Boston Duck Tours
Tiring of work in investment banking, this entrepreneur left salaried employment, withstood the skepticism of others, and built an unusual but highly successful tourism business.
It is not uncommon for entrepreneurial ventures to meet with resistance. Even though small businesses account for more new job creation than larger established fi rms, many people and organizations are often reluctant to embrace entrepreneurial opportunities. Andy Wilson, founder of Boston Duck Tours, experienced this firsthand. But despite the overwhelming obstacles he faced in starting and growing his business, he persisted with a positive attitude and commitment to his idea.
After working for seven years in an investment banking firm, Wilson was no longer motivated by the suit-and-tie atmosphere of corporate America. So he left his job, bought a 90-day Greyhound Bus pass, and began touring the country. At a stop in Memphis, he was awakened by a Duck Tour being conducted outside his hotel. Intrigued, he took the tour. He didn't think any more about it until he got home to his native Boston and saw a stream of trolleys, packed with sightseers.
Instantly, the Duck Tour idea came to mind. Wilson decided to bring the Duck Tour concept to Boston and create a lively, informative, historical tour to showcase the city from both the land and the river. He invested $30,000 of his own money and then began making the rounds, seeking government permits and additional investors. He quickly encountered skepticism, and even derision, as he wended his way through a maze of nearly 100 government agencies.
Because the Duck (a World War II-era amphibious vehicle) is part bus, part truck, and part boat, he had a diffi cult time explaining his business concept to government bureaucrats and potential investors. "The short and sweet of it is that everybody thought I was nuts because it was a new idea," said Wilson. One government official even told him that he would have better luck trying to build a skyscraper in the center of Boston Public Garden! About to give up, Wilson decided to check out the competition before he threw in the towel. His first trolley tour, which he called "such a pathetic experience," gave him the determination to keep pushing forward. He located investors to provide the $1.25 million he required to launch Boston Duck Tours, and he began the arduous task of securing the 29 permits necessary to operate his business.
He researched other Duck Tour operations that had been successful in the Midwest and formed an alliance with the operator in Branson, Missouri, to get the Ducks he needed to start the business in Boston. And he began looking for employees by running newspaper ads in the Boston Globe for Coast Guard captains. Duck drivers (called conDUCKtors) need four licenses: a captain's license from the U.S. Coast Guard, a commercial driver's license from the state of Massachusetts, a license from the Department of Public Safety, and a sightseer's license from the city of Boston.
Despite these requirements, applicants responded in droves. Determined to create a different kind of tourist attraction, Wilson decided to abandon traditional interviewing techniques. Instead, he had applicants meet with a theatrical coach who put them through theatrical skill sets. Applicants then selected items from a group of props, created a character, and put together a costume. The 45 Duck captains play characters like "Captain Courageous," a World War II radio operator downed in the South Pacific, and "Penny Wise," a Southern Belle who now drives her Duck around Boston looking for her longlost love. The cast of conDUCKtors makes Boston Duck Tours "the best show on wheels," Wilson said. Boston Duck Tours was only open for two months its first season.
The next year, it carried almost 15 times as many passengers as it had the previous year, and tours were selling out every day. By the third year, the company was a well- established part of the city's tourism industry, and those adversaries who had made things difficult at the beginning started embracing Boston Duck Tours. Wilson used the success of his business to strengthen his presence in the community. He got involved in local environmental groups and sponsored contests in which local schoolchildren named new Ducks. He donated one million pennies to his onemillionth passenger's charity of choice, and he gave veterans free tours during the week of Veteran's Day in honor of his father, a World War II veteran who died when Wilson was young. (The company still does that every year.)
What began as a four-Duck, 15-employee business in October of 1994 has grown to a 23-Duck, 100-employee tourism powerhouse in the Boston market. Today, over 2,700 passengers a day quack at passersby from the deck of a colorfully painted Duck, captained by an equally colorful character. And Duck Tours have hatched all over, in places like Austin, Chicago, Dublin, Liverpool, London, Oahu, Seattle, Singapore, Tampa Bay, and the Wisconsin Dells. In 2000, Andy Wilson sold his stake in Boston Duck Tours to pursue other projects, but his management team took over and continues to build on his foundation. This case study was developed in cooperation with the Small Business School, the series on PBS stations. To learn more and to see the video, go to https://www. smallbusinessschool.org.
Question
1. What is Andy Wilson's primary motivation for leading an entrepreneurial life?
2. What kind of entrepreneurial venture is Boston Duck Tours?
3. Describe the competitive advantage of Boston Duck Tours.
4. What characteristics of successful entrepreneurs does Andy Wilson embody?
Activities
1. Now that you are familiar with Duck Tours, do some research to determine whether there is a Duck Tour company in your city or area. If there is, make an appointment to interview the owner. Draft a set of interview questions that address the issues you learned about in Chapter 1. Here are some examples to get you started:
• When did you get the idea for the business?
• Why did you want to start this business?
• What made you take the plunge into entrepreneurship?
• What obstacles did you encounter while starting the business?
• What competitive advantage do you have over other tourist attractions?
Many other questions are also possible. Write a brief summary of what you learned during the interview.
2. If you do not have a Duck Tour company in your area, think about what you would need to start one. Is your town or area suited for Duck Tours? If there isn't a body of water in your city, could you still create a business based on the Duck Tour concept? Visit the Boston Duck Tours website at https://www.bostonducktours.com to find out more about the company and what made it a business opportunity rather than just a business idea. Write a short description (no more than a couple of paragraphs) of a unique tourism company in your city.