Joe Garvey is not an ordinary corporate officer - known among his team at California League of Adult Scavenger Hunters (CLASH) as Captain Joe, he is "a meticulous planner with an aggressive wardrobe."
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of the scavenger hunt startup named CLASH, Garvey revealed to the Business Insider that he owes about 20% of his company's 2014 revenue to his vivid neon pants.
Dubbed as the "tech party king," Captain Joe is famous for his bright-coloured pattern pants, which gets him at least five complements per hour on an average while hanging out at San Fransisco, he says. His business mantra is to turn those compliments into conversations, and those conversations into connections that lead to business deals.
In fact, Garvey says that he landed one of CLASH's early gigs with Google after an employee he met at a bagel shop was "floored by the pants."
CLASH began as an eight-week sports league and was hired by Google on the completion of three seasons, to produce a scavenger hunt for their interns. Once Google finds you, it is impossible to stay under the radar even if you tried! And so the word got out about this unbelievably creative team that plans epic scavenger hunts to enhance employee retention, company culture and product celebrations.
It all started when Joe Garvey, who used to work as an activities coordinator at a hotel for the homeless, held an epic scavenger hunt for his friends in Dolores Park, leading one of the attendees to request him to put one for a birthday party, SF Gate reported.
Following this, the idea of a startup scavenger hunt came about and now, three years down the line, he is pretty much the party-planning king of the tech set.
"San Franciscans are natural scavengers," Captain Joe says. "It's a hardworking, intense city, and there is a market for helping people be ridiculous." In his trademark neon spandex pants and fanny pack, Captain Joe gives out condoms with his details printed on front instead of business cards.
"I'm mellow, but somehow I can just flip it on," the crazy pants-wearing Garvey says. "I never knew that about myself until I started doing this. But leading 100 people with a microphone gets me in my zone."
This year Captain Joe has come up with another brilliant appeal to raise CLASH revenue. He promised to pierce his nipples if the scavenger startup doesn't produce $1 million worth of hunts in 2014. "Help us preserve Captain Joe's nipples. Who has some leads for us? - CLASH Scavenger Hunts"
A typical scavenger hunt begins and ends at a bar, office or any agreed-upon venue and unfolds thus:
First 30-45 minutes – Drinking (optional, yet suggested), organising teams of five to eight players and explaining the rules
Next 90 minutes – Scavenger hunting within a specific neighborhood – eight checkpoints, 30 clues & lots of photos. Teams rack up as many points as possible before time expires.
Last 30-45 minutes – Getting back to the bar, office or venue for scoring, cocktails, and slideshow of the funniest photos & awards.
Click here to book an epic Scavenger Hunt with CLASH, but before you do, watch this video on how to prepare yourself for a CLASH scavenger hunt:
