HALO Talks: Elevating Wellness

Roland Memisevic is the CEO & Founder of Twenty Billion Neurons, a Microsoft M12-backed artificial intelligence startup committed to making personalized coaching and companionship accessible to all people. Having earned his Ph.D in Computer Science, Roland has been working in AI his entire career. Taylor Roth is the Product Owner for Fitness Ally, 20bn's direct to consumer, fully interactive AI fitness coach app that's seeing phenomenal traction. This wide ranging discussion touches on the increasing role of AI in the HALO sector, how their technology is being utilized by some top players in the space, thoughts on the future of tech in fitness, and more.

Roland Memisevic is the CEO & Founder of Twenty Billion Neurons, a Microsoft M12-backed artificial intelligence startup committed to making personalized coaching and companionship accessible to all people. Having earned his Ph.D in Computer Science, Roland has been working in AI his entire career. Taylor Roth is the Product Owner for Fitness Ally, 20bn's direct to consumer, fully interactive AI fitness coach app that's seeing phenomenal traction. This wide ranging discussion touches on the increasing role of AI in the HALO sector, how their technology is being utilized by some top players in the space, thoughts on the future of tech in fitness, and more. 

"I put it away and then I went back to doing my thing. I didn't realize it was going to be useful!" laughs Dr. Jason Wersland, Founder of the Theragun when asked how he got started early on. (Like most great ideas, it was born of a personal frustration.) Five different versions later (created between 2008 - 2015) Jason met experienced angel investor Ben Nazarian, now the CEO. Learn more about what an investor mulls over when thinking about whether to back someone, the evolution of the product, why most people thought they were doing 'everything wrong' in the beginning, how to deal with knockoffs, and more.

"I put it away and then I went back to doing my thing. I didn't realize it was going to be useful!" laughs Dr. Jason Wersland, Founder of the Theragun when asked how he got started early on. (Like most great ideas, it was born of a personal frustration.) Five different versions later (created between 2008 - 2015) Jason met experienced angel investor Ben Nazarian, now the CEO. Learn more about what an investor mulls over when thinking about whether to back someone, the evolution of the product, why most people thought they were doing 'everything wrong' in the beginning, how to deal with knockoffs, and more.

"I always had a love for tech, what it can do, and how it can transform business . . . .and nothing is transforming fitness these days more than technology," states Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of Intelivideo. Adam has deep roots in the space, having started a video conferencing company at 22 and growing it to 130 employees, 9 offices, and $40M in revenues. This wide-ranging discussion touches on how tech has become (even more) critical to the industry since COVID, the powerful advantage clubs have of owning the "hyperlocal relationship with members," (versus Peloton, Mirror and others), the critical importance of having a top video on demand library, how tech can significantly add to the bottom line in addition to aiding in retention, digital workouts becoming intertwined with in-club workouts, and much more!

"I always had a love for tech, what it can do, and how it can transform business . . . .and nothing is transforming fitness these days more than technology," states Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of Intelivideo. Adam has deep roots in the space, having started a video conferencing company at 22 and growing it to 130 employees, 9 offices, and $40M in revenues. This wide-ranging discussion touches on how tech has become (even more) critical to the industry since COVID, the powerful advantage clubs have of owning the "hyperlocal relationship with members," (versus Peloton, Mirror and others), the critical importance of having a top video on demand library, how tech can significantly add to the bottom line in addition to aiding in retention, digital workouts becoming intertwined with in-club workouts, and much more! 

Asked how Prospr began and what her initial pain points were, Erika laughs, "I thought I must just be a bad people manager! It wasn't until I started meeting others across different verticals that I realized, 'No, I don't stink at managing people! People are just really hard to manage . . . but specifically shift and hourly based work force!'" She discusses the ups and downs of developing software (as a non-coder!), how her (very simple but powerful) program helps increase productivity, employee satisfaction, and much more. This is a must listen for any owners or managers who works with shift or hourly based employees.

Asked how Prospr began and what her initial pain points were, Erika laughs, "I thought I must just be a bad people manager! It wasn't until I started meeting others across different verticals that I realized, 'No, I don't stink at managing people! People are just really hard to manage . . . but specifically shift and hourly based work force!'" She discusses the ups and downs of developing software (as a non-coder!), how her (very simple but powerful) program helps increase productivity, employee satisfaction, and much more. This is a must listen for any owners or managers who works with shift or hourly based employees. 

"Before you become this fancy Swiss Army knife, are you even a decent pocket knife first? Do you do one thing really well yet? People will cancel memberships, they're less likely to cancel relationships," states Stu Brauer, host of the WTF Gym Talk podcast and owner of Urban MVMNT. Since 2015 he's focused on the "microgym" industry which came out of his years of experience with CrossFit and bigger box facilities. Stu discusses his thoughts on how to make it out the other side of COVID, retaining employees versus members, the importance of not being emotional about members, not memberships, and more!

"Before you become this fancy Swiss Army knife, are you even a decent pocket knife first? Do you do one thing really well yet? People will cancel memberships, they're less likely to cancel relationships," states Stu Brauer, host of the WTF Gym Talk podcast and owner of Urban MVMNT. Since 2015 he's focused on the "microgym" industry which came out of his years of experience with CrossFit and bigger box facilities. Stu discusses his thoughts on how to make it out the other side of COVID, retaining employees versus members, the importance of not being emotional about members, not memberships, and more!