"I think people don't realize what feeling good feels like because they're fed so much crap and not moving enough," states Joe Hawley, former 8 year veteran of the NFL. After retiring in 2017, he bought a van, rescued a dog, and hit the road! Along the way he started…
"The one foundational element of Comvest that goes back to the beginning is our our owner's belief in good management teams," states Dan Lee. What are some factors debt providers look at when evaluating a deal? What are the differences between firms like Comvest as opposed to banks and SBIC…
"I'm a big believer in the experience economy. If you can provide someone with a feeling that you can't get somewhere else. . .you're going to be successful. There's nothing that's going to replace the energy people feel when they're together," states Bradley. A 20+ year finance veteran, Chris has…
"Action prevents anxiety. If I have this gut instinct and I feel like the risk is worth taking, I'll go all in," states Remorca. Dennis began his career at Equinox, then moved over to Definitions. He eventually started his own business on 75th and Park with $19K of financing. 3…
"People are recognizing the more they do things like massage, the more they can prevent injury, the more stress and tension they can reduce. . . and as the health care plans and employers start to subsidize, people will buy it more," states Samer Hamadeh, CEO. As a highly successful…
"Fitness was a minor part of NYC landscape. It was always looked at little bit negatively. Fast forward to today and now it's one of the bright lights in our industry. It's an incredibly growing field!" states 30+ year real estate veteran, Jeff Roseman. In this wide ranging discussion, Jeff…
"The passion for the business came first, the passion for fitness actually came later," states Scott Lutwak. Scott is a seasoned entrepreneur having started Restaurant.com many years ago. His first facility was 33,000 sq feet and he fully admits, "I knew absolutely nothing about gyms!" Listen to learn his incredible…
"I think people are looking for the quick fix, but there is no quick fix. It's lifestyle changes. It's changing your diet, eating habits, recovery, exercise routines, changing your mindset. . and it takes time, but what I love about Wim's method is that it doesn't take long to feel…
"People don't know the power of nutrition. They're given lies. . . It should be reading, writing, arithmetic, and nutrition taught in grade schools. It is one of the most critical factors that control our life, our longevity, our happiness and our health and the ignorance and confusion in the…
Sean entered the entrepreneurial world after launching a company around a concussion detection sensor. "You need to have a big vision and fully understand where you want to be in 5-10 years. . .but also know you're never going to know that!" he jokes. Holisticly is a fantastic product that's…
"Muay Thai should be popularized and become more commercial and available to a larger scale of people," states Tyler Scott, a 12 year veteran of Muay Thai and creator of the patented Bishop heavy bag. Along with his wife, they began Hit House in 2017 after being inspired by the…
"The gym was full every day, even when the economy tanked. I always remembered that," states Alex Zaltsman. Alex now owns 3 Row Houses and 1 Pure Barre studio all under the Xponential family of brands. Originally from the technology, software & mobile application worlds, Alex discusses his entry into…
"What do you mean boxing and yoga? That makes no sense!" said basically everyone when Olivia floated the idea of this particular combination during her research. She went ahead, bootstrapped it all anyway (for all the right reasons!) and was immediately profitable. She had no outside capital and is now…
"You can and must make time for yourself, even if you think there's no time at all," states Rebbecca Schonfeld. Rebecca has battled mental health issues since she was young and has started sharing her story & experiences to help others on their own journey. Listen now to this important…
"Stay true to who your customers are. You also have to be ok not being appealable to everyone out there," states Andrew Hirsekorn, Principal & Founding Member of Eagle Merchant Partners. Eagle is a private equity firm and one of the owners of the largest Planet Fitness franchisees. Listen now…
"We wanted to find a way for health and wellness professionals to sell something that they were more confident in," states CEO Brett Maloley. Their team interviewed approximately 22,000 members, 11,000 trainers, and 1,000 physicians in the research phase. Ladder has ~65,00 users nearly 10,000 of whom are coaches and…
"When times were tough, the Mission and Vision of our club kept us going. It would have been very easy to slash our values for the sake of the dollar," stated Stephanie Coulon of Stone Creek Club & Spa in Louisiana. She and Larry Connor helped build this award-winning, high…
Mike Morris worked in specialty retail for nearly 25 years and helped scale national brands like J. Crew, The Vitamin Shoppe, and others. He specializes in retail & supply chain operations, software, and data management. After going through 4 private equity sales, he became a full time advisor in the…
Peerfit began with 8 employees and now has 100+ spread across the country. Their mission is ambitious! "It's to refine corporate wellness," states Chris Patton. He continues, "The value add is that we're doing something that it's hard for gyms to do, which is make that connection to the insurance…
Texas Capital Bank is a 30 billion dollar publicly traded company. (They do business nationally, not just in Texas!) The group just celebrated their 20th anniversary and have nearly 175 million invested in the HALO sector. "We're significantly different in that we talk about 'selecting partners' versus 'collecting clients,'" states…
"I look at private equity as a movie. You're walking into the theater halfway through, and there's all this action going on before you got there. If you don't try to understand how the plot has developed, where the players are, and what's going on, you're going to make mistakes.…
Physmodo is a software that, at its core,". . .measures human movement," states Andrew Menter, CEO. It's a 30 second screening using an infrared camera and proprietary technology which addresses some of the the negatives of the Functional Movement Screen. It also, ". . .helps with front desk engagement. It…
Mark began in the HALO sector in 1990 as a Personal Trainer and has worked with Merritt for 19 years. "You do the right thing, you take care of people, and the business takes care of itself," he states. With 9 locations plus 4 corporate, Merritt positions themselves in the…
Robert began his career in the HALO sector as a trainer in the Bay Area. He later dove in and learned sales with the teams at 24 Hour Fitness. After opening up his two current clubs and waiting (for years!) for a company to solve his data frustrations, he decided…
