Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Guarino.
Hi Paul, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up outside of Rochester, NY before moving to Pittsburgh, PA to go to college at Duquesne University for Music Recording. Switched majors to business and then went on to get my MBA. Meanwhile, while I was a server/bartender/manager for over nine years at the Harris Grill, a popular bar and grill in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside, I fell in love with climbing. I was exposed to it at Pittsburgh’s only gym at the time, The Climbing Wall, and was instantly hooked. I joined the Explorer’s Club of Pittsburgh, an outdoor-focused educational and social club, took and then taught their climbing and mountaineering programs. Basically starting in 2007, all I did with my free time was climb both indoors and outdoors.
During that time, around 2011 or so, I started on the business plan and fundraising for ASCEND with Alex and Aaron, my two business partners. We all climbed together and felt that Pittsburgh could sustain a larger climbing gym with more amenities, like we’d seen elsewhere across the country. After much effort, we secured enough funding from family, friends, and local business professionals, as well as bank loan. We signed a lease at our South Side location and started construction in 2015 before opening our doors to the public in March of 2017.
Since then, ASCEND South Side has operated successfully, while we’ve added two additional locations: ASCEND Point Breeze (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2022, and ASCEND Erie (Erie, PA) in 2023.
I currently serve as ASCEND’s Chief Communications Officer, and work closely with our location managers to deliver much of our programming and events.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I can’t say it’s been a rough road, compared to so many others struggling in the world, but it certainly wasn’t a straightforward path all the time! We’ve been fortunate to have a strong base of members throughout our existence, which has offered some stability to help smooth out the bumps along the way.
Simultaneously navigating the pandemic and increased business competition in our region was certainly a challenge, and was a stark contrast to running the business in the first few years. We had to really grow up and react to a whole new set of challenges. It took years of adjusting and reworking our business in order to get back to a sustainable position, which for now is mostly the case.
In addition to that, it can be taxing to put some much personally on the line while we continue to establish ourselves, with no real guarantee it will all work out. Our families have everything on the line with this all, and so it can be a little scary at times. Luckily, we’re in a good spot and I wouldn’t rather be doing anything else professionally.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
ASCEND has three locations, all of which offer climbing, fitness, yoga, youth programs, and community events. We really lean into the third space concept, as many of our guests frequent ASCEND many days throughout the week to do a variety of activities, including just hanging out and socializing.
I was just talking with a climber friend who is about to move away from Pittsburgh for work. They were a little nervous about having trouble meeting people. They’ve lived and climbed in other cities in the past and they credit ASCEND to being uniquely community driven, laid back, and an easy place to make friends. I’ve heard this time and time again over the years, which obviously feels great, but I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it is about our community that makes it so special.
So, I am incredibly proud of the community we’ve helped foster. We try and provide tools and space for like-minded groups of people to connect and grow while at ASCEND. All those groups welcome in new people and make them feel like they are a part of something special. And in turn, the broader climbing community grows, and does so through amazing people who share some common ground.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I’ll be honest, that’s evolved a bit throughout the years!
At first, it was purely just to open the gym and have people come and have a good time. While it’s still, and will always be, about that, my perspective has grown a bit wider.
Lately, I’ve been more focused on financial stability as a metric of success. Ever since the pandemic, things have been tight and operating has become more stressful. After years of uncertainty and small to no margins, I’m really focused on growing and maturing the business so our investors can rest easy knowing that ASCEND is in fact making money and securing a bright future.
Even as an MBA, I’ve always been more of a hippie at heart and so this shift isn’t always comfortable. That said, if ASCEND is going to be around for years to come, it’s bottom line has to be strong. This is the world we live in, and so we are committed to the success of ASCEND.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ascendclimbing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascendclimbinggym/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ascendclimbing
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascendclimbing
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ascendclimbing
