Fitt Insider

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.

More from Eric

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.

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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 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

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 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).

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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 Saeju Jeong, the co-founder and CEO of Noom — a psychology-based digital health platform.

In this episode, we discuss Noom's 14-year history. Saeju shares his journey, from South Korea to founding and scaling a digital health startup. We explore the product's many iterations, including fitness, healthcare, and weight management. And Saeju explains why he is so passionate about helping people live healthier lives.

More from Saeju

Born in South Korea to a family of doctors, Saeju has always had an intense desire to help people. From an early age, he knew his life's work would be dedicated to improving the wellbeing of as many people as possible. It was after the death of his father at a young age that Saeju became more motivated than ever to truly change lives for the better and use his entrepreneurial spirit (Saeju founded South Korea's first-ever heavy metal record label) to make an impact. After dropping out of college and moving to the US, Saeju met his co-founder Artem Petakov who shared his vision of helping people live healthier lives and convinced him to leave Google to develop Noom. As CEO, Saeju is responsible for setting the strategic vision for Noom and has led the company through several years of tremendous growth, helping millions of people improve their lifestyles and health. In 2020, Saeju was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

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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 Jason Karp, Founder and CEO of HumanCo — a holding company of health and wellness brands.

In this episode, we talk about Jason's experience starting Hu, a healthy snack brand, and selling the company to Mondelez. Jason shares his vision for HumanCo, which includes investing in, incubating, and acquiring brands. And we discuss HumanCo Acquisition Corp, a $250M SPAC led by Jason and CAVU Venture Partners.

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Jason H. Karp is Founder and CEO of HumanCo – a mission-driven holding company that invests in and builds brands focused on healthier living and sustainability. Recently, Jason also co-founded HumanCo Acquisition Corp. – a $300m SPAC focused on Health & Wellness where he serves as Executive Chairman. In addition to HumanCo, Jason is also Chairman and Co-Founder of Hu (as in Human), one of the fastest-growing snacking companies in the U.S. Hu was recently sold to Mondelez International in January 2021. Prior to HumanCo, Jason spent over 20 years in the hedge fund industry. He was the Founder, CEO and CIO of Tourbillon Capital Partners, an investment fund that managed over $4 billion, and prior to that, worked at 3 multi-billion dollar funds at the partner level. Jason has a B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he also was an Academic All-American and All-Ivy in Varsity Squash.

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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 Jacob Rothman, co-founder and CEO of Perch.

Perch is a velocity-based training system that uses 3D cameras to quantify and improve performance.

In this episode, we talk about using technology to improve strength training. The idea of trickle-down health — where a company initially targets elite athletes before broadening its customer base. And how Jacob thinks about the role of content, community, competition, and data in the future of strength training.

More from Jacob

Jacob is the Co-founder and CEO of Perch. Originally from Charlotte, NC, Jacob attended MIT where he studied Mechanical Engineering and played baseball. After graduating in 2016, he attended grad school at MIT for one year before dropping out to work on Perch full time. Perch uses small and mobile cameras to monitor and manage athlete performance and activity in the weight room. Perch currently helps elite athletic organizations, such as the LSU Tigers and the NY Giants, get the most out of their work in the weight room, while working towards enabling a safer, more efficient, and more connected fitness experience for everyone.

Jacob has previous work experience at Apple, Oculus VR, and various MIT labs. He currently resides in Boston, MA.

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 Greg Caplan. Greg is the co-founder and CEO of Spot Meetings — a platform for walking meetings.

In this episode, Greg explains how his personal experience with remote work led him to start the company. We look at what goes into designing a meeting platform for walking. We discuss the health and productivity benefits of simply walking more. And Greg talks about launching Spot's beta and amassing a waitlist of 5K people.

A quick disclosure, we are excited to be investors in Spot — supporting the company on its mission to help people escape Zoom fatigue and be more physically active.

More from Greg

Greg Caplan is the co-founder of Spot Meetings, a platform for walking meetings. Previously, he co-founded Remote Year, the original remote work and travel community.

Visit: www.meetwithspot.com

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