Self Made Training Facility vs 9Round

9Round is the stronger opportunity right now because total addressable units overwhelm any growth-angle advantages. With 141 franchised locations against Self Made’s 20, the sheer number of potential software seats makes TAM the decisive dimension. A shrinking base is a concern, but even after a 29% haircut, the installed base is 7x larger, and those operators still need POS, scheduling, and back-office tools. The current FDD filing for 2026 signals an active, compliant franchisor that can push approved-supplier decisions to its network — that’s timing and terrain both in our favor. We can harvest the existing footprint immediately, whereas a dormant FDD from Self Made raises serious doubt about whether that franchisor is even actively recruiting or supporting units right now.

The meaningful tradeoff lies in budget and buying appetite per location. Self Made’s franchisees invest up to $1.2M per unit, and a 7% royalty plus 4% ad fund implies corporate has some muscle to demand systems adoption. However, those economics only matter if we can reach enough units, and a 20-unit system with a stale FDD doesn’t give us a repeatable sales motion. A 25% growth rate on a tiny base might add five stores a year — not enough to build a pipeline around. The dormant filing is the killer: it freezes franchise sales, clouds vendor approval processes, and makes the brand a compliance risk for any franchisor-recommended rollout.

Verdict: 9Round’s larger, accessible fleet wins now despite contraction, because you can’t sell software licenses to units that don’t exist or to a franchisor that’s gone dark.