Chris Minor & Ajay Nwosu - Fuel Venture Studio & Coact Capital

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over three years and running. I am your host, Eric Malzone, and I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the extremely fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Please stop by futurefitness.co to subscribe and learn more. Hey friends, I couldn't be more proud and excited to announce that today's episode is powered by workout, the ultimate tool for modern fitness professionals just like you. There is one thing that fires me up: it's elevating the personal training and coaching industry. For that, the Workout app is an absolute game changer. No more promoting top brands without compensation or dealing with confusing social media links. In just a few clicks, Workout's user-friendly app lets top trainers and coaches curate and share the world's most sought-after fitness brands like Hyperice, Vega, and more. Product lines covering everything from fitness equipment to supplements and apparel. Save time and boost your earnings with generous commissions and bonuses every time your client purchases the product you already endorse. Do not wait. Maximize your income and streamline your business with store by workout. Discover more at workout.com. That's w-r-k-o-ut.com. Just one-o, w-r-k-o-ut. Go get it. All right. Chris Minor, AJ Nuosu. Welcome to the future of Finis.

Thank you for having me, sir.

Yeah. I'm so glad we finally pulled this together. I've uh, Chris, obviously you and I have the pleasure of talking periodically. You're always great at reaching out and staying in touch. And AJ, I've heard your name so many times, and I'm so bummed I miss you when I was in LA. We try to make it happen and uh you know meet IRL, as the kids say. I was just joking about that. Um but it's it's really cool. I love what you guys are doing. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that we're gonna cover today. I mean, the fuel showcase, coac capital. Um, you guys are very well connected within the industry. You have a very good um sense, uh, I guess uh, you know, the heartbeat of what the industry is doing from an investment level, from an operator level, all of those key insights. So so much to unpack. I'm just gonna stop talking. Let's have you guys do some quick introductions. Um, Chris, let's start with you and then we'll go on to you, AJ, after that.

Yeah, thanks for thanks for having me here, Eric. Um, my background is very uh, I would say unconventional. So I was an owner operator. I owned uh sports performance centers through across the United States, mainly in Illinois. So got a master's degree in biomechanics, kinesiology, undergrad exercise, physiology, and started training athletes uh right out of graduate school. So early 2000s. Um by 2004, I started my my first business, which was called Acceleration Sports Performance, ended up training hundreds of professional athletes, thousands of collegiate athletes, and that kind of led me into advising, consulting, and eventually starting uh Coac Capital, which is an angel fund that invests across mainly fitness, wellness, and sports technology companies. So I came kind of came full circle. A lot of people in venture capital, you know, they started in venture capital. My background is just being on the ground floor, ground level, and really understanding some of these basic uh concepts and principles.

Awesome. How about you, AJ?

Um, slightly unconventional background. I would uh describe myself as sort of a byproduct of globalization. Um I in a more unconventional way, I was born in Africa, I was raised in the Middle East, went to school in England, and I've lived in the US uh in my adult life. And uh that's afforded me the great luxury of obviously understanding different cultures and different nuances. And so my background stems from uh first uh degree, aerospace engineering, uh, second degree business and marketing and economics. And um, I've always been interested not only in entrepreneurship but how things work. How do you sort of deconstruct things and put it back together? And I think tangentially you can tie that into today's world and uh entrepreneurship in general and businesses in general as well. So uh, and then during my period in Chicago in the US was where Chris and I uh came across and uh became close acquaintances and finally business partners and friends. And uh from there we've only gone from strength to strength. And uh my day-to-day right now, I am the CEO of a company called Tech Ball, which is um an up-and-coming sport that we have hyperbolized and are taken towards the Olympic level. Uh, as of today, we're in 153 countries around the world with a presence. Uh the goal is to be part of Los Angeles 28 Olympic Games. We've just completed the European Olympic Games uh three weeks ago in Krakow. Um so a lot of excitement there. We have a global office uh with uh 198 employees around the world. Awesome.

And uh tech ball, it's T E Q B A L L, right? For people who are that's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was uh did a little bit of research on it. Like you're a really challenging game. I mean, I don't know if I'm that coordinated.

Well, we'll have to get you on the table, Eric. Uh I always think it's a narrative versus a reality. The narrative is yes, uh looks challenging. It's his once you the first couple of goes and tries, uh, but with a bit of training and skill, I believe in you, Eric. So AJ.

Thanks, buddy. Um, right on. Well, let's let's get into like yeah, I guess your guys' origin story as a duo, right? Like, how did you guys mean how did you what what came up? What was the impetus for coax capital? Um, and then we'll we'll take the storytelling from there.

So, should we tell the the Hollywood version, AJ, or should we so Eric, I'll I guess I'll lead off on this one. Okay. So during my my career at acceleration, we were training you know college athletes, pro athletes, and this was early on in the business. So we we got a spot on CBS Sports. So essentially we were doing a combine down in Florida, and instead of paying us to run all these a couple hundred of the top high school athletes through a combine, they offered us a 30-second video spot. It had to be commercial grade for CBS. So we we were a young startup, so we didn't really have a budget. So I just started inviting you know some of our athletes to participate in the commercial, and in walks this this specimen, uh, which is AJ. You know, he's he's playing soccer in uh in a league in the facility of the big sportsplex that we were in. And so I was like, hey, you know, my name's Chris. How would you like to be in a sports commercial? So AJ just moving up here, you know, was getting into, you know, he was coaching soccer. So he was like, Yeah, well, why not? You know, tell me more about it. And I'm like, oh, it's gonna be on CBS Sports, you're gonna debut, you know, this could launch like a whole career for you, you know, sports modeling or just in commercials. So he's like, why not? So he ended up um taking the whole day off of work the following week, telling all his family back in the UK, telling all his friends, you know, he's gonna premiere in this like big commercial.

I could Chris sold this dream to me. And as he described, as he describes it, is exactly word for word what occurred. And I think uh for anyone who knows Chris out there, obviously, from a I mean he could sell sand to the Arabs. So from that perspective, but I'll let you complete the story, Chris.

Yeah, so like I said, we really didn't have a budget, so we gather all these guys around and we get this. We we interviewed a bunch of different um videographers, and we couldn't afford afford many of them. So we picked the one that was working at the local uh college. So they're like, okay, we're not gonna do any prep work, we're gonna go in there and we're gonna shoot it. Limited editing. So I literally invited 40 40 other athletes just in case. I didn't think everybody was gonna show up. So everybody shows up and we, you know, we start doing these uh video uh takes, and ultimately um they kind of were like, we're gonna edit it once. We're not gonna like give you a lot of like chance to give feedback. And so AJ, uh I could text them, I'm like, okay, it's gonna premiere you know next Tuesday. So he's he tells everybody about it. And so when they edit it, everybody's like ready to watch is he basically had a watch party at uh at a local local pub. Um, so it comes out and it's 30 seconds long, and all you see is his is his uh his ankle, essentially moving fast, and he's next to like uh I think like an eight-year-old girl's feet, and it's moving, and all you could see you can't see his face, his body, anything. So when they edited it, so he's like all these people are watching back home, all his friends, and like literally it's maybe a tenth of a second, and it's just like his feet.

Eric, it was less than that, and um I watched it five times, still trying to find myself. I was nowhere to be seen. But nonetheless, yeah, that's uh that was a start of uh an amazing relationship between Chris and I.

So yeah, so we ended up uh just becoming great friends, and you know, throughout the years, you know, with AJ advancing in his career, you know, going from coach to CEO, you know, just in and onward, we were seeing a lot of the same deals in in the sports and in fitness and wellness space. So we're like, hey, you know, we we're seeing a lot of deal flow, we're investing in different things separately. Why don't we combine forces? That's hence the name coact to act together. Um, so we created the the angel fund to start investing. And our our kind of motto is one plus one equals three. Uh AJ kind of coined that phrase. And it's it's more than capital. Uh a lot of times we're not the biggest check, sometimes the smallest check, but we are the most strategic check. You know, because we bring in our expertise, our experience, we bring in our network, and we also bring in, you know, strategies, right? So, you know, if you want to bring in talent, athletes, celebrities, we have that access as well. So we we don't just cut the check, we we dig in deep with the founders and provide you know go-to-market strategies, marketing capabilities, and all the other resources. So we've been um we've been at it for about a little bit over five years, uh, 20 plus investments. And you know, some of the ones that we really were really high on, um, you know, companies as big as Hyperice, the recovery modality company, uh, SpeedFit. We got allocation in Pathwater. Um, we also got allocation in the collective uh performance clubs down in Austin, soon soon Nashville, um, and other companies like mental health software companies like Helium. And one that we're probably the most high, one of the most highest on is uh Aerial. And I'll kind of let AJ take it from here to kind of touch more in depth on some of these companies. That'd be great.

Sure, absolutely. As Chris referenced, um, you know, when you look at deal flow in today's market, there's a plethora of different opportunities. And I always say it's almost um it's hard to kind of do some due diligence sometimes. But Chris and I are founder first, right? Um, we always look at the founder, uh, and then secondary, obviously the product sometimes isn't always a catalyst for the biggest success, but the human being behind that. And so for us, that's something we always bet on and we've always used as part of our DD and our thesis in terms of getting to know that human being at their core and what drives them. And then secondly, just how innovative is a product? Um, how does it, what's a use case and application in today's society? I always say there's uh three rules of innovation, which is first, best, and only. Um, the last one is slightly skewed, but at the same time, the first two apply. Um and so for Chris and I, obviously, within the context of the investments we've done over the last five years, uh, we apply all of these sort of uh factors and deploy a more scholastic approach uh in terms of what we do. And uh we're really bullish on a lot of companies uh both in the CPG space and sports tech, as good as Chris referenced. And a lot of them are well more well known than others, but at the same time, a lot of them are sort of disrupting their industries. They're what I would call SMBs that uh sort of covert underneath and sort of disrupting the marketplace and gaining more prominence and more market share. Um, it's our also our ability to delay gratification. Uh, I think that's an important factor in terms of what we do in our due diligence. It's not about making a return in the next sort of delta of the next two to three years, it's more so okay, let's look at 10-year cycles and what is that company going to do over the course of time and how is a founder thinking about disrupting that marketplace? And so we've been um, I would say incredibly successful so far in terms of applying that uh that cadence uh in terms of all the investments we've done.

Well, two questions for you guys uh as a follow-up to all that. I I guess the first one is you know, we mentioned five years roughly, right? Is where you guys probably five of the most interesting years you you could have been in the investment world and you know sports performance and you know all the industries you've had. So, you know, uh can maybe walk me through like how has your confidence and level gone up and down, like if you had to put a you know a measurement on it over the last five years, because we saw so much freaky stuff happen, right? Like, you know, you just happen to pick the most interesting five years, like I stated. So give me some ideas, like how has that journey been due to the volatility of the last five years?

It's definitely been a roller coaster, right? It started off really, really the markets were hot, right? You had you had Peloton, you had Tonal, you had all these huge evaluations and huge upside. And then over the last, I would say, two and a half, three years, you know, the cut could the market really dried up. So even from the venture capital side down to the angel investor, um, but then there's been more innovation and more startups pop up at the same time. So we're at this like inflection point where it's like we're getting more opportunity, but we also learned from our mistakes and other companies we invest in. Our first five investments, um, who knows if we'll ever see a return, to you know, be quite frank. But we learned from that and we built our network. So we always got something out of each startup that we invest in. You know, it might not be a direct ROI of capital, but human capital, resources, exposure, and really a painful learning experience uh took place. So then we we got smarter and we started kind of solving a problem that you know, quite frankly, I think needs to be solved. And that's you know, we can invest behind a founder, but essentially if the founder doesn't have capital to deploy or to launch, we can't really help that founder. So we we built out an investment arm that allows you know syndication through an SPV, you know, to add to add more fuel or firepower to that company. And then we also knew that we had to go in and apply not only our knowledge base, but our our resources to these founders. So we we really got smarter, and then I guess lastly, it was staying in an area that we not only have experience in, but we could reach out to the best of the best in that sector. So getting back to sports, getting back to fitness, getting back to wellness technology companies, that's really our sweet spot. You know, we dabble in to augmented reality, we dabble into CPG, but really staying in the in the lane that we've operated in over 20 years.

So AJ, you mentioned earlier you guys have been wildly successful with your your so far, right? How do you how do you measure that? Like, do you have a time horizon as far as when you want ROI on your investments? But you know, how how are how are you guys measuring success with with your uh with your work at Coact?

Yeah, it's a great question, Eric. Um I think for us, obviously, on the when we look back at the investments we've done, obviously we had this small little issue called COVID the last two, three years. Um on the delta of that, moving forward, any sort of organization that I would say withstood that era um is a badge of honor. Uh and then moving into the future, we sort of look at on the back end of COVID, what is the rate of growth, right? Uh, for each investment that we have done uh over that course of cycle, how they come out on the back of COVID, and we we look at that, amortize that out um over the last 24 months. Uh, a lot of the companies have grown by over 45-50%, some even more, depending on the industry. Um, so that's sort of how we measure that in terms of uh that cycle. Um, and then yeah, over as we move forward, I don't think it's uh people always look at investing as a uh I would say a complex quadratic equation, but it's not. It's simply just applying core simple print uh principles, you know. Uh in day-to-day, the same way you would run your company or your life is and that disciplinary aspect is what you apply to sort of investing as well, and doing your due diligence with founders, etc., and all the above. But that's how we measure it possible.

Uh SPVs, that that's something that I think uh I don't know, it's been new in my nomenclature personally over the past few years. I don't know, as I'm sure it's been around forever, but maybe you could shed some light, you know, educate our audience exactly. Like what are they? Why are they useful? Why why do they exist? Um, how do you guys uh deploy them?

So uh for everybody out there that doesn't know, I mean it's it's they're called SPV, special purpose vehicles. Um they're big, they basically offer a syndication option. Um, I do think there is a need for venture capital, and there's always going to be you know angel investments, but through this the syndication, it allows uh two things to happen. Um lower barrier of entry. So, say me and AJ start a SBV through Coact or through Fuel Venture Studio. We could do all the legal, all the structuring, and then investors that might only want to invest five to ten to fifteen thousand dollars instead of trying to meet a minimum of you know fifty to a hundred thousand, they could come in through our vehicle that's already open. And then alongside of that, you know, a company only gets one entity added to the cap table, right? So it's not gonna crush them if we bring in 50 guys, investors at $10,000 a piece, right? They get $500,000, but only one line item on the cap table. But they also then get 50 strategics that they don't have to manage because we would manage the other side of that investment. So it just gives people more opportunity in this day and age, you know, we with the fuel showcase coming up, it's not just about the investment part, but it's also about getting access. And the people that are coming on, you know, watching these different companies and getting opportunities, now they could get in at a lower amount. You know, they might say, hey, I could spread out $10,000 across five companies instead of doing $50,000 in one company. So I think it's a win-win on both sides.

Yeah, it sounds interesting. I mean, it's kind of like uh forgive me for my naivety behair, but like, you know, kind of like a GoFundMe, right? But done more strategically in some ways. I mean, is that an accurate statement? Maybe you can explain that to me like in sixth grade.

I think I think that's very accurate. Um slightly, you mean you hit it right at you hit it right on the head. It allows that strategic investor. And then also, you know, we're managing the people that we bring in. Like we did uh a pretty big million-dollar SPV for a pretty prominent company, you know, that it was doing a series A. Um and we were able to bring in not only some professional athletes, but also some industry leaders. So we grouped our money together, but we then would manage our investors that we brought in. So instead of adding another, you know, 15 guys to the cap table, you know, a company, this company already has 400 investors. So now we're responsible of you know managing these guys, but any kind of resources or doors that they could open from a street uh strategic level, we then could apply that to the company. So we're building you know twice the value.

Awesome. Yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, it's something that I've heard it thrown around. I mean, you guys know uh probably Jim and Jason at that this. Sage House. I know they do fairly similar work, but different. It's always just a really seems like a really exciting space that you guys are in. I mean, you're kind of, especially for someone like me who's, you know, I need uh you know 10 things going on in my life at once. It's like uh you can really uh spread around but still offer you know a very um succinct value to to each one who's in your ecosystem. That's it's interesting. And um I we mentioned a couple times now in the podcast, but the the fuel showcase that you guys have coming up at the end of the month, maybe start with this. Um when you guys decided to start this, what what was the problem that you saw that you're like, okay, we need to figure out something to solve this problem. Um, and then we'll go with what you're actually doing to solve the problem. So yeah, let's go from there.

No, I think that's a great way to look at it. So what we've been seeing over the last you know five, six years is founders, it's tough being a founder. Quality of life is is is actually terrible. Um so think of it this way founders have this great idea, a great product, or great service. And that's why they create this company to launch that and to build that business side. But they find themselves doing spending most of their day doing things that A, they're not equipped to be doing, and two, things that they don't want to be doing. So picture founder A. Founder A spends six hours of the day talking to one investor every hour, trying to raise capital. And then he spends the rest of the day trying to pick the right marketing company, the right distribution channel, the right manufacturer, hiring the right staff, bringing on the right advisors away from the actual project or the service or the service that they've started, um, the company trying to um put all their effort into. So essentially they're doing something they don't want to be doing. So with fuel, the fuel venture studio model, what it essentially solves is it saves the founder time, money, and effort. And what I mean by that, it gives it's a match, there's a matchmaking component where it brings in, gives them access to vetted resources, whether they're creative agencies, um, consultants, advisors, um, access to talent, access to investors that are vetted. So it saves them time. They don't have to go out there and try to find this guy to meet this guy, and maybe to take a chance on a marketing agency or a person and spend all that money and time when they could start with a vetted community to choose from.

We we essentially give them um the ability to access knowledge and human capital that creates enough inertia for their business to run efficiently, you know. Um for us, the startup world, I I always say is very Darwinian, right? Survival of the fittest. And so being nimble in having obviously access to people and knowledge is highly important, which is why you see today that I always say capital is easily accessible, but strategic capital is harder to come by. And so that's what we offer here, uh in a nutshell. Awesome.

And maybe you guys can walk me through it as an example. You know, uh you can either yeah, use a company that's gone through that's really leveraged what you guys have to offer. Uh, I think it's always great to walk through something, something specific.

Yeah, what one of the first companies that um we applied to Fuel Venture Studio was uh Speedfit. For those that don't know SpeedFit, it's essentially one of the first AI strength uh strength training machines that not only have a diagnostic application, but also have a data analysis um infrastructure built in to produce better programming, better results. Um the way that that deal went down is we we applied $100,000 of real capital for equity, but then we were able to source some of the video content, video editing, some of the talent that got brought on to supply speed with the necessary resources to get off the ground quick and cost effective. So that was one. Um and then there's a couple more that we kind of played around with the model, but essentially we want to do these probably every probably three or four of them every quarter. And you know, there's the investment arm and then there's the connectivity arm.

Interesting. And uh is it just you guys who are running Fuel Venture Studio or is this like a conglomerate? Like who's who's behind it?

It's it's it's a whole community. Um, we're we're at the top of it, but essentially the the way I break it down, and it's gonna kind of sound, I guess the parable's very simple. We we stock, we take a pond and we stock it with the best experts in the sector, whether they're lawyers, consultants, advisors, just leading experts, we stock that that pond and we also throw in investors. And then we allow the founders to come fish from that pond. So we started in Chicago. Well, it's invite only, and we invited a hundred of the top founders. So they pay uh a monthly subscription fee and they get the fish from the pond. But this isn't just a pond of resources, this is vetted resources. So there's vetting on both sides. We not only vet the founder, but we also vet the people, the consultants, the advisors, and the people that are the best in their in their industry. So it's a two-sided vetted community. And then through AI, we will essentially match make the two and make the introduction for them. So they're not going out doing all the vetting and spending all this time and money. So keeping it very exclusive, the next chapter that we'll open up will be fuel Austin and then fuel LA, and then we'll we'll go out to all the major cities and just bring this amazing resource to all the founders.

How do you guys do the vetting process? I mean, on both ends. I mean, that's um yeah, I would imagine it's it's fairly subjective, right? But some objectivity would would fit into it too. I mean, that that's probably part of your secret sauce, but if you guys can explain, like how do you vet?

So the vetting on the founder side is is roughly a seven to ten minute you know, air table where we're asking to see everything from the pitch deck to the go-to-market strategy to who's on your team, what are you raising? Um, we that's the first step. But then we also have a verification process to get kind of the check mark, and that's another hour-long workshop where we look, we go through and not just look to see what they're trying to accomplish, but who they are as a person. Take it, take it from a deeper level. What drives them? What are their values? What are their passions? Um, to get to know them on a way you know deeper level. And then on the talent side, well, with with investors, right? There's really it's hard to really vet an investor. Like what makes a good investor versus a bad investor? You know, we I have personally about 30 investments. Does that make me a good investor or a bad investor? Um, so that's really are you accredited or not accredited, right? But with the talent, I you know, AJ and I come across some of the best, you know, guys like yourself, Eric, that come from you know the fitness sector, or guys that are the best the best in class from the marketing sector or distribution or manufacturing. So I we get to meet these guys on a daily basis and find out, get to know them, get to know what they do, and then they go through a vetting process as well. They have to give their whole resume and background, and also we want to know what drives them because ultimately this is a culture that we'll be building. We don't want just successful people, but we want people that are successful, and ultimately the values and purpose align as well. Because at least, you know, it's more sustainable, we can scale faster, and ultimately the connection would be made long term instead of short term.

I think just to add to that as well, one of the core principles that we sort of look at, you know, each company and each founder, their story and their history is autobiographical to a large degree. But we sort of look at what problems are they solving within their respective industries or marketplace. And I always say there's sort of three core principles we use, which is uh are they in a red ocean, a blue ocean, or a pink ocean? Uh a red ocean being is it a saturated market that they're entering? And what does that look like holistically? A blue ocean being, uh they early in the market solve the problem before the end users realize they had a problem, and a pink ocean being the end consumers realize they have a problem, are actively trying to solve it themselves before uh they've experienced that product. So that's uh sort of one of the the first principles we sort of apply uh to any sort of startup.

Pink Ocean. Is that uh did you guys make that up? Is that your uh is that your No that's a Peter T IP? Is it okay? I've heard blue and red, I've never heard pink. Okay, good. Well, you know, as a combination. Yeah, I always learn multiple things on these podcasts. Um so I'm curious about the venture studio. Is it is it like a brick and mortar? Is it physically where people gather, or is it something more like a community that gathers, you know, at random spots? Like how how is that? Because I know it's you mentioned it's in Chicago, you're moving to Austin, you have a couple other locations you want to do.

So that that's a great question because it's gonna start off you know all digital, but eventually every major city will have a brick and mortar too. That's the exciting part. Is a place so you know, born and raised in Chicago, I operated mainly out of Chicago. You either have these places like a Soho House, which you end up doing more social than you do business, because you can't be on your phone, can't be on your computer, you end up full-side talking business, but or there's the the flip side where you're on the 50th floor in Michigan Avenue, it's stuffy, it's private equity, it's venture capital in a sterile environment, right? There's really no place, you know, AJ travels weekly to a different state or maybe even country at this point. There's no place that you can meet with founders, you can meet with other like-minded people, you could pitch your your company and do both, right? Why can't we sip on some tequila or have a cappuccino, right, and talk business? Or why can't we pitch our product or company in front of 15 very focused uh investors? So picture a place where roughly three or four thousand square feet, high vaulted ceilings, in the corner, you got a podcast studio, you got a content room, you got a conference room, and then in the open area, you have a you know, a coffee bar, espresso bar, you have a tequila bar, you have some beanbags, just places where like-minded people could come together and have a think tank, have a business meeting, and just really, really do both because that's really you're building more authentic and more organic relationships instead of just business or social. So eventually, uh, Eric, to answer your question, there will be a brick and mortar play where you could host events, pitch competitions, showcasing um meetups, meetings, all of the above. So I'm I'm very excited about that. That will launch at the beginning of next year. And there'll also be uh an AI-driven app, just like a dating site. It'll say the founder's looking for this or the consultant is looking for this, and it'll matchmake the people that want to meet up and meet and do business together.

Very cool, you guys. Yeah, I love it. I mean, it's already something that uh I can tell I would love to hang out there. I mean, I you know, travel and do we works and things like that, but it's not like you know, it's not quite what you want, right?

Um because we could have done this podcast if we already had fuel, like wherever you fly, Eric, you could have just been hosting your podcast, like kind of in real life with these different great founders or people that you're doing business with. So giving accessibility too, if if a company wants to do a photo shoot, you know, there's not really many places they could go to have that experience.

So yeah, very cool. Well, and tell me now, you guys are getting into is it your second, the showcase, is it your second one that you're gonna be doing, or is this your first?

It's technically the second. The first one was uh under a different brand and name. Okay, and we we kind of did it to test the market. We did no marketing. We didn't really, we just wanted to kind of see if it was something that we really needed uh to get more involved in. I can't I kind of came in like halfway through, but essentially we ended up having 30 founders apply. We chose eight. We ended up having 250 people attend. So afterwards, I was I you know told Jeff, who is the co-founder of the Fuel Venture uh showcase. I told him, hey, this you know, doing no marketing, this is huge. Like imagine if we put some resources and marketing and firepower behind this thing. So we just closed out the official round of applications uh last Friday, and we had 85 health and sports technology companies apply. We put just a little bit of marketing behind it, but and we're gonna announce our selections, um, the six, six best health and sports technology companies, we're gonna announce that tomorrow. And we're anticipating about a thousand eyeballs, and these these people that are gonna attend, it's a digital showcase, so it's online. You don't have to travel for it, you don't have to prep and do all the logistics behind it. You just gotta show up. So it's the sixth best in class, and we have some amazing. I can't wait to like announce who who's been selected, but these are some pretty big companies, some up-and-coming companies. Um, we're gonna announce that, and we do have 12 amazing panelists. Uh, we have managing partners of some pretty prominent VCs, uh, Mingu Lee, former chief business officer of Samsung, and he's now managing $1.4 billion of AUM for Cleveland Avenue. We have uh Lance Deets, most of the audience listening right now will know who Lance Deets is from KB Partners. And then we have you know celebrity hosts like David Melter. We have ex-pro strength coaches like KK Lyles, and we have just just this great group of panelists. So essentially the six best will be at a pitch for five minutes, um, assigning two panelists per startup to do the QA. So you get five minutes to pitch, five minutes of QA. And leading up to it, we found that we didn't do this last time, so we found out that they needed some pitch prep. So we're doing two hours of pitch prep leading into the pitch. Then afterwards, we're doing two hours of consulting, which kind of it's kind of follow-up and an introduction. So essentially, these guys are getting access to the leading and potential you know consultants, investors, and potentially consumers. So we're just we're just glad that we're we're getting these founders in front of thousands, not just one person at a time throughout their day.

So and is it uh how does it how's the event actually take place? Is it all virtual? Are you guys gonna be doing it in person? Um yeah, give me some insights on on what the experience is.

So this one is gonna be digital. It'll lead into that that virtual uh in person, but right now it's just digital because we wanted to make it pretty uh, you know, the barrier of entry very easy. Um but eventually it will be in person. It's more scalable while being digital.

So yeah, for sure.

Yep, and and to get guests there too, right? We want a thousand plus. So it's easier for somebody to log on to their computer during their lunch and sit down and listen for an hour and see six amazing startups and get access to these startups. And and really what I'm finding out too is a lot of these um, even investors, they want exclusive private vetted deal flow uh because there's a lot of noise out there. So they know that through our team and our community that we are seeing hundreds of deals and we're just we're filtering it and we're just bringing them the six best. So they know when they turn on, these are gonna be six that were, you know, that we did our uh DD.

And is it uh I guess the audience, you know, if you're not involved as a startup, right? Um, you know, those six that you select, who who is in the audience, you think? Is it obviously potential investors, right? Maybe some consultants, maybe people are just curious to learn about the industry. Um, but yeah, who's who are you seeing? I mean, I know it's super early, but you know, who do you guys see as the people actually participating in the event?

So the way the way we designed it and the way we look at it is it could be just channel partners. It could be, you know, just people that want to collaborate. And it could be founders helping out other founders, it could be potential consumers. And a lot of times, like with in VC, right, it might be too early. So it's good to get on the venture capitalist radar early, and they could follow the journey, the traction, the momentum. And it could just be meeting guys like you, Eric, that says, Hey, like I want to be a part of this company. It could be advising, it could be consulting, it could be a number of different things. It doesn't just have to be investment. You know, of course, a lot of people who want the investment piece, um, to kind of add more context on that as well, is there's six per showcase. The winner of each showcase will pitch in what I call the Super Bowl at the end of the year. So the six best will all pitch against each other. And Coac Capital and Fuel Venture Studios writing the first $100,000 check into that winner. And what is the criteria? Well, we have 12 of the best panelists, we have our fuel team, and it's really just if I give you $100,000, Eric, I give AJ a $100,000 allocation. Who is what company would you invest that $100,000 in into? So it's a very simple formula, but it's very easy. And then that company will enter the next showcase without any costs and with a chance to compete for the initial $100,000, but that will be under an SPV. So anybody that's watched any of these showcases can add on to that SPV. So it's five, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 uh allocation. So we could eventually raise, you know, as high as up to a million dollars to the winner. But we're gonna also supply them with consultants, advisors, talent, all the resources that they're gonna need outside of money.

Sounds like a lot of fun, you guys. Um, what what do you guys need right now? I mean, I know it's the events coming up shortly, just to give people insights. We're recording right at the beginning of August, the events at the end of August 2023. Um, what do you guys need? You know, how how can the audience uh help you guys?

We would just love the whole community. I mean, Eric, just the people that have been on your podcast. I mean, it's the best of the best, you know, other founders, other experts, just people. We just want to we want to get more than my goal, our goal is uh thousand plus eyeballs. Because the more the more resources and the more access these founders have, the more sustainability and and chance they have to succeed. So I would just love for the Future of Fitness podcast um crowd and you know the groupies um to show up. And it's free. So we're not charging anybody for this. It's just jump on for an hour and listen to the six best and meet some of the panelists and just give you know some feedback and and tell us how they want to be a part of it.

We know I I concur with uh obviously what Chris has just referenced. Uh for us, really, it's just hyperbolizing the showcase and the message to the wider audience. And uh I think if you can tell someone else about it and at least uh even tune in and you may learn a thing or two, I think uh obviously from a knowledge perspective, there's a lot to be gained, even just from listening in to the panelists, the questions we ask, uh how we go about uh sort of making decisions, the different startups, the ideations they've come up with. Um, because it's a baby and they they've put a lot of time and effort into this, uh, all these founders and and startups. So we greatly respect that and uh appreciate that as well. And uh obviously to your audience, my message would be just um if you can tell one person about it and also tune in.

So awesome.

Awesome.

It's August 30th. The start time is 12 30 central time, and it should be roughly about an hour and a half. Uh free of charge. All you gotta do is log in and we'll send out the link, uh, Eric. It's pretty, pretty seamless, pretty, uh, pretty efficient. So we hope to see, we hope to see everybody there.

Yeah. Awesome. And you know, I was just gonna say that the uh there's a lot to be learned, I think, if you're uh a student of entrepreneurship and business to do something like this. I was joking with you guys prior to recording. I'm like, you guys do what I want to do when I grow up someday. Um I'm 46. And it's just you know, some of those things I know when I tune in, I'm I'm gonna learn something, pick up a few things, and those are probably gonna be super applicable to everything else that I do. Um more question for you guys because you know you're you're in it. Um question, but what if you're gonna look at you know, within I'll keep it within the world of uh fitness, health, and wellness, right? What has you most excited? Any kind of emerging technologies, any kind of movements or anything that's going on right now? Uh what what's really got you going at this point? I'll let you guys both answer individually.

Sure, absolutely. I can take this one. Um, you know, uh Your original reference, I would say money monetizes once if you invest well, but knowledge monetizes forever. I think for us it's more so understanding and gaining knowledge in the AI space is something that we're really excited about. The use case and application for AI, not only in sports, sports betting, but also just the whole cadence of um real estate as well, design. Uh there's a lot of different opportunities out there and uh a lot of arbitrage right now. You know, it's still the wild wild west, and uh there's obviously a lot of I would say compliance and governmental applications to come into place uh for AI, but at the same time, this space has us excited. You know, typically in the past, your billion-dollar companies or your unicorns were a thousand employees. Then you look to Instagram, which was one of the first billion-dollar companies with 15-20 employees. And I always say with AI, it's really gonna create the first unicorn that has three, four employees, right? And uh AI can be a co-pilot for many organizations out there, and if you are a company out there today, really you should be looking at uh a chief of AI, someone who's an innovator that can come in, tell you all the latest trends, and apply it into different departments to create efficiency and scale for your organization. So that marketplace and that ecosystem has me very, very excited. And uh it's one that I've sort of back to the knowledge pathway that uh I think between Chris and I, we've uh sort of studied the space and gained uh an aptitude, uh a substantial amount of knowledge to be able to sort of deploy capital and understand uh what is real and what sort of uh charlatan in that space uh and and sort of uh invest wisely.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you, EJ. Absolutely. And Chris, what about you? Are you the same thing, or is there anything else uh that's catching your eye right now?

So there's a bunch of them, but um, one that really hits home for me and I'm passionate about is the recovery and regeneration space. So companies like Helium that are in the mental health sector, which you know are supplying software that could downshift the nervous system in less than four minutes, um, I think is extremely important and needed. Because in today's society, if you didn't have anxiety or you weren't stressed out since COVID, you probably you probably are stressed out and you probably do have anxiety. Um, so just the mental health space in general, but then also this this new concept, which before I sold my businesses in the sports performance field, I was moving into the recovery space. So, like the collective social performance club down in Austin, um what they're doing is phenomenal. They have recovery modalities, they have fitness, they have workspace, they have event space, and they're also moving into uh physical therapy as well as medical concierge. So it's pretty cool to see where it's evolving into. Like back then I was just doing performance. Um, so now having these places popping up, it's just really exciting to see somebody kind of put it, you know, connect all the dots and you know, move forward um through different spaces, but also you know, just helping people you know touch on the physical, mental, and spiritual sectors.

Awesome. Awesome. Great insights, you guys. Uh, I I love what you're doing there. I mean, if if people want to reach out to you guys individually or together, is there any uh particular place you want them to go online?

LinkedIn seems to be the best place, and uh Chris is the biggest LinkedIn influencer. So typically reach out to Chris, and then uh you can always find me as well because he'll tag me somewhere. Um but absolutely no LinkedIn is uh the place I would say to uh get a hold of us.

So LinkedIn for now, um in the future it will be on the the fuel venture studio uh website and app. But right now, yeah, LinkedIn is probably the best. Um, you know, just excited for people, uh, whoever wants to learn more, get involved. I mean, we're we're building fuel, so we would love to have anybody that wants to, you know, interested in investing or consulting or advising, you know, we we just encourage them to uh to reach out to us. But LinkedIn is probably the best.

Right on. Well, you guys, thank you for joining me. I know uh you have a lot going on before the event, and we'll definitely get all the appropriate links and put them into uh this um the sub the notes on this, I'll put it into my newsletter, I'll throw it up on LinkedIn as well. So I'm happy to support as much as I can. And uh yeah, appreciate you guys. Uh a great break in my Wednesday morning to get to talk to you guys and learn a little bit. And uh yeah, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Nuosu and Chris Minor.

Thanks. Thanks again, Eric. Um big fan of the podcast. This is great to finally be on.

Yeah, Eric, thanks for having us. Super grateful to be here. And um, pleasure is ours. Thank you. Right on, guys. Be well. Talk soon.

Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minute. If you did, I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things. It takes under five minutes and it goes such a long way. We really appreciate it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it, iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, whatever it may be. Number two, please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share. Put it on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message, whatever it may be. Please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it. We want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more, get in touch with me, simply go to the futurofitness.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone, and this is the future of fitness. Have a great day.