How ideas begin here

We start with a story, not a productever.

Every project in the studio begins the same way: a human story worth telling, a problem inside it worth solving, and a feeling the finished thing should leave behind. Only after those are written down do we ask what to build — an app, a room, a tradition, a business. The story decides. The product obeys.

The Lab

Every idea here is a page on the same board.

Some pages are finished. Some are still being written. Turn through them.

GOOD STUFF

Concepts that made it. Live, open, and proven in the world today.

Elfco — The Santa’s Workshop

The restoration and stewardship of Cincinnati's historic Shillito's Elves, brought back to life as a walk-through animatronic Christmas experience in Mariemont, Ohio.

Visit thesantaworkshop.com

Santa’s Big Red Mailbox

A larger-than-life mailbox that lets children send letters directly to Santa Claus.

A co-partnership with other companies, not a Good Stuff Ventures idea alone.

Visit santasbigredmailbox.com

Photograph to come Bright, comfortable living-room interior of a Florida vacation home, family suitcases by the door, warm natural light, Disney-adjacent but not on-the-nose themed.

Small World Investments, LLC

A short-term rental business in Kissimmee, FL creating memorable Disney-area experiences through extended-stay housing.

Photograph to come Interior of a 1920s-style wood-paneled boardroom, warm low lighting, closed cabinetry along one wall — the room should look completely period-authentic with zero visible technology.

The Nolen Boardroom

A meeting room inside the Mariemont Inn styled as town planner John Nolen's private office: stately wood paneling and period detail hiding a pop-up HD television and full modern meeting technology.

IN DEVELOPMENT

Concepts actively being prototyped or tested.

Photograph to come An older hand and a younger hand holding an old photograph together at a kitchen table. Warm, intimate, natural light.

Do I Have A Story

Everyone has a story. How do we capture it — easily, meaningfully, before it's gone — with the help of the newest technology available? A project exploring new ways to preserve the history of our families, our communities, and our cultures for the people who come after us.

Photograph to come A hotel staff member's hands checking a clipboard or tablet at a front desk. Warm hospitality lighting, not corporate/sterile.

Connected Dots

The best trips, stays, and experiences are the ones where nothing falls through the cracks — even though no one ever sees the work behind that. A project exploring how the people caring for us, often behind the scenes, can work together well enough that every guest leaves with a story worth telling.

SOMETHING IS COOKING

A teaser state for concepts not yet ready to be fully revealed — the idea is real, the work is underway, and it isn't public in full detail yet.

Photograph to come A handwritten card mid-sentence, pen resting on the page, a stamped envelope beside it.

InkFelt

We all mean to reach out — a note, a card, a few honest words to someone who'd love to hear from us. So why does it so rarely happen? A project exploring how to make it effortless to remember the people who matter, and easy to actually tell them.

Photograph to come A friendly, non-scary animatronic jack-o'-lantern-style character mid-scene. Warm autumn lighting, family-safe Halloween aesthetic — cozy, not spooky.

Jack’s Dark Night Adventure

Not every Halloween has to be scary — some of the best ones are just fun. What if a community had a place to bring their kids every October, complete with animatronic mischief, the same way they already gather every December? A project exploring how a beloved holiday tradition could welcome a whole new season.

Photograph to come A dim, atmospheric hidden-bar corner — candlelight, two cocktails, a hint of vintage wallpaper, a slightly unexplained shadow.

The Last Toast

Some of the best nights don't announce themselves — you have to know where to look, and maybe believe an old story or two to find the door. Once you're in, there's music playing, something sweet on the table, and nobody in a hurry to leave. A project exploring how a place with a few secrets can become somewhere people actually want to disappear to.

A note on technology

Technology should feel like something.

Technology is one of the most common tools this studio reaches for on its newer projects — and it is a tool, never the identity. Some of our most meaningful work has no code in it at all. The through-line, tech-powered or not, is the same: build something people remember.

“Useful gets downloaded. Meaningful gets remembered.”