Moments Made Inc.

Founded:

2006


Core business:

Providing a range of unusual, high-end gift packages and experiences


Employees in 2006:

1


Employees in 2007:

3


Goal:

To become the go-to source for unique gifts on a national basis


Driving force:

Individuals seeking to give friends or loved ones unique and memorable gifts

Moments Made Inc. is trying to make a business out of providing new and thrilling answers to that perennial question: What do you give the person who has everything?

Or, in this case, the person who wants to feel like a person who has everything, and might enjoy jumping out of an airplane, speeding around a racetrack in a Formula One race car or hang-gliding over the ocean.

That’s the idea behind Moments Made, a Los Angeles-based company that lets anyone willing to make the extra effort to buy a gift in the form of a unique experience.

Chintan Dhanji, a 26-year-old actuary from South Africa, came up with the idea last year when shopping for a friend’s birthday gift in London.

“He’s got everything I could dream of, so basically it was either a bottle of wine or scotch, or I could find something fun for him to do that was unique,” Dhanji said. “This concept exists in Europe, but I realized there was still room for it to grow in the United States.”

Through the company Web site, launched this spring, gift givers wanting to “think outside the box” can browse for exotic or adventurous gifts by city, price range and category. The categories: Fly, Splash, Drive, Relax, Eat & Drink, Explore, Hobbies, Romance and Unique Gifts.

No accounting

So far the vast majority of Moments Made’s sales have been in California, though the company spent much of last month amassing more providers in New York, hoping to establish a presence there.

“California is an adventure market,” Dhanji said. “People here seek more of an adrenaline rush, so they tend to go for things like racing a stock car, hot air ballooning, kayaking and the like.”

Some of the company’s most popular packages are dinner cruises on a yacht, hang gliding or spa visits. Dhanji said he’s always on the lookout for activities to add to the collection of gift packages, and has recently added dirt-bike riding.

Moments Made negotiates deals with the spa, tracks and adventure providers and offers the packages at market rates so that consumers won’t be turned off by a price tag that’s way above market rate.

In return for a double-digit percentage cut of each sale, Dhanji sends those seeking adventure or relaxation to companies that specialize in each service offered. While discounting their services to Dhanji, the upshot for the vendors is exposure and new customers.

Moments Made has a deal with Beverly Hills Rent A Car, for example, that provides customers access to Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Ferraris and the like.

“It’s a high-end service we can brag about to the customers, and it’s also great grassroots marketing,” said Kurt Siejkowski, senior vice president of marketing for Beverly Hills Rent A Car.

Moments Made’s typical gift purchase is $250. There are less expensive options a Pilates package, for example, costs $75 though some of the packages can range in the thousands. Renting a Bentley, for example, costs about $2,000.

“Most of our gifts aren’t cheap, but for a few dollars more than a lot of people would normally spend on a gift, you can get something really special,” Dhanji said.

Obviously, the service will appeal to those with more disposable income, and finding enough customers could be a challenge, said one luxury market expert.

“The appeal really depends on the pricing in that a $300 or $400 spa experience is a much broader market than getting to use a flight simulator for weightlessness, which could go for $10,000 or $15,000,” said Ron Kurtz, a principal at the American Affluence Research Center in Florida.

“California has a very high percentage of affluence compared to the rest of the United States,” he said. “I wouldn’t think there is a really sizable demand but there is market opportunity for the concept, as it is something that could be attractive for the convenience of being able to go to one source and pull from a variety of experiences.”

Convenience aside, another upshot of aggregating all the gifts is that the packages are exchangeable, so if your mom isn’t keen on jumping out of an airplane, she can exchange her skydiving package for a day at the spa.

Meagan Sharp, a Moments Made customer and 21-year-old college student from Washington, said she wanted to do something different for her boyfriend who lives here in Los Angeles, so she selected a private dinner cruise in San Diego

“We live apart now, so we spoil each other with gifts, you know, jewelry and things like that,” Sharp said. “I love the bracelet he got me and he loves the watch I got him, but this is something we can talk about and have never done before.”

Lessons learned

Dhanji moved to the United States in 2003 and took a job working for Ernst & Young in downtown L.A. He left in September 2006 to launch Moments Made.

“It was horrendous making the decision to leave my stable, well-paying job; you lose security and it’s scary,” Dhanji said. “But I’m very young so I am at the point right now where it makes sense to try something new, because I can venture out and try things and not have to worry about how it will affect my whole life.”

Despite having time and money to dedicate to the concept, Dhanji has found it is difficult getting started, even with two part-time employees. Dhanji spent less than $10,000 on the Web site, work that he outsourced abroad to save money. Then he searched the Internet and made phone calls to find companies that could provide the unusual and high-end experiences Dhanji wanted to offer. Then came negotiations with the vendors to secure the contracts.

He ran three months late in getting the Web site up and running, so the site wasn’t operational until April. His firm’s revenues are just north of $8,000. Moments Made has dispensed less than 100 gifts to date and Dhanji has learned some hard lessons.

“Nothing ever goes according to plan,” Dhanji said. “The things you think would work never do, and the things that you doubt always come through.”