ASSEENIN

THE FUTURE OF ESCAPE

MEET ESCAPE THE CITY

HelpingCorporateDronesLiveTheirDreams.“ ”

WE BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WORK FOR A BIG CORPORATE COMPANY

IF YOU FEEL THE SAME – WE’D LOVE YOU TO JOIN US

A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDERS

Hellothere,

ThetwoofusstartedEscapetheCitywhenwewereworkingasmanagementconsultantsintheheartofthecorporateworld(theCity)inLondon.Webondedoverasharedfeelingof‘surelythereismoretolifethanthis?’

Wewantedtoescapeourcorporatejobsandwewerestruckbyhowharditwastoactuallymaketheleap.Wherewereallthegenuinelyviable,exciFngcareeralternaFves?

Werealisedthatmostofourfriendsandcolleagueswerestrugglingwiththesamechallenge:‘ifnotthis,thenwhat?’

WearebuildingEscapetheCitytosolvethisproblem.

YouareprobablyalreadyawareofEscapetheCity–whoweareandwhatwe’redoing.Whatyouaren’tyetawareofisourplanforthefuture.Thisdocumentisthatplan.

EscapetheCitystandsforsomething.Webelievelifeistooshorttodoworkthatdoesn’tmaJertoyou.Webelievethisisanimportantidea.

Weareanearlystagestart‐upwithaconceptthathasreallystruckachord.Wehavecleargrowthplans.WearealreadybuildingthefutureofEscapetheCity.We’dloveyourhelpingeLngthere.

WearebuildingaplaMormthatwillhelpmillionsofpeoplemakeexciFngcareertransiFonsthattheycurrentlyareonlydreamingof.

Pleasereadontofindouthow.

ThankyouforyoursupportingeLngusthisfar.

Dom&Rob

DomJackman|RobSymington(Co‐FoundersofEscapetheCity)

WHO ARE WE?

MeetDomJackman&RobSymington.Boredwiththeirjobstheyleftinsearchofnewcareers.RealisingothersfeltthesameasthemtheysetupEscapetheCity.

“”

TWO ESCAPEES, ONE VISION

Whoarewe?

Rob(le*)isinterestedinstoriesthatspread.Hebelievesthat'justbecause'thingsaredoneinacertainwayitdoesn'tmeanthatthatisthebestwaytodothem.Heoncedrovea35‐year‐oldLandRoverfromCapeTowntoCairo.Heownsanorangedouble‐deckerbuscalledEsmerelda.HelovesManchesterUnited.

Dom(right)isinterestedinstart‐ups,entrepreneurialismandadventure.Heispassionateaboutworkinghardonsomethinghereallybelievesin.Healsolovesagoodadventurewhetherit’scanoeingdowntheYukon,climbingmountainsintheAndesorcyclingtoParisin24hours.

Whyarewedoingthis?

WemetwhilstworkingasmanagementconsultantsinLondon.

WearebothdrivenandambiTousbutwhenwelookedatthecorporateladderlinedupaheadofus,werealisedthatourfuturecareerswouldlieoutsideofthecorporatemainstream.

It’seasytoknowwhatyoudon’twanttodo.FindingexciTngalternaTvesishard.Oureurekamomentcamewhenwerealisedthatmassesofprofessionalsfeelexactlythesameway.

ItisatragedythatsomanytalentedpeopleseYleforcorporatejobsthatdon’treallymaYertothem.It’snotaboutopTngout.It’saboutfighTngtofindcareeropportuniTesthatmaYertoyou.

Weknowhowhardthisis.Wearebuildingthesolu;on.

WHAT HAVE WE BUILT?

ALondon‐basedstart‐uphasfoundanopportunityforprofessionalseagertoquitcorporatelifeformoreentrepreneurialventures.

“

”

”

OUR STORY – 24 MONTHS AT A KITCHEN TABLE

Star;ngamovementfromourkitchentable

WestartedEscapewith£5keach.Wethrewabig600personlaunchpartyandreleasedourfirstwebsiteonMarch7th2010…wehaven’tstoppedsince.

Injusttwoyears,withverylimitedresourceswehavebootstrappedourwaytoawell‐lovedbrand,healthyearlyrevenueandagrowingglobalcommunitywithbasesinLondonandNewYork.

WeknowthatthepotenTalforthisideaishuge.Weareonlyjustscratchingthesurface.WearefantasTcallyplacedtocapitaliseonthisopportunity.Wewantyoutojoinus.

Ourfirst24monthsinnumbers…

+100Monday‘Top10OpportuniTes’newsleYers+67,000EscapetheCitymembers+£100,000revenuein24months+2000organisaTonsposTngopportuniTes+90ciTeswithEscapeMeetupsproposed/organised15mainstreampressfeatures4televisionappearances(Bloomberg&Reuters)1bookdealwithWiley(TheEscapeManifesto)1baseinNewYork(10,000membersandcounTng)3escapecouples&1happyengagement*

[*CongratulaFonsBenKeeneandSusieDaniell!]

WHAT IS THE VISION?

hYp://www.istockphoto.com/stock‐photo‐14627326‐woman‐with‐thought‐bubble.php?st=7d45cb8

A LOT OF PEOPLE WANT TO ‘DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT’

Wegetemailsfrompeopleonadailybasistellingushowexcitedtheyaretohavefoundus.O*enprofessionalswillemailusfromdifferentcountriesbeggingustostartanEscapehubintheircity.

Thisisanideathatexcitesalotofpeople.

TheTmeisright–theworldischanging,careersarechanging.

Peoplearenolongerworkingforonecompanyfor40years.Peopledon’twanttospendtheircareerinonesingleindustry.

PeoplewanttodrivetheircareersindirecTonsthatmaYertothem.TheywanttofindexciTngjobs,starttheirownbusinesses,andgoonbigadventures.

TransiToningawayfromthecorporateworldisreallyhard.That’swhyover67,000peoplehavejoinedEscapetheCityinpursuitofopportuniTes,supportandinspiraTontomaketheleap.

Whatwehaveachievedsofarisjustthe;poftheiceberg.WebelievethatourplanforEscapecanchangemillionsoflives.

650m 75% 60% 54% 50%

…professionals worldwide 1

…plan on changing career within 5 years 2

…are not truly engaged in what they do 3

…would like to start a business 4

…want to take a career break 5

Sources:

1 Linkedin2FreshBusinessThinking.com3TowersPerrin/Gallup4KauffmanFoundaTon5EuPWNThinktank

THE BIG IDEA

Theworld’slargestprofessionalnetwork.

‘Whathaveyoudone?’

Abackward‐lookingrecordofprofessionalexperienceand

work‐relatedcontacts.

Theworld’sfirstprofessionaldiscoverynetwork.

‘Whatdoyouwanttodo?’

Aforward‐lookingdiscoverynetwork.Match‐makingbetween

youandyourfuture.

hYp://nycagrow.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/big‐is‐small.jpg

AN ASPIRATIONAL NETWORK

Theproblemwithcurrentservices

•  YoucanregisteryourCVwithaheadhunterorrecruitmentagent...butyouaremostlikelygoingtoreceiveopportuniTesthatkeepyouonyourcurrenttrajectory.

•  Youcanbrowsejobboards,youcanevensetjobalerts...butthisislikelookingforaneedleinahaystackandpresupposesthatyoualreadyknowwhatyouarelookingfor.

•  YoucanpolishyourLinkedinprofile...butLinkedindoesn’tknowwhatyouwanttodowithyourcareer.Itismainlybackwardlooking–arecordofyourpastexperience.

Thesolu;on…

Wearebuildingaforward‐lookingprofessionalnetworkthathelpspeopleplanexciTngcareermovesthatmatchnotonlytheirpasts,butthefuturethattheywantforthemselves.

Ourideaissimple

Itisaboutdiscovery–“Telluswhatyouarelookingforandwe’llhelpyoufindit”.

WewillprovideEscapememberswithtoolstosettheiraspiraTons–whichwethenusetomatch‐makethemwiththepeople,organisaTons,andinformaTonthatreflectwheretheywanttogetto.

Don’tmapyourpast,planyourfuture.

FindanexciTngjob

Startyourownbusiness

Goonabigadventure

EscapetheCity…

SO WHAT ARE WE BUILDING?

PRIVACY

SetyourpreferencesandgetmatchedwithexciFngopportuniFes.Shareyourescapewiththecommunity.Receivehelpandgetsupport.BepersonallyapproachedbyexciFngorganisaFons.

SET YOUR ESCAPE

ULTIMATE PRIVACY Managehowyoushareyourescape.Remainanonymous‐hideyouridenFtyorcurrentemployerandsFllbenefitfromusingthesite.

COMMUNITY EXPANSION Agenuineonlinemovement.Connectwithpeoplewhocanhelpyougetwhereyou’regoing.EscapehubsandeventsinmorecountriesandciFesaroundtheworld.

MORE OPTIONS Thesinglebestsourceofnon‐corporateopportuniFes,organisaFons,andadventures.Setyourpreferences,receivepersonalalerts.

MEET THE ESCAPE TEAM

Rob:Co‐Founder/CommercialLead

Writesmoreemailsthananypersonalive.OnpointtogivetheuserswhattheywantandconnectthemwithorganisaTons.

Dom:Co‐Founder/TechnicalLead

Addictedtopixels.Websiteinterfaceguru.Adventurejunkie.Workingfuriouslytodeliverthenewplatorm.

Mike:USCommercialLead

EscapedaninvestmentbanktotakeEscapetheCitytoNewYork.SpearheadstheUSrevoluTonfromaleatherjacket.

Fabio:LeadDeveloper

+5yearsexperiencemanagingso*wareteams.Ruby‐on‐Rails,MySQLGuru.Lovesskiingandthegreatoutdoors.

Kelly:FrontEndDeveloper

NewZealand'sfinestexport.Expertinuserexperience/interfacedesign/HTML/CSS.MovedtoLondontojointheteam.

X2RubyDevelopers(Summer2012)

Louisa:TeamLinchpin

Hyper‐efficientofficemanagerandsalesmanager.Louisakeepstheshipafloat.Withoutherwe’dbenothing!

Adele:CommunityManager

EscapetheCity’sveryfirstgroupie.In‐depthdigitalcommunitybuildingexperience.Adeleisanuber‐connectorandtalentededucator.

Recrui;ng:

Organisa;onHunter(Summer2012)Interns(Rollingevery6weeks)

Recrui;ng:

ALL EXISTING MEMBERS WILL GET PRIORITY ACCESS TO THE NEW SITE

www.escapethecity.org

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET JOINED – PLEASE GO TO OUR HOME PAGE TO REQUEST MEMBERSHIP