban Air Adventure Park by hand, renting forklifts, laying wood, and unloading foam cubes to construct it from scratch.
The parks caught on, and so did an unlikely franchising engine. Long before sophisticated digital campaigns, Browning placed signs above the men's room urinals and on stall doors that read, "Want to be your own boss? Own an Urban Air franchise." He credits a large share of his first fifty franchisees to that idea, guests who were already having a great time and left thinking they could bring the fun to their own hometown.
The bigger vision arrived during Covid. Sitting on the couch with his wife, both Googling activities for their kids, Browning realized how fragmented youth enrichment was, and that no one had built a "Marriott Bonvoy" style ecosystem for families. In 2021 he founded Unleashed Brands to connect the world's best youth brands on shared services, technology, and marketing, starting with the acquisitions of The Little Gym and Snapology.
Youth Enrichment Platform
Today, Unleashed Brands is one of the largest youth enrichment platforms in the world, built on a simple belief: every child deserves the chance to learn, play, and grow. Those three pillars organize a portfolio of seven brands, each a leader in its category. On the Learn side sit Sylvan Learning, Class 101, and Snapology. Under Play are Urban Air Adventure Parks and Water Wings. And in Grow are The Little Gym and Premier Martial Arts.
Together, those brands operate more than 1,600 locations, have served over 25 million kids, and have surpassed $1 billion in sales. But the number Browning is proudest of is momentum: 133 new locations opened in 2025, with 200+ in development, real businesses for real franchise families.
Shared Services Strategy
What ties it together is the platform underneath, shared technology, marketing, real estate, and operations, the "Marriott Bonvoy for kids" vision now at national scale, still about the same thing as day one: giving kids somewhere to be their best and families someone they can trust.