3-Year Product Roadmap — April 2026
From one city
to the national standard
OneSummer is the Common App for summer camps — one profile, one platform, every camp. This roadmap tells the story of how we grow from a focused Austin MVP to the default way families discover and register for camps across America.
36
Month horizon
6
Phases
500K
Target families
5K+
Target camps
Phase 0
Foundation
M1–3 · Q3 2026
Phase 1
MVP Launch
M4–6 · Q4 2026
Phase 2
Season 1
M7–12 · Q1–2 2027
Phase 3
Monetize
M13–18 · Q3–4 2027
Phase 4
Regional
M19–24 · Q1–2 2028
Phase 5
National Platform
M25–36 · Q3 2028 – Q2 2029
Strategic Foundation
Four themes that guide everything
Every feature, partnership, and hiring decision maps back to one of these four strategic themes. They evolve in importance as the company grows.
Discovery
Make finding the right camp effortless. Search, filter, match — reduce the 8-hour research process to minutes.
Dominant: Phases 0–2
Trust
Handle sensitive child data with care. Reviews, verification, HIPAA-aware forms, and SOC 2 build lasting credibility.
Dominant: Phases 1–3
Scale
Expand city by city with a playbook. Network effects accelerate — more camps attract more families attract more camps.
Dominant: Phases 3–5
Ecosystem
Become the infrastructure layer. Integrate with camp management software, municipalities, and YMCA at the API level.
Dominant: Phases 4–5
Phase 0
Foundation
"Build the base"
Months 1 – 3
Q3 2026
Product
- Camp data aggregation engine — scrape and import public listings
- Camp listing pages: name, description, location, dates, pricing, age range, type
- Search with core filters: location, age, date, type, price
- Parent account creation and authentication
- Child profile vault: basic info, emergency contacts, medical, documents
- Mobile-first responsive design across all screens
Business
- Launch city: Austin, TX — strong camp culture, tech-forward community
- Aggregate 200+ camp listings from public data sources
- Partner with Austin Parks & Recreation as anchor supply
- Onboard 10–15 independent camps for direct integration
- Conduct 50 camp director discovery conversations
- Hire: Product designer, full-stack engineer, community manager
🤖 Why Austin?
500+ campsLargest density outside coastal megacities
Tech familiesHigher digital adoption, lower onboarding friction
Lower CACSignificantly cheaper than NYC or SF to acquire
Parks systemAustin P&R = immediate anchor supply partner
ManageableRight size to prove product before scaling
200+
camp listings
50
director conversations
15
direct partnerships
3
team hires
↓ Month 4 — Soft launch begins
Phase 1
MVP Launch
"Prove the value"
Months 4 – 6
Q4 2026
Product
- Camp detail pages with full session information
- One-click apply with vault pre-fill (standardized form)
- Application status tracking for parents
- Email notifications: updates, reminders, confirmations
- Basic camp director portal: manage listing, view applications
- Saved and favorited camps list
- Scholarship badge and searchable filter
Business
- Soft launch to 500 beta families from Austin parent groups
- Camp director onboarding: free listing + free registration tool
- Content marketing: "Best Summer Camps in Austin 2027" guides
- SEO groundwork for "summer camps Austin" keywords
- Pricing: Free for parents and camps — build adoption first
500
registered families
100
applications submitted
50
claimed listings
40+
parent NPS
<2min
avg application time
↓ Month 7 — First real summer begins
Phase 2
Summer Season 1
"The first real summer"
Months 7 – 12
Q1–Q2 2027
Product
- Visual summer calendar planner: multi-child, weekly swim lanes
- Gap detection with "find camps for this gap" prompt
- Enhanced search: map view, more filters, sort options
- Parent dashboard: summer at a glance, action items, activity feed
- Camp reviews and ratings after attendance
- Waitlist visibility with position tracking
- Web push notifications
- Improved director portal with analytics and messaging
Business
- Full marketing push: SEO, social, school partnerships, Facebook groups
- Expand camp director outreach to 50+ participating camps
- PR: local Austin media coverage campaign
- Partnership with Austin ISD for flyer distribution
- Collect parent feedback intensively for V2 prioritization
- Revenue: still free — focus on adoption and data flywheel
3,000
registered families
1,000
applications submitted
100+
active camp listings
75%
vault pre-fill usage
200+
camp reviews
50+
parent NPS
↓ Month 13 — Monetization begins
Phase 3
Expand & Monetize
"Prove the business"
Months 13 – 18
Q3–Q4 2027
Product
- Payment processing via Stripe Connect — camps accept payment on-platform
- Featured and promoted camp listings (paid placement)
- Premium camp profiles: video, enhanced descriptions, verified badges
- Advanced calendar: drag-and-drop, conflict modeling, cost projections
- Camp matching quiz ("my child is shy and loves animals..." → recs)
- Document OCR: auto-extract data from uploaded forms
- Transportation and carpool coordination (basic)
- Camp comparison tool: side-by-side view
Business & Revenue Model
- Launch in 2nd city: Dallas or Houston (Texas pipeline) or Denver
- Transaction fee: 10% on all payments processed through OneSummer
- Featured listings: $99–$299/month
- Premium camp profiles: $49/month
- Parent booking fee: $2.99 per application
- Hire: 2 engineers, sales/partnerships lead, marketing
- Begin CampMinder and CampDoc integration scoping
- ACA partnership discussions initiated
10K
registered families
5,000
applications submitted
200+
camps, 2 cities
$50K
MRR target
60%
transactions on-platform
10x+
LTV/CAC ratio
↓ Month 19 — Series A context, 5 cities
Phase 4
Regional Growth
"Summer Season 2 — at scale"
Months 19 – 24
Q1–Q2 2028
Product
- CampMinder and CampDoc API connectors live
- Advanced waitlist: auto-offer, conflict detection, cancellation fee modeling
- Camp journal: private notes per child, per camp, per season
- Recommendation engine based on past camps and child profile
- Parent-to-parent features: share camp picks, carpool matching
- Camp director CRM: follow up with past families, early bird campaigns
- WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance
- Multi-language support: Spanish prioritized first
Business
- Expand to 5 total metros: Austin, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, NYC
- Enterprise sales team for large camp organizations
- YMCA national partnership discussions initiated
- Boys & Girls Clubs pilot program
- Series A fundraising: $3–5M target
- SOC 2 Type II certification process begins
50K
registered families
25K
applications/year
500+
camps, 5 cities
$200K
MRR target
4.7+
satisfaction score
3
enterprise partnerships
↓ Month 25 — National expansion
Phase 5
National Platform
"The standard for camp registration"
Months 25 – 36
Q3 2028 – Q2 2029
Product
- Native mobile apps: iOS and Android
- Overnight and residential camp support with national search
- AI-powered camp matching and personalized recommendations
- Financial products: BNPL for parents, early payout for camps
- Year-round programs: after-school, holiday camps, spring break
- Camp quality scoring and accreditation integration
- Public API for camp management platforms
- White-label registration widget for camp websites
Business
- 20+ metro markets plus national overnight camp coverage
- National partnerships: YMCA, ACA, Boys & Girls Clubs
- Camp management platform integrations live (CampMinder, CampDoc)
- Government and municipality partnerships for subsidized access
- Team: 25–40 employees
- Series B fundraising or clear profitability path
500K
registered families
200K
applications/year
5,000+
camps listed
$3–5M
ARR target
30%
target market camps
20+
metro markets
Cross-Functional View
Swimlane Timeline
All six phases across five organizational lanes. Scroll horizontally on smaller screens.
|
Phase 0
Foundation
M1–3 · Q3 2026
|
Phase 1
MVP Launch
M4–6 · Q4 2026
|
Phase 2
Season 1
M7–12 · Q1–2 2027
|
Phase 3
Monetize
M13–18 · Q3–4 2027
|
Phase 4
Regional
M19–24 · Q1–2 2028
|
Phase 5
National
M25–36 · Q3 28–Q2 29
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Product |
Aggregation engine + listings
Search, filters, profiles
Mobile-first design
|
One-click apply (vault)
Director portal v1
Email notifications
|
Visual calendar planner
Gap detection
Reviews & ratings
Map view search
|
Stripe Connect payments
Camp matching quiz
Document OCR
Comparison tool
|
CampMinder integration
Recommendation engine
Spanish language
WCAG 2.1 AA
|
Native iOS + Android
AI matching
BNPL + early payout
Public API + widget
|
Growth |
Austin launch city
200+ listings
|
500 beta families
50 camps claimed
|
3,000 families
1,000 applications
Press: 3+ outlets
|
City 2 launch
10,000 families
5,000 applications
|
5 metro markets
50,000 families
25,000 applications
|
20+ metros, national
500K families
200K applications/yr
|
Revenue |
$0 — build mode
|
$0 — free for all
|
$0 — adoption focus
|
10% transaction fee
$99–299/mo featured
$2.99 booking fee
Target: $50K MRR
|
Enterprise sales
Target: $200K MRR
Series A: $3–5M
|
$3–5M ARR
BNPL financial product
Series B or profit path
|
Team |
Designer
Full-stack engineer
Community manager
|
Team of 3–4
|
Founder-led GTM
|
+2 engineers
Sales/partnerships lead
Marketing hire
|
Enterprise sales team
SOC 2 eng. effort
|
25–40 employees
Mobile eng. team
Govt. partnerships
|
Partnerships |
Austin Parks & Rec
10–15 indie camps
|
Austin parent groups
|
Austin ISD
Local media
|
ACA discussions
CampMinder scoping
|
YMCA national talks
Boys & Girls Clubs pilot
CampDoc integration
|
YMCA + ACA national
Municipality/govt.
CampMinder live
|
Risk Management
Key Dependencies & Risks
Honest assessment of the obstacles between here and national scale, and how we plan to navigate them.
| Risk | Impact | Probability | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp adoption resistance Directors are busy and skeptical of new platforms during booking season |
High | High | Start with free tools that solve real pain (no more email applications). Partner with Parks & Rec for instant credibility. Onboard in off-season (Sept–Jan). |
| Seasonal revenue concentration 80% of bookings happen in a 10-week window, creating cash flow volatility |
High | High | Diversify into year-round programs (after-school, holiday, spring break) by Phase 5. Subscription revenue from director tools smooths seasonality. |
| Well-funded competitor enters Existing players (ActivityHero, Camp.com) or a well-funded startup copies the model |
High | Med | Move fast to own 2–3 cities deeply before competitors replicate. Build data moats (reviews, vault data, fill-rate data) that are hard to clone. Camp partnerships create switching costs. |
| Child data privacy & security A breach or mishandling of medical/emergency data would be catastrophic to trust |
High | Low | SOC 2 Type II certification by Phase 4. Encryption at rest and in transit from day one. Legal review of COPPA and HIPAA-adjacent requirements. Minimize data retention. |
| Funding gap between phases Seed capital runs out before Phase 3 monetization proves unit economics |
High | Med | Raise pre-seed early (Phase 0). Use Phase 2 traction metrics (NPS, application volume, director retention) as Series A story. Maintain 9-month runway buffer at all times. |
| Camp quality inconsistency Poor camp experiences destroy parent trust even if OneSummer did not cause them |
Med | Med | Implement verified reviews, ACA accreditation badges, and quality scoring by Phase 5. Create clear platform terms allowing removal of camps with persistent issues. |
| App store gatekeeping Delayed native app launch (Phase 5) due to Apple/Google review processes |
Low | Low | Web-first strategy is viable until Phase 5. Progressive Web App (PWA) provides near-native experience earlier. Submit apps 60 days before planned launch. |
Capital Plan
Investment Requirements
Phase-by-phase burn rate and funding needs, structured around natural inflection points in the business.
Pre-Seed / Bootstrapped
$200–300K
Phases 0–1 • Q3–Q4 2026
- Founder salaries (lean) + 2–3 hires
- Infrastructure, tooling, legal setup
- Initial content marketing and SEO
- Austin community building and events
Seed or Bridge
$300–500K
Phase 2 • Q1–Q2 2027
- Team expansion (design, eng, growth)
- Full summer marketing push
- PR and school partnership spend
- Data infrastructure scaling
Seed Round
$1–2M
Phases 3–4 • Q3 2027 – Q2 2028
- Multi-city expansion playbook
- Sales and partnerships team
- Payment infrastructure (Stripe Connect)
- SOC 2 Type II certification
- CampMinder / CampDoc integrations
Series A
$3–5M
Phase 5 • Q3 2028+
- Native iOS + Android development
- 20+ metro market expansion
- National partnership execution
- AI matching + financial products
- Team scale to 25–40 employees
What We Obsess Over
North Star Metrics
These five numbers tell us if OneSummer is actually working — not just growing, but delivering real value to families and camps.
1
Applications Submitted / Month
Target: 200K/year by Month 36
The primary growth metric. Every application is proof that a parent found a camp and trusted us enough to send their child's profile. This number compounds as vault adoption grows.
2
Time to Apply
Target: <2 minutes (vs. 30 min traditional)
The core product promise: fill it out once, never again. If this number creeps up, we've introduced friction. If it goes down, the vault is working. This metric must never be sacrificed for feature complexity.
3
Parent NPS
Target: 60+ by Phase 3
Camp discovery is high-stakes and highly personal. NPS measures whether we've earned trust in a category where trust is everything. Below 40 means we're failing parents, regardless of growth numbers.
4
Camp Fill Rate Improvement
Target: Camps on OneSummer fill 25% faster
The supply-side north star. If camps fill faster and have less administrative overhead, they'll prioritize OneSummer, deepen the integration, and become advocates. This drives our B2B growth flywheel.
5
Scholarship Connections Made
Target: 5% of all applications include scholarship access
Our equity mission in metric form. Summer camps are inaccessible to millions of families. Every scholarship connection is proof that OneSummer is lowering barriers, not just serving families who already have access.