Fitt Insider

Today I'm joined by Dan Gluck. Dan is a Managing Partner at PowerPlant Ventures — a venture capital firm investing in better-for-you, plant-based food companies. In today's episode, we talked about Dan's experience founding Healthwarrior and selling to Pepsi, emerging categories within plant-based foods like dairy, functional ingredients, and personalized nutrition, and why we're still in the early stages of plant-based foods remaking our food system. More from Dan >> Dan is a Managing Partner at Powerplant Ventures, a Venture Capital fund investing in emerging consumer food & beverage, foodservice and food-tech companies. Powerplant provides capital, strategic guidance and operating expertise to visionary teams leading disruptive plant-centric brands. The firm is on a mission to re-architect the global food system by advancing world-changing companies that deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways. Prior to Powerplant Ventures, Dan was the Co-Founder and Board Chairman of Health Warrior, a plant-based superfood company. Within the first year of launching, Health Warrior's Chia Bar was the #1 best-selling new bar in the natural channel. Dan was involved in all aspects of the business, including ideation, incubation, financing, scaling, and it's eventual exit to Pepsi in 2018. Today Health Warrior is a nationally recognized brand and is on a mission to make radically convenient, real food and positively influence the health habits of Western civilization. Prior to diving into entrepreneurship, Dan spent 15 years working on Wall Street as a Partner at a large investment management firm. Dan has experience investing in a breadth of companies, up and down the capital structure, and across the globe from the United States to Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. When Dan is not investing, he can be found on the trails of Northern California mountain biking and trail running. Dan is a 2X Ironman, marathoner, and celebrated his 40th birthday by competing in a 24-hour Spartan Race in Iceland. He is also a proud 2X dad. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Aly Orady. Aly is the founder and CEO of Tonal, the world's most intelligent home gym. In today's episode, we discussed Aly's plan to build a platform around strength training, how COVID-19 is impacting the fitness industry, and how personalization could transform at-home fitness. More from Aly >> Aly Orady is the CEO and Founder of Tonal, the world's most intelligent fitness system and the first truly personalized approach to strength training. A 20-year silicon valley veteran, engineer and serial entrepreneur, Orady started his career at Hewlett-Packard's Computer Systems Laboratory designing super-computers, followed by technical leadership roles at a series of startups, including Kealia, Inc. Armed with an M.S.E.E. from Stanford, and a B.Eng. from McMaster University, Orady founded Pano Logic, where he served as the company's Chief Technology Officer and oversaw core technology development, architecture, and patents, as well as functional roles including product management, go-to-market planning, business development and manufacturing operations. Orady has leveraged his extensive product and technology background paired with his own fitness journey and 70 lb weight loss to invent Tonal. His goal is to help enable people to lead healthier lives by providing them with the technology, guidance and support to effectively reach their fitness goal. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Alex Katz. Alex is the founder and CEO of Two Chairs, a mental health startup providing access to in-person psychotherapy. In today's episode, we talk about destigmatizing mental health, the difference between wellness and healthcare, and why Two Chairs is focused on providing in-person therapy over purely digital services. Let's get into it. More from Alex and Two Chairs >> Alex Katz is the founder and CEO of Two Chairs, which provides high-quality psychotherapy at thoughtfully-designed clinics across the Bay Area." More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Jon Canarick. Jon is the Managing Director at North Castle Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on the healthy living sectors. In today's episode, we discuss the evolving fitness landscape, why Jon doesn't buy into the gympocalypse, and we explore North Castle's investments in Barry's, Echelon, Crunch Fitness, and more. Let's get into it. More from Jon >> Jonathan ("Jon") Canarick is a Managing Director with 18 years of consumer private equity investment experience. Since joining North Castle in 2001, Jon has actively managed North Castle's investments across a variety of Healthy, Active, and Sustainable Living sectors and across all job functions at North Castle. Having started his career at NCP as an Associate out of investment banking, Jon has played a crucial role in the development of North Castle and many of its portfolio companies. Jon currently sits on the Board of Directors of Echelon Fit, CR Fitness, Encore Vet Group, Kettlebell Kitchen, The Escape Game, Barry's Bootcamp, Brooklyn Boulders, Curves, Jenny Craig, Palladio, and SLT. Previously, Jon served on the Board of Directors of Mineral Fusion, gloProfessional, Flatout, International Fitness, Enzymatic Therapy, Performance Bicycle, Avalon and DDF and was actively involved in the Firm's investment in Grand Expeditions. Prior to joining North Castle, Jon worked in the Financial Sponsors Coverage and Leveraged Finance groups of Bear, Stearns & Co., where he executed leveraged buyout transactions and provided advisory services for financial sponsors. Jon earned a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Matteo Franceschetti. Matteo is the CEO of Eight Sleep, the sleep fitness company. In today's episode, we talked about how Eight Sleep is using AI, data, and temperature regulation to improve sleep. How Matteo plans to expand beyond the mattress to reinvent the entire sleep environment. And why Eight Sleep is often compared to Tesla. Let's get into it. More from Matteo & Eight Sleep >> Matteo Franceschetti has always been obsessed with performance. Athletic performance, business performance, and now sleep performance. An athlete from a young age—he was a competitive ski racer in his native Italy and played tennis and raced cars on the European stage—Matteo has always been focused on winning, and on winning in record time. That drive to succeed propelled him from sports podiums to the top tier of the international legal world and to start two clean-tech companies on two continents, all before age 30. Not surprisingly, sleepless nights were a way of life. It was Matteo's quest for more restorative sleep, in fact, that led him to quit his previous life and launch Eight Sleep, a New York-based company dedicated to fueling human potential through optimal sleep, and to turning the bed into a seamless health platform for improved health, performance, and longevity. The path he took to becoming CEO of Eight Sleep, however, is as circuitous as the tracks he raced in his youth. Twitter: @m_franceschetti Eight Sleep: www.eightsleep.com More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Rishi Mandal. Rishi is the co-founder and CEO of Future — a digital personal training service that connects users with human coaches to create custom workout plans. In today's episode, Rishi and I talked about the power of high-touch personal coaching, Future's commitment to retention, and creating a constellation of experts in your life. More from Rishi >> Rishi is the co-founder and CEO of Future (www.future.fit), which is backed by Kleiner Perkins and Founders Fund. Future is an online personal training experience that pairs clients 1:1 with their own world-class coach. Rishi was previously the CEO of Sosh (acquired by Postmates) and a product leader at Google. Prior to tech, Rishi was an astrophysics researcher at NASA and Stanford University. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Aarti Kapoor. Aarti is an investment banker at Goldman Sachs covering Consumer & Retail clients, including high-growth health, wellness & lifestyle companies. In today's episode, Aarti and I discussed the evolution of the wellness market, the filters she uses to access deals, and the impact of digital and connected fitness on the future of the industry. About Aarti >> Aarti Kapoor covers Consumer & Retail clients at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division in New York. While active across all major industry verticals, Kapoor specializes in covering high-growth health, wellness & lifestyle companies – an area in which she has received significant recognition from publications spanning Forbes ("30 Under 30"), Business Insider ("Rising Stars of Wall Street"), Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, espnW, and more. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Kapoor spent 9 years in Consumer & Retail investment banking at Moelis & Company, after starting her career at Citigroup in New York. Kapoor graduated with a BA Honors in Economics from Harvard University. Outside of the office, Kapoor is a fitness & wellness junkie, foodie and travel enthusiast. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Nate Bosshard. Nate is a consumer-oriented brand builder. Most recently, he was on the founding team at Tonal where he served as the CMO. But he's also held roles at Burton, North Face, Nest, and GoPro. In today's episode, we talked about building an authentic network, taking a brand from zero to one, and how timing, adversity, luck and failure impact success. It's a wide-ranging conversation with a ton of unique insights that I think you'll find valuable. Let's get into it. More from Nate >> Nate is an Entrepreneur, investor and brand builder of iconic, category-defining, multi-billion dollar consumer brands. His superpower is brand creation, positioning, and go-to-market strategy. He's lead brand platform development and positioning, marketing strategy and planning, and consumer acquisition and engagement both on and offline. He has been a marketing leader at every stage of company growth. Nate has lead and re-positioning heritage brands through changing market dynamics, ridden the IPO rocketship, experienced being inside of a company acquisition and integration, and has witnessed spectacular company implosion and failure first hand. Nate has built and co-founded a company from scratch, helped raise hundreds of millions of venture capital, worked inside a blue-chip VC firm as a partner and personally angel invested in 30+ companies. Separate of his bay-area entrepreneurial adventures he is an owner of the largest independent beverage co-packer in the country and has stakes in dozens of community banks in the midwest. More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co

Today I'm joined by Ally Davidson. Ally is the co-founder and co-CEO of Camp Gladiator. In today's episode, I talked with Ally about scaling Camp Gladiator from one class to 4,000 locations, increasing access to fitness, and the role of community and technology have played in growing the business. I had a great time chatting with Ally and I hope you enjoy listening. Let's get into it. More from Ally and Camp Gladiator >> Ally Davidson, the co-founder and co-CEO of Camp Gladiator, has a passion for fitness and creating a one-of-a-kind, life-changing experiences for both campers and trainers. Ally was a collegiate athlete and graduated with an honors degree in exercise physiology and sports science from Texas State University. After becoming Grand Champion on the NBC TV show American Gladiators in 2007, she used the unique opportunity as a platform to launch Camp Gladiator. Ally was the first CG Trainer and grew the team from one trainer to over 1000 certified partner trainers nationwide. She has impacted more than 350,000 lives to date. In 2016, she was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year and won "Fittest CEO" in 2016 and 2017 in Austin Fit Magazine. https://campgladiator.com/ https://www.facebook.com/CampGladiator/ https://www.instagram.com/campgladiator/ https://twitter.com/campgladiator More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing at http://insider.fitt.co.

Today I'm joined by Scott Marcaccio Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Myodetox. In today's episode, I talked with Scott about reinventing recovery and physical therapy, his disciplined approach to growth, and the keys to building a strong company culture. I had a great time chatting with Scott and I hope you enjoy listening. Let's get into it. More from Scott and Myodetox >> Scott Marcaccio is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myodetox, a lifestyle physical therapy brand operating ten locations across Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Toronto. The company offers a unique hands-on therapy system that focuses on resolving injuries and optimizing your body, delivered by best-in-class physical therapists. Through the power of their brand-first approach and industry-leading social media strategy, Scott has led Myodetox to forge ongoing partnerships with global brands including Nike, Equinox, and Lululemon. Myodetox is leading today's conversation on why taking care of your body is essential to your daily life. https://www.myodetox.com/ https://www.instagram.com/myodetox/ https://www.instagram.com/scottmarkk/?hl=en More from Fitt Insider >> Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the business of fitness and wellness. From product launches and funding news to game-changing innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and analysis on this ever-evolving industry. Join your peers and colleagues from companies like Equinox, lululemon, Peloton, Beyond Meat, Nike, and ClassPass by subscribing. http://insider.fitt.co