This week’s episode is part of an experiment and so requires a longer than normal introduction. I’ve come to view this podcast as a learning tool, a means to understand a new topic in a short window of time. One of those areas is venture capital and startups—an area that one year ago was completely foreign to me. I think the best way to learn is aggressive immersion in a topic along with some consequences, what we often call some skin in the game. Accordingly, this is a conversation with the founder of a startup in which I am an investor.

The founder is Brett Maloley and his company is called Ladder. Ladder represents an overlap of many topics we’ve explore together over the last year. We’ve talked about venture capital, health and wellbeing, the difficultly of fundraising and power law outcomes in startups. We also spent an entire episode, with Alex Moazed, talking about the business model that Ladder is pursing: what Alex calls platform business model and what my favorite technology writer Ben Thompson calls the Aggregator model.

I hope you enjoy this collective experiment, which is largely the result of what I’ve learned from past guests and from all of your support which helps me meet those great people in the first place. Let’s dive in to my conversation with the founder of Ladder, Brett Maloley, who starts by describing how he got his start in the fitness world.

Show Notes

5:25 – (First question) – Brett describes his history in the fitness industry

10:04 – Realized he could fix the commercial fitness industry by changing it

12:46 – Explain how Ladder works

14:14 – What does the ratio of digital to in-person coaching need to be in order to be effective coaching

17:12 – Explaining the platform business model as a whole and how to scale these types of business

22:15 – Origin of health clubs

24:01 – Current state of the health fitness space through some key stats

26:44 – What happened where gyms were able to start charging a lot less for memberships

30:20 – How Ladder is going to attract customers in the beginning

36:10 – How to drive engagement

37:46 – The opportunity for coaches on the platform

40:28 – How will ladder ensure the quality of coaches on the platform remains high

42:41 – Exploring the value of the data

45:32 – How will Ladder work with gyms in the scope of how a new business can take advantage of existing businesses

48:58 – Comparing Ladder to crossfit and what is not sustainable about 

53:14 – Difference between a franchise model vs a license model

55:12 – Strategy for building an audience

59:56 – Competitors to this business

1:03:39 – Brett’s thoughts on brand broadly speaking and how he’s worked to shape Ladder’s brand

1:05:00 – Best individual experience of the platform so far