How a College Student Built the Disney FastPass for Bars

I was like, you know what, this one's it.

“The idea was, create something so simple, so seamless that, like,”

if someone thought to copy it, there would be no better way.

We basically have a universal digital fast pass.

If you're at a bar and it's taking too long to get a drink, you can actually buy SIPSKIP pass, hold it up. No, signals a bartender to come right to you instantly. You, what? Ethan Carion is an entrepreneur, tech innovator, and the founder of SIPSKIP.

Drawing from his passion for solving everyday problems, he is transforming the live entertainment and hospitality experience through technology while inspiring young entrepreneurs to think boldly, act quickly, and turn simple ideas into scalable businesses. Where does this entrepreneurial spirit come from?

I was actually, was raised by two entrepreneurs. My dad, especially, he's definitely instilled a founder mindset. He gave me a book when I was a young age. When I read that book when I was 14, it kind of like switched my mindset. Oh, for sure.

But I did know since a young kid that I wanted a founder company that was going to disrupt an industry and change the world. [music playing] It spans the globe. Like a super high school, internet Elvis.

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Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

It's our home on, our town out here! The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. [music playing] [music playing] Welcome back to another episode of The Living Your Legacy podcast.

For Insights Access, I am Regretiers. Fresh off our legacy makers can bare belt is Ethan Carion. Ethan Carion is the founder, creator of SIP Skip. Correct. I have so many questions.

Good thing we're in front of microphones at a podcast. Dude, welcome to the show. Thank you, man. Thank you for having me. I am good friends with the King of Beer Pong.

Jose Sanchez. Apparently he is-- I covered his eyes. We're in Vegas and he did the thing. I was mesmerized. Yeah.

Is there any connection correlation to what you do and the kings of your mind? No. And actually, there's not-- there's not other things-- Well, like, with both involved in Alcan.

They both involved a lot of alcohol, I would say. We're not-- so you are actually anti-alkal. Is this where it is going? No, I came to the Lord, Boba. So SIP Skip is a platform.

We basically have a universal digital fast pass.

We're available at bars, festivals, stadiums. If you're at a bar and it's taking too long to get a drink, you can actually buy SIP Skip Pass. Hold it up. No, signal is a bartender to come right to you instantly.

You-- what? No. Correct. You did the Disney pass for bars? The Disney pass pass for getting drinks passed to a man.

And I just stopped drinking, like-- You must've got to go. Well, congratulations, sir. Thank you. Well, you were so excited.

Good session stands at festivals in-- Right on stadiums as well. So they all have, like, SIP Skip lanes and stuff like that. Six.

“So are you partying up with, like, homies at Insomniac?”

Like, what is your philosophy here? Are you going for the festivals? Yeah. So it started out at this bar concept. But then I was like, this could be a lot bigger than bar concepts,

especially at these, like, big football games where there's 20-person lines to get a drink or get a bowl of nachos or something like that. It was like, why can't every concessions say and have a little sign that says SIP Skip lane

and you pay $10 to use the lane? Now, the $10 isn't by you. Anything but the convenience of skipping that line. Yeah. Skipping that way to the bar.

But at a bar, it's kind of cool for the bartenders, especially because when they walk up and redeem a pass, it takes literally two seconds. You just click the pass, click your name. But they actually get a portion of that pass

directly to their account. So they sign up, they connect themselves to the bars and they actually earn per skip like a door to ask driver. Per skip, don't you? (laughing)

Dude, look, you got your own vervage and that's very important. Yeah, we're trying to make it a household name. No, it's gonna definitely work. That's why I'm like, Amp for you. It was just like, what was the origin story?

Were you just tucking a line going, there's gotta be a better way. Honestly, you're kinda small now. I went to LSU and it was just in the bar. The bar was two friends that had a pool table reserved

and then me and another friend were at the bar and these are really packed bars. And we're just sitting there holding up our cards in the air, waiting for the bartender and go down the line. I contact back home.

- Exactly. - Come on, come on, come on, come on. And you know, like, if you ever seen the phone game heads up, where it's like, yeah, that little flicking thing, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, but like in the middle,

there's like this blue, a lowering screen, but like it really draws you into the title on the screen. So like, my idea was like, well, what if there was something you hold up

“that kind of like caught the bartender's attention?”

So that's the kind of idea behind the pass. It's really red, a lowering screen with like the bar logo in the middle of when you do hold it up, it's kind of funny you, you hold it up

- Yep. - But what is that? - You can't miss it, it's pretty, it's pretty in your face. - So how do you avoid bar fights in Boston? Because if I'm holding up in this in a good,

grimy, bust in bar, I'm gonna get my ass kicked. Well, like, what's the culture like? - The thing is there's a ship skip, like if a ship skip pass is being used in a bar, you're gonna know, like there's gonna be signs

outside the bar that's going to pay downloads. - Yeah. - So the ship skip, ship us on ship skip. You can also like liken this like bars on the app. - Whoa.

- It's like a whole rating system. - Oh, it's a little good. The ship skip passes just like a little part of the app.

But basically, like even on the bar tops,

there's like little signs that say like, "Why, wait, download ship skip, drinks faster." So like, it's a way of life. But like the normal like ship skip interaction goes, pass goes up, three thermal turner head,

person gets serve instantly.

“And then like, two people go, whoa, what does you just do?”

And then one of them actually ends up downloading the app and becoming the ship skip. - Which is awesome, especially when they're liberated and they have their liquid courage and everyone's in a completely different mindset.

- And everyone's in both classes. - Dopamine. - Yes, happy. - Yes. - Talk about the data science.

- Oh, yeah, behind the, what you're creating. Because, yeah, it's now pub craws are easier. But you now have democracy, not democratized, but you split your clientele. Well, now I have a quality client

that I know for a fact is a ship, a ship, a skipper.

- Correct. - Therefore, they're gonna tip better. They are different tax bracket. They got here in the lambo instead of a taxi. Like, you already can identify the human science

which is where the real money is at. - Correct. - How are you were just in character nodding with your evil master plan taking away your head? - No, there's, there's a lot of data.

There's a lot of data.

“- There's the stuff that's one aspect of it.”

- Yes, like, it's great for the bartenders. They also make a little money on the back end. The cool part is, nobody actually knows that the bartenders are making money on the back end. - Correct.

- So they get double tips. - Right on. But the real data comes when users are actually signing up, they select what type of bars they like, whether it's a DJ night, they like,

or maybe like a live music band or like, maybe I like, food at this bar, carry a night, whatever. And then you can also select what type of times you like to go out as such. And then we collect that data, we collect that data.

- Wow, wow. - It's great for big alcohol companies, all these people. And then also for bars, it's kind of like, now it's evolved into this social media platform for bars. - Yep, so like, no doubt.

- Sips give, has all the bars, let's say, I'm this bar, I have my own social media platform on there. Users can sip or skip, which is our rating class 1. - If I sip or bar, it adds to the sip skip score,

which is basically just the number of likes.

So like, if you've been on the out for a while, maybe you have 10,000, maybe 100,000, the sip skip score. Now if I skip a bar, nothing public happens. We don't want any Karen's throwing up, batter views. But there is a box that pops up to where users can type,

well, I didn't like to spend you because this is to add and maybe this bar tender or whatever. And I get submitted directly to the bars back end for them to take and improve their customer experience. - For real time data for them, well, another source of data

for them is actually they can see like the percentage of the sip or skip on the back end of their stuff, like nothing public, well, yeah, it's specifically for them. And something we're adding soon is where people can actually follow these venues, you can follow the venues.

And so like, let's say I have something going on that night, I can actually send push notifications directly to my followers to the sip skip app for none of that new. - Right on. - I wouldn't like to call it white labeling,

but I almost feel like you can almost get to like, I'm a DJ, but I almost feel like, well, I have a hardcore, loyalist crew that come out to see me. Let's create a sip skip line specifically for them. But let's up charge the shit out of them.

Because I know my clientele will drop a thousand cool on a table for 15 minutes.

“Do you create that experience just for that one divine unicorn?”

Are you able to just scale to that? - Um, it's not for a friend, by the way. - It's for a friend. - It's more venue-driven, it's more venue-driven. We want to keep like, we'll have accounts for venues

while our accounts are festivals and they'll have accounts for stadiums. - Right on dude, where I mean, maybe one day it turns into that. - Yeah, because I'm seeing the gears because what you're doing is a creating exclusivity.

You're creating that private Facebook group, but it just happens to be in a bar. And like, there's so many cool people I've met in Pub Cross, like, especially living in San Francisco, you'd have the reunion of all these cultures.

And it's just like such a way. Because sitting at a bar and introducing yourself in the old fashion way of buying someone a drink and going, yo, I contact. Here's the human connection.

You've sort of kind of created that group now where people can do that in an optimized way, because now we're all in this part of this cool kid's club. And folks have been doing this for quite a while that black card and the check-in at this place

and I became the mayor of that starvux and you gamified. But all of these baboons were doing all this in San Francisco. It's just now caught up with everyone else here in Miami

in New York where all of these cool gamified ARG experiences

So good on you, dude. How old are you? - 23. - Of course you are. (laughing) - You know, yeah.

- So how does it feel annoying that you got the feature in check?

And this is just your first bright idea.

- Um, yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - You're welcome. - Thank you. - Thank you.

- No, I've had a lot of ideas. None of them of which have held the weight of Sipskib. - Yeah. - And so I had a jump on it when I saw it. - No question.

- But I did know since a young kid that I wanted to found a company that was gonna disrupt an industry and change the world. So when I came up with Sipskib, I was actually doing another company at the time.

I was like, you know what, this one's it? - It was like, yeah, you feel it, it's great. - You all in. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And don't regret it at all.

I'm very excited for the future. We have some big deals coming up with some big stadiums. - Yeah, it's just an obvious thing. It's just like, what?

“The only thing is is like, you got to figure out”

just hold on to it because a stadium will go, well,

we just create our own system. Like that's it, it's been just getting all Sipskib. - Sure, well, now you're a Dallas fan and you get the Dallas line. - Correct, correct.

- So you're gonna figure out a way. I don't know, fucking fucking, fucking. (laughing) - We've actually, we definitely thought about that of creating the app, but we made it such a seamless process.

Especially like with the bartenders being on there. Now, if it's an stadium, you can create stations. - Yep. - Or if that's what you can create stations. - The idea behind it was like,

oh, well, like, obviously they can just copy it. - But it's like, why would you spend six months making an app when this is so seamless? - Yeah. - So you have to do spend 24 hours signing up

and it's free. - It's like a virus. - It's just quick. - It's so easy, it's so seamless. And it's, I mean, the UI's great.

You can download and figure yourself. - I don't know. (laughing)

“- Yeah, I have a, I also have a tech company”

that makes apps of websites and we run the app ourselves. - Yeah, so you understand where the eye is looking and how long you need to keep the data. They're holding someone you just grow from the bottom of the phone.

- So it's like, you understand what's really happening and the, the, the, the, the, the, the, yeah. - Korea eye. - We don't have thumbs eye. - We know that thumbs eye.

- By drinking buddies used to work at Facebook. (laughing) - They used to act like that, so they, they got it. But yeah, no, the idea was create something so simple, so seamless that like, if someone thought to copy it,

there would be no better way. - Yeah. - So. - And the more podcast you're doing, the more you become the face of it,

people are gonna look at your copy, and I was like, no, that's, I really did that, like that's the real, it's good for you, Lord jumping on it, dude. What are we gonna learn from you in your episode? Where does this entrepreneur spirit come from?

Learn to fail quick and fail fast. - Fail quick and fail fast, yeah. So I was actually, was raised by two entrepreneurs. My data, especially he, he's definitely instilled the founder mindset in me.

He gave me a book when I was a young age, called Thinking Grow Rich, when I was 14. - Smart dad, yeah. - Yeah, more dad's like that, please. - Yeah, he told me that four times out of my life,

and then I have, and when I read that book and I was 14, it kind of like switched my mind. - Oh, for sure. - Started, started getting into like some dropshipping when I was 15, 16.

So just kind of being raised with that mindset. - I do, I was just, I really had to fortune enough to be able to get started early. - Right. - I'll fail fast.

- I was just gonna say, you know, how big is your Ragtag team? Are you multiple or does it just you, you're trying to like, yeah, it's a team now for sure. So I founded the company, at the beginning of this year,

I brought in some people, I call co-founders. They're not technically co-founders, but they're pretty involved. - For sure. - One of them is actually a pretty heavy investor as well,

and then we have a couple more investors on top of that, and then we have couple more internal people. - Hello, do some stuff. - Yeah, dude. So what's next for you, what happens after the moment

you push Emily out of the way, you walk out that door? (laughs) How am I gonna get a drink? - No, I'm gonna get a drink, I just know. - But no, I actually have a meeting

with the palm tree crew or palm tree club, whatever. - Yeah, man. - They have a couple of clubs across the United States. I was told it was festivals, well, which is cool. But yeah, I have a lunch with them, so maybe.

- Cool, man. - Yeah, I look forward to the moment I run into at a music festival, and I give you the cool nod.

- Yeah, I remember when you made your first billion,

a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, some Simpsonscape credits. - Yeah, I'm sorry, yeah, they're coaching coaching. - Dude, with that, how can people learn more about you? Is it just literally grab a Dap Store and search you or zirdocom?

- Yeah, so you can go to, you can go to the Simpscape. Instagram, you can go to my Instagram, Ethan Carion, you can go to App Store, just literally Simpscape on the App Store. Or just to Simpscape.com, it's got its little own explanation. But yeah, I mean, just watch some podcasts.

But honestly, just check it out for yourself. - Right on. - The first time someone uses it,

“it's honestly the funniest thing ever, they're like, why?”

I mean, I remember when I was a case study testing this, before we put it on the app store,

I had a couple of venues testing it.

“And I think this was like one of the second activations I ever did.”

And I had to do it. I was one at the table. - Yeah, no. - This guy comes up to me and he's like, what is this?

And I'm like, oh, well, basically you do this.

You walk up to the bar, instant service. He's like, so if you're telling me, I hold up this pass, the bartender's gonna come right over to me. And I was in his, the bars packed.

“And I'm like, yeah, and so he goes up, does the whole thing.”

And then he gets his drink with like,

whole thing takes like under two minutes.

And he's like, he looks back at us at the table and he's like, oh my gosh, comes right back over. He's like, I want to do this every time I go to the bar. - And I know joke, watched him do it seven more times that night. And every time he did it, he just like got served instantly.

He just like, look at us. - Dude, he's like, oh, yeah, dude, he's like the opposite. I don't know, so you gotta do like Valentine's Day verticals where it's like a check in and this like now it's like a Valentine's Day drink. There's all sorts of really cool things, dude.

It reminds me of this scene. And one of my favorite movies of Analyst Guy. I'm not sure if you're familiar. There's a scene where he's looser dreaming and he's in a bar. And some dude walks up to him and it's Tom Cruise.

“And he goes, don't you just wish you just had control over everyone?”

You have the ability to just tell everyone to shut the fuck up. And he's sitting in a crowded bar and he's looking at the camera. He goes, I just want everyone to shut the fuck up in the entire bar. It goes quiet and turn to him. That's the moment you're creating with the, I just want a fucking drink.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - The control of the room. - Yeah. - And the ability you can just do in such a red cup and a such an easier approach, dude, gold, thank you man, I appreciate that.

- Dude, you're gonna be, you're gonna do just fine, my friend. - I appreciate you for coming on through our podcast. - I mean, he can carry it, thank you man.

- For being an amazing legacy god galactic builder.

This is Ethan Carion and I am Regatears and we are Inside Success. (upbeat music)