Fitt Insider

Today I'm joined by Aaron de Jong, CEO of movr — an app that makes healthy movement more accessible for everyone.

In this episode, we talk about Aaron's journey from fitness instructor and studio owner to startup founder. We discuss the company's approach to improving mobility and strength through movement assessment and mini-workouts. And Aaron shares his plan to bring movr's technology to other fitness platforms.

Disclosure: We're investors in movr, and we're excited to support Aaron and team on their mission to promote healthy movement.

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Aaron de Jong is the founder of the movr app an exercise prescription tool built to help you move and feel better every day. He has a B. Ed in Physical Education, over a decade of experience as a personal and group strength instructor in his studio in Vancouver, and is a current lululemon Train Ambassador. Aaron enjoys finding ways to move his body, whether it's outdoors, trail runs, on his road bike, or moving kettlebells around. Stumbling through life with dry humor, eating popcorn, playing with his newborn daughter, and educating people how they can improve their health are all passions of Aaron's. You can reach out to Aaron direct [email protected] or by downloading movr to your smart device.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

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Today I'm joined by Kelsey Ramsden, CEO of MINDCURE — a life sciences company using psychedelics to promote healing and improve mental health.

In this episode, we discuss the psychedelic revolution, including shifts in science and culture paving the way. Kelsey explains the challenges and opportunities facing operators and investors in this space. And she talks about MINDCURE's efforts to build digital therapeutics that support psychedelic-assisted therapies.

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With over fifteen years founding, scaling, and operating innovative companies across Canada and the Caribbean, Ramsden is recognized globally for building multiple, multimillion-dollar businesses both on and offline. She earned the honor of being named Canada's Top Female Entrepreneur – twice. She serves on the Entrepreneurship Council for the University of Western Ontario and holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. She is a renowned thought leader and published author.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Omer Atesmen, Founder and CEO of The Skills — an online education platform offering courses taught by the world's best athletes.

In this episode, Omer explains how the company was able to partner with athletes like Michael Phelps, Maria Sharapova, and Megan Rapinoe. We discuss the challenges and opportunities in EdTech, including content production and competitors like MasterClass. And Omer shares his plan for building the definitive education platform in the sports and wellness space.

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Omer is a proven entrepreneur with a combination of high-growth startup and management consulting experience. He previously founded and grew Clean Energy Experts with zero external investment to 150+ employees, $30M+ revenue, and 20% net income before selling the company to Sunrun. Omer attended Stanford for his BS/MS and Kellogg for his MBA.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Sam Cole, co-founder & CEO of FitXR — a virtual fitness club bringing fun and immersive workouts to the home.

In this episode, Sam breaks down the innovation happening in virtual reality. We talk about the potential for VR fitness to make working out fun and engaging for an entirely new audience beyond exercise enthusiasts. And we discuss the future of personalization, community, and group workouts in VR.

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Sam is the CEO and a co-founder of FitXR. Sam began his career as a management consultant at PwC in Auckland, New Zealand and then worked in private equity after moving to London in 2014. As a firm believer of the benefits of regular exercise for physical and mental health, Sam has always kept fit. Since the conception of VR, he has had a vision of delivering immersive fitness through VR to motivate people to keep fit, by providing access to guided workouts and programs in a highly personalized environment. After meeting Sameer at business school, they decided to launch FitXR to deliver this vision together.

Sam holds a bachelor's degree in law and finance from Otago University. He earned his MBA from Cambridge University.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Josh McCarter, CEO of Mindbody — a business management software for fitness and wellness services.

In this episode, we discuss COVID's impact on the fitness industry. Josh explains how the company navigated the pandemic, including layoffs, his transition to CEO, and the launch of virtual experiences. And we talk about the future of fitness, including digital content, the role of fitness professionals, and the return to exercising in person.

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Josh McCarter is CEO of Mindbody, the leading technology platform for the fitness, wellness, and beauty industries. Mindbody's technology powers tens of thousands of wellness businesses, including industry-leading brands such as OTF, F45, and DryBar. In addition to helping these businesses deliver authentic experiences to their clients, Mindbody has built the world's largest wellness marketplace, where millions of consumers find and book in-person and virtual wellness classes and appointments in the U.S. every month. Josh joined Mindbody in 2018 as chief strategy officer following the company's acquisition of Booker, where he had served as CEO and co-founder. Prior to taking over as CEO at Mindbody, Josh served as the company's president.

Josh graduated cum laude with a BA in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and received his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at USC (and yes, he recognizes the conflict of interest!). He has held board positions with Booker, SpaFinder, several Autobytel subsidiaries, Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). As a result of his youngest daughter's diagnosis with type 1 diabetes in 2009, his family has been dedicated to finding a cure by supporting a variety of type 1 causes, most recently Beyond Type 1. When not working, Josh is an avid adventurer, having traveled to more than 50 countries and traversed the U.S. on his Harley-Davidson.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by McConnell Smith of VMG Partners — a private equity firm focused on growth-stage investments.

In this episode, we explore emerging opportunities across fitness and wellness. We discuss VMG's new $850M fund, including the firm's approach to backing consumer- and health-focused brands. And McConnell talks about VMG's investment in [solidcore] — a Pilates-based boutique fitness concept.

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McConnell is a partner at VMG Partners, a growth equity fund focused on partnering with emerging, high-growth, health and wellness focused consumer brands. He has worked closely with a number of VMG's investments, including [solidcore], Quest, Sun Bum, Nutpods, Justin's, Solid Gold, Vermont Smoke & Cure, and Hello Bello, among others. McConnell joined VMG in 2016 and focuses on the nutrition, wellness, and fitness categories.

Prior to VMG, he worked in the consumer investment banking groups at Piper Sandler and KeyBanc Capital Markets, and before that was a member of L'Oreal's supply chain finance team.

McConnell grew up in Cleveland and attended Yale University where he played (quite poorly) wide receiver on the Yale football team.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Eric Wu. Eric is the Co-founder and COO of Gainful, makers of personalized nutritional supplements.

In this episode, Eric shares his journey from Y Combinator to raising $10M in venture capital. We discuss the opportunities and consolidation in the personalized nutrition category. And Eric explains why he believes Gainful could be a billion-dollar company.

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Eric Wu is the co-founder and COO of Gainful. He started the company as an undergrad at

Georgetown University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude from the School of Foreign

Service. Eric led Gainful as CEO from 2017 until 2020, participating in YCombinator and

growing the company to 8-figure annual revenue. Prior to Gainful, Eric worked in digital

marketing at Hatch (consumer hardware), completed a fellowship with True Ventures (an

SF-based venture capital firm), and served as COO of The Hilltop Microfinance Initiative, a

DC-based nonprofit focused on empowering low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs.

More from Fitt Insider

Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Anand Sharma. Anand is the founder and CEO of Gyroscope — an app that lets you track and improve everything about your health.

In this episode, we talk about Gyroscope's evolution from a personal health experiment to a sustainable business. The challenges and opportunities in creating a personalized health dashboard. And the company's mission to build a new operating system for the human body.

More from Anand

Anand is the founder & CEO of Gyroscope. He built the first version of Gyroscope as a personal project to track his own life and health (aprilzero.com) and then founded the company to provide it as a service for everyone. He previously designed Quizlet, now used by millions of students to study for their classes, and theory11, an online school for magic. He can be found in most places as @aprilzero

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Anthony Geisler, Founder and CEO of Xponential Fitness — a holding company of nine boutique fitness brands, including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, CycleBar, and others.

In this episode, Anthony tells us how they managed to open new studios during the pandemic. We talk about how the Rumble acquisition came together. And Anthony explains why he's bullish on the return of in-person exercise.

We also discuss what's next for Xponential — including more acquisitions, whether or not they'll launch connected fitness equipment, and the likelihood that they go public this year.

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Anthony Geisler is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xponential Fitness. After graduating from USC in 1999, Geisler and a friend saw the potential in the dot com era and created a domain name and website development business, before moving into casino gaming software, then to fitness when he purchased LA Boxing in 2001. Seeing more opportunity in specialized workouts, Geisler bought Club Pilates in early 2015, a small collection of boutique Reformer Pilates studios concentrated in California that has now grown to 900 licensed locations. In 2017, Anthony recognized there was further opportunity with scheduled boutique fitness and formed Xponential Fitness, which is now the curator of leading fitness brands across each vertical of the boutique fitness industry, including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, CycleBar, Row House, StretchLab, AKT, YogaSix, STRIDE, and Rumble.

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Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Eric Min, co-founder and CEO of Zwift — a fitness company born out of gaming where users ride and run in virtual worlds.

In this episode, Eric shares the key insights that led him to start Zwift. We discuss the company's plan to launch a smart bike and other connected equipment, including a rower. And Eric explains why Zwift hopes to make virtual cycling an Olympic sport.

More from Eric

Eric Min is the Zwift CEO and Co-Founder at Zwift, the online fitness company born from gaming.

Launched in 2014, Zwift has grown to see over 3.4 million accounts registered with the platform. The company achieved Unicorn Status in 2020, following a $450M funding round, led by KKR. Utilizing massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming technology, Zwift brings the outdoor experience indoors blending mass participation events, competition and social connections in immersive 3D environments, ripe for exploration.

Working in partnership with the World Cycling Governing Body (the UCI), Zwift hosted the first UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2020. In the same year, Zwift also hosted the first Virtual Tour de France in July for both men and women.

In collaboration with the UCI, Zwift will be one of the five sports – alongside rowing, baseball-softball, sailing and motor sport – on the programme of the inaugural edition of the Olympic Virtual Series, a new virtual event launched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

More from Fitt Insider

Fitt Insider is a newsletter and podcast on the business of fitness and wellness.

Join industry-leading operators and investors by subscribing: http://insider.fitt.co