Episodes

Jonathan is the CEO of Ingenuity Brands, which has Brainiac as their flagship product. He states, "I got into this space unintentionally. I always wanted to do things to help people and the planet." His background was founding a company focused on renewable energy. Listen to learn more about how (and why) they ended up in the "brain health" space, and a some tips on balancing entrepreneurial energy with discipline, planning, excitement, and focus. ("It's about planting seeds, harvesting relation...

Darryl and David Bailey have been in the HALO sector for 40 years. The family business began in 1979 and they were way ahead of the curve with with regards to using software to manage their clubs. They even developed their own, a system called PSI Power Software. Currently at 17 locations, they started small and eventually grew them into 20-40,000 square feet facilities and now completely dominate the Jacksonville, Florida area. Among many other topics in this wide ranging discussion with Pete-...

Lynn Cherry picked up a pickleball racquet about three years ago and, a month later, she got hooked and quickly started the Pickleball Fire podcast and website. Pickleball started back in the 60's, and is now one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. "Anyone can get on the court and play immediately! I've met so many people who've never played any other sport in their life, but they get on the court and can get started easily!" she states. We are still in the "top of the first" wh...

As a serial entrepreneur (who also was on the founding team of Audible in addition to other start ups,) CEO of Halotherapy Solutions Steve Spiro states, "I kind of just stumbled onto the Halotherapy industry. It's been great, and business is absolutely exploding now!" Halotherapy began about 150 years ago in Poland and Russia, made its way to the USA about 10-15 years ago, and has been slowly growing since. Pete and Steve chat about the powerful benefits of implementing this in your facility, pr...

Upper Hand makes running studios, facilities, and academies easier and offers best-in-class scheduling experiences for clients and better access to data for staff. Kevin MacCauley, CEO, initially began the company as a market place to help connect parents with youth coaches. Upper Hand has changed quite a bit over time and is now at the "nexus of sports and technology." "How do you start thinking about athlete progression? How is software helping that business owner? How does it help them deliv...

Co-Founder of The Axle Workout, Andrew Page has been a sports performance coach and fitness trainer since 19. He's worked with NBA players in the Euro league, the Hospital for Special Surgery, and has a long history with injury recovery and injury prevention. "A 7 foot long, 45 pound bar isn't really that big for guys 6'6 and up, but when you put it in the hands of someone who has never lifted weights before, it becomes a different challenge," states Page about the origins of the company. "We s...

"Scenting is something luxury brands have always done, and paid attention to. Sense of smell has always been pivotal in the HALO market--two of the most famous brands that focus on it are Equinox and SoulCycle," states Daniel Zimmon, Founder of NatScent. He and Pete discuss the strong use case for creating a unique scent, empirical data behind the effectiveness (and very high ROI!) of scenting, the results of a famous NIKE experiment, and some examples of how this is used by companies like Wynn ...

Pete McCall is a respected industry veteran with 15+ years in the HALO sector. He recently published his second book with Human Kinetics titled Ageless Intensity: High-Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process. "My definition of fitness is having the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it," he states. He discusses his motives behind the book, provides thoughts on where fitness is going (virtual reality!), chats about the increased importance of technology at the club level...

As a "typical entrepreneur" who dives head first into everything, Dan did the same with CrossFit, ". . . after doing nothing for 10 years. I went down the rabbit hole, realized the software in the space was sub-par. Now, here I am 10 years later!" he jokes. He discusses how PushPress differentiates itself in a very crowded field ("We built it on the concept of integrations & expandability like the concept of app store, so you can make it your own") and more. PushPress also tends to focus on the...

In this info-packed episode, we're treated to an "insider's look" at the public and private markets from a highly experienced veteran. Sharon chats about what public markets look at and why some companies get valued the way they do. "Any analyst worth their salt is doing their own modeling and trying to figure out where the risks lie, and where the opportunities are," she states. She continues about the importance of playing the long game, (regardless of whether you're public or private,) calibr...

Bob began his career with Healthtrax in 1980. Due to his strong science background, they were one of the first to get into company healthcare. "I was a company intrapreneur," he states. "Starting divisions, selling some off, and keeping others. I forged a lot of relationships with hospitals like John's Hopkins as well." In this wide ranging discussion, Bob offers his thoughts on the corporate wellness market, ACO's (accountable care organizations) the continuum of "upstream and "downstream" care...

Going from a former insurance agent to a successful entrepreneur with a Shark Tank appearance under his belt (January 2020,) Genius Juice Founder Alex Bayer has quite the story! Genius Juice makes the purest coconut smoothie on the market, and produces over 20,000 coconuts per day and brings in several containers per month. They use less than 10 ingredients per bottle, their top seller has 2 ingredients and their number 2 seller has only 5 ingredients. "We pride ourselves on simplicity, taste, ...

After a 20+ year background in finance, Pete Moore brought Brent into the industry in 2005. After acquiring Crunch while at Angelo Gordon and then working with New Evolution Ventures, Brent is now firmly on the operating side. Since founding Equity 38, he has since become the new owner of the highly regarded TRX brand. Leffel states, "You can't model people and culture. That's the most important thing in these businesses . . . All my time in private equity, we were focused on the wrong things. ...

Regarded as one of the top body transformation studios in NYC and very well known for the fantastic community they foster, this podcast was conducted right from UpFit Academy! Junior high school classmates, Wes Chow and Paul Park have co-owned UpFit for the past 4 years. "We treat members as if they're extended family. I don't want someone paying for something that they're not getting tremendous value out of . . . if they're coming here, they know they're going to get results," states Chow. They...

Bobby founded Active Entities after a successful college and professional basketball and tennis coaching career. "Health clubs don't matter to people these days. Health matters to people!" he states firmly. "People will pay for quality and results. Out of this pandemic, we learned a lot about ourselves as an industry--a lot of our shortcomings. When you get grouped with casinos, it really tells you where you're at." He shares his in-the-trenches experiences with independent "big box" operators,...

Kevin is a 28 year veteran of the beautiful, 44 acre Atlantic Club. 33% of its business comes from the health club, and 67% from ancillary revenue. They have one of the biggest day spas and tennis programs in the country and most managers have been with the organization for over 20 years. "During COVID we had to ask ourselves what would we need to be in the future . . . Pretty much everything has changed. We are a completely different company . . . also we also learned our competition can be our...

In business for 12 years, Anthony started in the industry at 16 and worked his way up. Now 41, he's the owner of five Push Fitness locations in the tri-state area. "I always wanted to do a luxury gym at an affordable price . . . a lot of people think running health clubs is an easy business, but it's really not, especially if you run them the right way," he states. Tony reviews some tips anyone opening a new facility should consider, the right (and wrong) reasons to expand, how he competes (and...

Founder & CEO of 305 Fitness, Sadie Kurzban opened her first studio in 2014. Currently with 7 locations across Boston, DC, and NY, over 1,000 trainers trained (with plans for 25,000+ in the next three years) 305 is perfectly positioned for massive growth! "The new woman isn't sold on an aspiration of exclusivity, thin-at-all-costs, performance and leaderboards. She's sold on the aspiration of inclusivity, self-confidence, owning her truth and feeling like there's a place to love her body," stat...

At 19, Coss Marte was making over $2 million a year selling drugs. Imprisoned at 23, he quickly realized he had "all sorts of health issues." He lost 70lbs in 6 months and started CONBODY after his release 8 years ago. He states, "I knew it was going to work. Just show up everyday, deliver a great product, and trust the process. . . 95% of the people in Rikers Island are Black or Hispanic. I've hired over 50 people with a zero recidivism rate. Nobody has gone back into the system." And people ar...

As the Founder of Crossrope, (which he bootstrapped from the beginning) Dave has jumping in his blood! He spent 12 years as a Naval pilot and, while in the Academy, also competed in both long jumping and high jumping. He says, "I've always had this indescribable, innate, passion for the freeing feeling . . . for the challenge and enjoyment of jumping!" Crossrope has a hugely dedicated following with an incredibly enthusiastic online community. He and Pete discuss how the company went about sett...

With a 40 year background in the industry, Sara started in group exercise, eventually owned her own studio, became the #1 distributor for Les Mills for years, and then founded SCW Fitness Education. She was at the inception of the boutique fitness world, before it was even called that! In this wide ranging discussion, she and Pete chat about everything from the future of the industry post-COVID ("We're going to have a shortage of . . . group exercise instructors and personal trainers,") to why ...

Ian Mullane is the Founder of keepme.ai. With a strong background in finance, predictive analytics, and the fitness industry (he owned Vanda.fit in Singapore) Ian related, "I asked myself if I could possibly utilize the data within my organization to predict whether or not a member will stay or go? That's how Keepme came about . . . if you're going to build a platform of substance, it helps to have had the problem yourself." He and Pete chat about the importance of retention in the industry, ho...

As Founder of The Wellness Agency ("TWA") Jay describes it as, "Kind of a Y-Combinator meets William Morris or UTA for wellness." Prior to TWA, Jay founded Mammoth Records and was Head of A&R at Atlantic Records before selling to the Walt Disney Company. His extensive experience helping artists grow carried over perfectly to his business ventures. TWA has a vision to being a material part of creating 10 unicorns in the next decade. They provide startup accelerator services, access to an investo...

With a challenging history of severe autoimmune disease, Shauna Reiter's journey to eventually founding Alaya Naturals has been a long, but rewarding one. Alaya's annual revenue is $6 million with over 100,000+ customers and a team size of 5! On evaluating other products, she states, "You have to ask whose agenda is it? What's their Mission and purpose? Who are they associated with? If there's a big profit to be gained, then sometimes quality can be overlooked, and there's plenty of marketing g...