Industry Education Episodes

When asked about the digital "hybridization" of the industry, long time industry veteran Bill McBride states, "It's going to be like a swimming pool. Not all your members are going to use it, but when you sell a membership, everyone wants it! So you must have a strong virtual, digital program available, now more so then ever." This wide ranging discussion touches on the effects the pandemic had in our sector, the stronger footing we must gain in Washington to effect real change, the need for lic...

"One thing campus recruiters, athletes, and professionals don't have a lot of is time," states The Athlete Book Founder, Ryan Drummond. In this update, Ryan takes us through their new point-based system focused around consuming content and creation of a leaderboard which puts coaches on the map of an athlete's career path and development. "Nobody wants to be on the bottom," he says. Among many other advantages, this also provides the employer the opportunity to tell the story of what they're loo...

On what ShapeLog can do for your club, Co-Founder & CEO Bryan O'Rear states, "Imagine user behavior is something that you know well in half of your facility, but that journey falls off very quickly as they traverse over into the strength and functional areas. There is now a chance for you to really understand that user behavior that otherwise was just dark. How do you plug yourself into their journey at the right time and make sure they're well aware of the complete offerings at your facility?" ...

"There are some basic table stakes today with respect to how a member wants and expects to interact with their brand, so the days of having an app just to say you have an app. . .are over," states Bryan O'Rourke, Founder of Vedere Ventures and long time HALO sector veteran. Bryan began as a technologist in the food and beverage industry in the early 80's and entered this space in the mid 90's. This broad discussion touches on some highlights and insights gleaned over the past few months, discuss...

Marcus Johnson is a modern Renaissance Man! He's an independent Billboard-ranked musician and NAACP Image Award-nominated jazz keyboardist and pianist. Also the CEO and Founder of FLO ("For The Love Of") Brands, and more recently FLO Wine, he states, "My life motto is DEEPER: "Dream, Engage, Environment. Plan. Execute. Reflect. Entrepreneurs are very good at execution, but bad at reflection because reflection calls for vulnerability." This wide ranging discussion touches on points business owner...

"There is a need for personal, human connection that will never go away, no matter how good our garage gyms get, no matter how good the technology gets, people still want to work out together. If you've been in gyms recently as I have, the places are packed," states Hillis Lake of Eleiko. Hillis has been in the HALO sector since 1979 and started his career with Joe Cirulli. He discusses how free weights have done a complete full circle, shares his incredible come back story after being told he'd...

With a background in planning, promoting and executing C-level, multinational conferences in the gas and oil sector, Singapore based, Ross Campbell went on to found The Fit Summit. "We started as a community business and built live events and thought leadership on top of that." He continues, "The HALO sector is such an amazing investment opportunity, however it doesn't get the airtime here in Asia and in more immature markets, but it's coming." He goes on to discuss the importance of ongoing bus...

Aaron attended the University of Texas at Austin and followed that up by obtaining his MBA. He worked his way through the ranks in a sports agency and eventually became the youngest NFL agent ever at 25. He went on to launch Revolving Mind Media and currently represents Jaylon Smith, Dez Bryant, Dennis Smith, Jr and many others. Pete and Aaron dive deep into the world of athlete endorsements, the marketing and diligence that goes into branding and equity deals, how deals have evolved through COV...

Roland Memisevic is the CEO & Founder of Twenty Billion Neurons, a Microsoft M12-backed artificial intelligence startup committed to making personalized coaching and companionship accessible to all people. Having earned his Ph.D in Computer Science, Roland has been working in AI his entire career. Taylor Roth is the Product Owner for Fitness Ally, 20bn's direct to consumer, fully interactive AI fitness coach app that's seeing phenomenal traction. This wide ranging discussion touches on the incre...

"I always had a love for tech, what it can do, and how it can transform business . . . .and nothing is transforming fitness these days more than technology," states Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of Intelivideo. Adam has deep roots in the space, having started a video conferencing company at 22 and growing it to 130 employees, 9 offices, and $40M in revenues. This wide-ranging discussion touches on how tech has become (even more) critical to the industry since COVID, the powerful advantage clubs have of own...

Asked how Prospr began and what her initial pain points were, Erika laughs, "I thought I must just be a bad people manager! It wasn't until I started meeting others across different verticals that I realized, 'No, I don't stink at managing people! People are just really hard to manage . . . but specifically shift and hourly based work force!'" She discusses the ups and downs of developing software (as a non-coder!), how her (very simple but powerful) program helps increase productivity, employee...

"Before you become this fancy Swiss Army knife, are you even a decent pocket knife first? Do you do one thing really well yet? People will cancel memberships, they're less likely to cancel relationships," states Stu Brauer, host of the WTF Gym Talk podcast and owner of Urban MVMNT. Since 2015 he's focused on the "microgym" industry which came out of his years of experience with CrossFit and bigger box facilities. Stu discusses his thoughts on how to make it out the other side of COVID, retaining...

"There's this race to the bottom, which is doing everyone a disservice. If your value proposition has to be driven by the fact that you can give the cheapest access to your solution, I have to question . . . do you even deserve to be in this business!? I could replace you with equipment from Amazon," states 25+ year industry veteran Jason Stowell. This pull-no-punches podcast discusses everything from selling solutions versus 'packages,' the fact that you're never going to outsell sincerity and ...

Dr. Elizabeth Stanley earned her B.A. from Yale, her M.B.A. from MIT, and her Ph.D from Harvard. She's a former Army Intelligence office and author of the recently published (and very timely) Widen The Window: Training Your Brain and Body To Thrive During Stress and Recover From Trauma. "In our culture, we spend so much time turning stress on, and never turning it off," she states. This broad discussion touches how the nervous system can be trained, the negative implications of too much technolo...

"We help first, and we hunt second," states Co-Founder Matt Adey of their newly rebranded company, Good Soul Hunting. (Formerly Pipeline Partners.) Along with veteran HALO sector Co-Founders Lucy Adey, Emma Barry, and Andrea Perugini (Director) this broad discussion touches on everything from the current state of recruiting and how it's changed, to interview hints, what differentiates a good management team from a great one, how to know when you need a new hire (and the process involved,) blendi...

"The Confess Project is America's first mental health barbershop movement. Currently in 14 cities, it is a grassroots movement committed to building a culture of mental health, particularly for young men of color," states Founder Lorenzo Lewis. Lorenzo was clinically diagnosed with depression and, having grown up in his aunt's beauty salon, he knew he "needed to reach people where they already were." Barbers receive training to become Mental Heath Advocates and learn skills to engage properly in...

"It's not about the exit. It's about working with the right people who recognize that this brand stands for something and they're prepared to put the resources behind it," states Todd Waks. A self-described, "serial brand marketer," Todd was diagnosed with stage 3A melanoma and moved into the HALO sector. As the CEO of AKESO water (named after the Greek goddess of healing and curing) AKESO is the world's first and only odorless, colorless, tasteless broad spectrum CBD water. It's also the first ...

"I don't think the brick and mortar gym business is going away, but I do think the connection to the client is going to get much deeper outside the gym," states Jim Crowell. As a former athlete and coach with a background in finance, Jim has worked in all levels operationally of the HALO sector, as well as seen how deals are done from the outside. He chats with Pete Moore about how boutiques and big box gyms are positioned post-COVID, his approach to growth, working within the franchise model, t...

"It's the travel channel meets wellness," states Greg Commins, CEO of the three year old company, Three Sages Wellness. He continued, "Particularly where we are with COVID, I think there's going to be a phased approach to coming out of this." Greg is a former professional rugby player, performance coach, owner of a training business, and a designer of wellness spaces turned tech entrepreneur, with over 20+ years experience. This wide ranging chat touches on the future of the design industry for ...

Scott Welle is a #1 international best selling author, speaker and founder of Outperform The Norm, a leading program for business leaders and athletes looking raise their game and perform at the highest level. His one common goal is to help people improve and to be better today than they were yesterday. He states, "You learn your greatest lessons when you're going through some amount of adversity. Instead of asking--why me--ask yourself--why this?" This wide ranging discussion touches on everyth...

"If you ask my parents, they'd still say I'm crazy--jumping from banking to an early start up!" laughs Kal Jamshidi, former investment banker turned entrepreneur. Kam formed onPodio 15 months ago out of a personal frustration experienced at Equinox. onPodio is for independent fitness pros to give them all the tools they need to get online quickly and easily. He provides an "insiders"view on the nuts and bolts of start up life, the evolution of the tech available in the sector, the skill sets tha...

Primo Fitness is a 20+ year company in the refurbished equipment space representing multiple brands and works with top chains internationally and domestically. A former pro Australian footballer and coach, Cam took his extensive background in fitness and is now their Western Sale Manager. Here he discusses the current state of the industry, what he sees happening in the next few months, what goes into refurbishing equipment, discussions of margins, buying "as is," and more. This is a must listen...

"We're a platform for a life well lived . . . being a big, multipurpose facility you're always trying to reinvent yourselves and stay relevant," states CEO Frank Lawrence of the Little Rock Athletic Club. With 25+ years in banking, and having entered the HALO sector 10 years ago, Frank knows the "realities" of running a club versus "just looking at spreadsheets." Here he talks about rebranding during COVID, the positives (and challenges!) of running a larger facility, what's been occurring with ...

"Many entrepreneurs--especially returning entrepreneurs--want investors focused on what's best for the company, not what's best for the VC's portfolio . . .they don't want the goat rodeo, as I call it," states Geoff Schneider, Founder of Cava Capital. As an investor and operator for the past 30 years in the HALO sector, Geoff is also the Founder of Lymbr and investor in Fit Lab. Cava is currently raising a $40m pooled early stage capital fund. Pete and Geoff chat about the direction of fund, wha...