Curtis Christopherson - The WRKOUT Platform & Digital Training Marketplace

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over two years and running. It is 2021, and I am your host, Eric Malzone. I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Stop by futurofitness.co to subscribe and learn more. This episode of the Future of Fitness is presented to you by the Fit Tech Club, a business network run by the creators of the FitTech Summit, Europe's leading conference devoted to fitness and health technology. Look, friends, the fitness industry is changing faster than ever. The intersection of technology with fitness and health is growing bigger and more dynamic by the minute. Gyms are exploding figuratively, and their constituent parts are ending up at home, outdoors, on your wrist, or in entirely new places with brilliantly new concepts. Investors are pumping astronomical amounts of money into the market like we've never seen before. The FitTech Club believes that collaboration is the advantage to these times of change. That's why the club aims to bring thought leaders together to inspire them by making the right contacts at the right time and giving insights to the industry's most relevant and current trends. Here's what Melanie Lauer, CEO of Kettler and TriSports, says about the FitTech Club.

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Well, born and raised in Vancouver, um and you know, grew up playing sports as as many people do, uh all the sports, swimming, volleyball, track, uh you name it. And you know, that was that was the start of this career that that I never thought I was gonna be on for 20 plus years. So I grew up playing sports, uh did very well in in school as well, and and uh got awarded some scholarships coming out of high school uh for both athletics and academics, um, hence the water polo, and we can talk about that a little bit further. And but as I grew up, right from the age of 16, I was always inspired and you know, inspired to work hard and uh and have a career, especially in the sport and wellness arena. And I remember at 20 years old while I was going to school and playing on our national water polo team, I I was uh manager of uh a sports rec center. And there was, I think, 110 lifeguards, 25 uh fitness professionals, you know, a fun desk staff. And, you know, here I am 20 years old managing this sports complex. I don't even understand why they gave me the keys. Half the people were even older than me. And, you know, and that was while I was going to university full time and playing on the national team full-time. And so, you know, and I worked 35 hours a week. Um, so I've never been shy from hard work. I've never been shy from from having a job. And um, from there it let me into uh getting into the personal training industry. I I I found it fascinating 20, 20 plus years ago that you know, people would um essentially, the general population, you know, CEOs, executives, you know, high affluent clientele would would want to outsource their health as someone that um had education and experience in leading a healthy lifestyle. And so I started training people in a very affluent neighborhood, and you know, the rest is history, what I thought was going to be a stepping stone in the career of uh in my own career. You know, I always had aspirations of either what working for the Olympic Association and or um being a sports agent, and that's before Jerry McGuire. Um, I uh I ended up starting to train people and I realized that I had a huge impact on people's lives. Um, and at the same time, I was meeting phenomenal people, I was learning a ton, and uh one thing led to a next. And by the time I was 22 years old, I had taken a $450,000 loan to start my own personal training studio. So that's that's the initial inception, and I haven't really looked back since. I I um I have no regrets. Um obviously it's an industry that's that's tough to make a living out of, and uh clearly I've I've done that, um, and there's still more to come, I think.

Yeah, yeah, it'd be fascinating, man. So let's let's get into water polo really quick because I think it was just on the Olympics, right? Which is you know, every four years a sport gets just a glimpse of attention. And you know, and then articles come out like what's the hardest work in the Olympics, and water polo gets an attention. I'm curious, like when and I I I know a lot about the sport as well for 20 years. What things do you think people do not know about this? Yeah, I mean, there's probably just not a lot of education to they're through. Most people think we touch the bottom, which is not true. Or we ride horses, yeah.

Or we ride horses.

Um, you know what, you know, that's that's the thing. I mean, what a phenomenal sport. And you know, I'm I'm I think as when I was younger, I was almost embarrassed that I I played it because not um not many people knew about it. And now with with the Olympics and the and the coverage that is seen in the Olympics, which is more than you know typical, um, and with awareness around the sport, you know, uh, you know, I'm I'm I look back and yeah, how proud and and um thankful I am that I played the sport. You know, it it it's a it's definitely popular in in Eastern European countries, uh, and you know, definitely popular in the state of California, just with all the outdoor pools. But other than that, like it's it's not a very popular sport. And and if you look at the demands of the sport, you know, whether it's you know power, endurance, speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, like, you know, man, there is a lot of demands of the sport, and that's why, you know, sports illustrated in these other, you know, uh publications uh classify it as as one of the most difficult sports to play. So, you know, I'm I'm yeah, you know, outside of you know that you go to the bottom and you ride on horses, which is kind of a joke, you know, when when someone hears that you play water polo, a lot of people don't understand the game. And when you watch the game, there's a lot of whistles, there's a lot of action, um, there's a lot of scoring, and and uh it's pretty hard to follow if if you're new to the sport, that's for sure.

Yeah, yeah, I agree, man. And I'm curious, so you were, you know, you practice with the international team in Canada. Uh give us people some idea of like what type of training that entails. Like how many hours are you doing? Weight training and land training, and you know, yeah, give us give us an idea of what goes into what kind of commitment goes into that.

Yeah, that's a great question. And uh I'd love to comment on this because you know, people in the health and fitness space, you know, uh it gives a glimpse of not only you know uh people that that train at a high level, and whether you're an LPN or or a national team athlete, but this sport, man, it was it was it was a lot. So at the age of 19, I centralized uh for our national team. So we have to centralize um in a city called Calgary. Uh, and that's where the entire national team centralizes. Uh technically, you're not supposed to work, technically, you don't have time to work. And, you know, our days, so this is what our a day in the life of a national water pool athlete in Canada was. You'd wake up, uh, practice started at 6 a.m. So you'd gotta you know be out of the house at 5 30. And uh practice was at 6 and went till 10. Uh, so there was a little bit of dry land, you know, quick 20 minutes to warm up. And we went, went, we're in the pool from 6:30 to 10. Uh, then we get changed, we'd go home and we'd you know have a bite to eat. We usually do a group breakfast. We go to someone's house and you know, buy a bunch of loaves of bread and eggs, and uh then we'd get ready because at 12 o'clock, from 12 to 2, we'd have strength training session. So we'd go back to the Olympic training center, we'd we lift weights from uh 12 to 2. And then we'd go home after, and you know, once again, as a as an athlete and a professional athlete, you you know, you either slept, you hung out with your buddies, um, you went to the park, and really there wasn't much else that you you would do because you weren't working and you didn't have time for it. And then you get ready, and then we would have a practice from either 8 to 10:30 or 7 to 10 at night. Um, and so you'd eat dinner, you go out 7 to 10, and um have a tough, tough session, and and then you'd uh you'd repeat the next day. And what's funny is that at 19, 20, 21, 22, I mean, we got so much energy. Like you think about the hours I just said. So four hours in the morning, two hours midday, three hours, two and a half to three hours in that in the evening, six days a week. We had Sundays off, and uh and we would go out after like at 10 o'clock at night on a Monday or a Tuesday, we'd go to the bar and we'd be out until like 12:30 or one, and we'd come back and we'd get up at 5:30 and we'd repeat. And it was like groundhog day. And uh, you know, so yeah, we were seven to eight hours a day, um, six days a week, and uh not much time off. And then when we had tournaments, it was you know, you're flying out on a Thursday and coming back on a on a Monday. And so there was it was a lot, and I, you know, I did that at that level, I did that for two years, um to a point where we didn't qualify for the Olympics. The quadrant, I was I was centralized. And uh, you know, for me, I had you know some business experience, um, academics I excelled at in university. And so I didn't want to stick around for another four years doing that. And uh, and so I made the decision to you know pack the bags and and um, you know, I guess not pack the bags, I guess hang up the swimsuit and and then move on and focus on my career because I I wanted to do that. And I look back, I you know, sometimes kick myself. I'm super proud of the guys. You know, we qualify for the Olympics, the next quadrant, they went to beat Beijing. I got to cheer them on from you know my living room, and and uh you know it was a great experience for our Canadian national team. Um, but I definitely missed out on on the Olympics, and uh, but I was lucky enough to travel travel the world and and represent Canada for a long period of time. So awesome.

Awesome, man. Yeah, I appreciate that. I I always like to give a shout out to the sport and a little bit of appreciation for the athletes who do that sport. Because it is it's not that popular. You know, you're not uh you know, you're not gonna make uh the SI swimsuit issue, right? Generally, it's not gonna be like that type of sport, it's glamorous, and but it takes a lot of freaking work, and I'm sure it sets you up for um you know an amazing work ethic moving into entrepreneurship and business, which is kind of the next topic here. And you know, you mentioned in your uh origin story earlier that you took a $450,000 loan to start your personal training studio, right? Yeah, dude. That's a big risk. Walk us back to that point. Now you have what, 12 locations, and you're starting the workout platform and all kinds of different things, but walk us back to that point. How did you analyze the risk and say, okay, I'm confident that this is gonna turn out? I'm gonna do it.

Yeah, you know, I guess I I had more confidence in balls back then than I do now. Um, but you know, basically, you know, what happened? I bought my first house when I was 19, um, so it was a little bit entrepreneurial back then. I uh I had received full ride scholarships, academics athletics, and I knew that I could I could qualify for a student loan because of my grades, because of because I was working full-time, and but I didn't need it. So I so I qualified for a student loan. It's $20,000, and I turned around and took that $20,000 and put a down payment on house. And then what I did is I bought a house and I didn't live in it. I got my brother and my uh and my two friends to rent the house while I lived at home. And so, you know, that taught me a lot. You know, I got my my foot in the door in in terms of home home ownership at very early on. Um, by the time I was 22, I had I had bought and sold uh three houses. And then what happened was, and I didn't, you know, make a ton of money, but I made I made some money. And and then when the opportunity came up, I you know, I remember uh someone had mentioned, you know, hey, would you would you want to own your own own your own business? Would you want to open up your own studio? And I remember going, yeah, why not? Like, how much is it gonna cost me? 400, 400,000? And so I remember going back to my parents and I said, I was 22 years old, it was summertime, and I I walked in their backyard and they were sitting there, and my dad would sit in his chair, and I was like, guess what? I'm gonna open my own gym. And they're like, What? And and they're you're crazy. And I said, No, no, like, you know, I've I've taken risks before. You know, what's worst case scenario? Worst case scenario is that it's a flop, and I gotta go get a good paying job and pay off this debt. And so, you know, they said, Hey, you know what? I think you should have more experience in the industry, you should think about this. It's a big, it's a big nut and a big commitment. And, you know, I worked on a business plan and a financial model, and and I said, Hey, I'm gonna do it. So I end up selling everything, like everything. You know, here you are, 22 years old, kind of in your what you think is the prime, like prime, you know, fitness, uh, health. Uh, you know, you're you're just coming out of university, you, you know, you probably want to have a little fun, maybe travel around the world, but I was lucky enough I did that with sport before. And and I I sold, I sold my house, I sold my vehicle, I moved back with my parents after being out for for quite some time. And I took out this loan of 442,000, I think it was. And I made a commitment, and at 20, that was 22, and then at 23, I we opened up the doors, and you know, the rest is kind of history, and I I I didn't look back. And you know, I I remember at 23, I was, you know, people are like, oh, why are you, you know, I I told them I wasn't, you know, I had sleepless nights and I was waking up and I was sweating and I was thinking about you know everything about it. And and um, you know, funny enough, I I was everything from the janitor to the to the receptionist to the you know a trainer to you name and you know, lucky enough we picked a really good area, um, did a lot of community building, you know, and and I ended up paying that loan off in three years. And I remember paying it off, and and I'm like, wow, if I can do that in three years, you know, think about that, and making a wage. Um, you know, things were were looking up, and you know, and then fast forward, um just replicated that and and uh and you know here we are.

It's always fascinating to me how people make decisions like that. You know, I always I call them big scary decisions, right? Like, okay, should I take a $450,000 loan to start my business? And what's fascinating to me is as I ask people all these decisions about like, well, how did you come to that decision? What was the thought? What was going on in your head? Because that's my one of my favorite questions to ask. It always seems to boil down to one version of them asking themselves, what is the worst case scenario and can I handle that? Right? Uh it it all it's almost universally across the board. People who take risks, they always start with that, okay, well, what's the worst thing that can happen here, right? And generally when you boil down to that, then it's either pretty clear this is a no-go, or you know what, I'm willing to take that risk. So when in your mind, like when I started my first gym, I I mean we started bootstrapped relatively to you with 50 grand. And uh my thought was like, well, my worst case scenario is that I have to live, because I have enough to save and saved up to live if I get no income for a year. So I'll sleep, I'll sleep at the gym for a year. And then if it doesn't pan out, then you know I'll go back to corporate America. What was your worst case scenario? What was the worst possible thing that can happen?

Yeah, I remember like $90,000 was equipment. I remember you know, you're putting in a bunch of TIs into the space. You know, worst case scenario, you sell the, you know, you sell the business for you know 50 cents on the dollar, and you go from there and and you know, you get a well paid job. Like I was super connected at a really young age, you know, super connected to entrepreneurs, CEOs, executives. They knew my work ethic, they knew what I was capable of, I'm super personable. could sell um and I thought you know what I got my whole life ahead of me so if I you know turned around and had to sell this for $250,000 and I had a debt of $200 grand, you know, for me, if I had a well-paid job, I could, I could, you know, service that, you know, take a, you know, uh just a base wage and and you know service that debt over time. And that that would be worst case scenario for me. So I I didn't really think twice. Maybe a little bit naive, but even looking back, it it totally makes sense. Like you know, if I had the connections, relationships could work hard. I knew I could work hard. I knew how much I I I thought I was worth in terms of my work ethic and the value I could bring. So if I got a good paying job that, you know, I think I would be you know I I could earn a pretty good you know working wage that then could service that debt. So that was part of the process that I went through. And the fact that I was young you know I had I had time ahead of me to make up for it, you know, and it wasn't I didn't have other responsibility. I wasn't married I didn't have kids and so you know really it was on me and it was only on me. It was only going to impact me. You know I think when you have a relationship or you have other responsibilities or you have kids, you know, those kind of decisions can impact you know the trajectory of other people's lives or the stress of other people's lives. So you know for me I kind of owned it.

Yeah yeah great backstory man. So let's talk about your your gym model now. So what what is the name of your uh your gym chain is it a franchise or is it all corporately owned?

Yeah so it's called innovative fitness so we're a premium personal training company we have 12 locations all brick and mortar uh well relatively now um but all brick and mortar uh for every location 4000 to about 6,000 square feet any any location ranges between 12 to 20 full-time trainers employee based model franchise based model so we have we own or I own four corporate locations and then there's eight franchisees um so blend of both and uh in in affluent neighborhoods so you know position well uh eight of the 12 are in the lower man lower mainland of of Vancouver so in the suburbs of Vancouver British Columbia we have two locations in Ontario so we do spam across across the country and we have unique partnerships too so we have partnerships with the four seasons Rhodes Carlton and W Hotels so we have a couple satellite locations as well on top of those locations.

So um yeah that's that's the model and uh we've been building it over 20 years so yeah it's it's a great model and you know when I when I we one of the things we talked about pre-reporting is uh not that we need to talk about COVID extensively but it's hard to ignore especially when you have a model like that's personal training and break and mortar and all of that and I think this will dovetail into what you're doing with workout as well.

But today's recording date is September 14th 2021 just really to know um you know how how have you dealt with 12 locations that are you know really person-to-person heavy interaction uh how have you guys managed to navigate the the last 18 months yeah you know I I've told this story several times now and and um it definitely doesn't get old you know I'm I'm almost inspired by my by my team our organization um let alone the resiliency that you know I even learned about myself um you know let alone like I say the industry everybody you know everybody had a piece of this um so you know going into you know the start of 2020 I'll paint a picture so been you know celebrating over 20 years in business um January 2020 was the best month in our history um both top line revenue and profitability uh we finally had banks that were looking at us that wanted to finance us which we've never taken we bootstrapped it since day one so we've never really taken you know giving up equity in the business and so all of a sudden next thing you know um you feel like you're the top of the world I remember telling my wife you know January was good February was good you know the banks are now saying hey we're gonna support you because it's a high risk industry they don't support personal training companies and we got you know we we we had secured some financing to for expansion um and we were ready to expand down in the down in the US we had uh offered purchases in Seattle and Bellevue we had earmarked locations in LA San Diego and New York I was I went down to New York I think on March 3rd 2020 and then I flew from New York to San Diego on March 11th and I came back on March 12th or 13th only to close our doors on March 15th on the Sunday and you know we we weren't forced we weren't mandated to close uh it was not you know we just knew based on what was happening on eastern you know on the east side of of North America New York is an example we saw it coming we saw you know things changing we saw you know proximity you know where COVID was at you know and and caseloads going up and we to be honest we didn't want to be in the news we didn't want to we did not want to be the place where there was an early super spreading event and and you know got all negative press all over you know um all over the news for for who we were as a company and we you know it wasn't just about that it was about you know keeping our community healthy and and not knowing what you know what COVID really was. And so we closed we we called an emergency meeting on the Sunday the 15th and you know we made an announcement that we were going to close our doors as of Monday morning. And I remember franchisees and managers you know some supportive some unknown some you know deer in headlights frustrated that we were going to make that call and then sure enough four days later the industry was mandated to close in all of our regions that we had a location in. And so you know hindsight 2020 I mean it was I didn't have a crystal ball I didn't you know we kind of knew it was it was about to come and we got ahead of it a little bit but furthermore you know I think the biggest decision that we made was Monday morning we went you know we went into the war room. We knew we were closing but how are we gonna navigate this? And I think that's what everybody asked you know themselves like what is next and you talk about best and worst case scenario that's what we did. We said what's best case scenario we're gonna be closed for six weeks. What's worst case scenario we're closed longer than six months and that is exactly the conversation we had and if we evaluated worst case scenario of being closed longer than six months we had 240 uh trainers in the company uh that have degrees in human kinetics and kinesiology and industry experience that lasted longer than you know five six seven years um if we were close six months our community which meant our trainers our clients and overall impact in the community was going to fall apart that we had worked so hard to build for 20 years and what was going to be rehiring look like what would rehiring look like what would what would we be able to you know keep the lights on at all like all of these things compounded we said you know what we can't jeopardize what we've built for the last 20 years. If we want to shut off the lights and close the doors that's one thing if we did for three four five six weeks but from a sustainability perspective and keep our community intact that's not gonna you know it's not gonna be ideal. So we decided to literally uh we decided to to close our doors uh and pivot meaningfully and what I meant by that is we looked at like the P's of marketing product place promotion and and we went through all of them we're like our product doesn't need to change just how we distribute it the place needs to change and so we went to work and we went to work Monday morning and we said okay what does this look like so we had already been developing our own software and it wasn't really for remote work but you know there was some application on that we had a really robust CRM already built and we said hey let's take our engineers and developers we had you know four of them at the time and we said let's pivot and develop our own virtual training platform. If people can meet on Zoom and Microsoft Teams and FaceTime we can deliver training in a premium way virtually from the home of the trainers to home of the clients and so we got them to work they said it would take two weeks to to develop our own platform and software on top of the platform that we'd already developed and then meanwhile we kept everybody employed so we told all of our trainers next two weeks you got full time pay we're gonna take care of you first three days take care of yourself. Go and you know do what you need to do talk to your mortgage broker talk to your banks talk to you name it to make sure that you know everything is in order for a possible lockdown. And then we actually put them through like a training school our managers created 35 hours of like how to show up virtually and taught them how to show up virtually we had a like a playbook we had to assess and evaluate people's Wi-Fi their space you know in terms of like just what it looked like how they showed up their programming you know because we anticipated it was going to be a lot of body weight and we got them ready and then sure enough March 30th we delivered our first virtual training session on our own proprietary software only two weeks later and we deployed 225 trainers from the home of the trainers to the home to deliver a service to the home of the clients on our own software. And that's what enabled us to keep the lights on and you know I I say that keep the business going and and the community intact.

And yeah we we didn't really look back you know going back to that story it's it's fantastic and I I think one of the things that made people was the difference maker which you guys embodied was when this whole thing started and we started there was like two directions like or we can take action or we can wait. And I think history shows that people who take action tend even if you take an action that maybe isn't correct initially it allows you the ability to figure out okay well maybe if we just shift this or tweak this and I'm I'm trying not to use the words two years you know just a certain term hearing but it's true. You know you you really have to shift and take action and that's the biggest thing you guys did it to a uh to a team. Now you said you had four developers on staff.

I mean that's that I look at the scenario too of like that's you right not too many franchise owners um or multiple gym owners had a development team on staff why why did you guys have that resource available to you so we need to develop yeah so we didn't have them on staff um just to clarify it was an outside agency but in November of 2019 because we had plans to expand down to the US expand our footprint we just knew that you know there were gaps in the market from a software perspective in the training industry. From the group class industry you got mind body that is you know the the um you know the leader in in that space for scheduling billing and appointment booking but for personal training it's kind of a a mixture of software solutions that a lot of personal trainers use whether it's phenomenal products like train rides to you know mind body to UBridge to um Zen Planner like there's a lot of products but there's not one silver bullet like there's not one that does it all. And so we told ourselves we got 20 years experience we know personal training almost better than anyone we have this business model that is outsourcing like third, three sorry three different software platforms and trying to integrate them all. It's not effective it's not efficient. So we're gonna build our own and so we had already done our due diligence and hired an agency to start building a product. And so we had them we they started in October 2019 or November 2019. And so by the time you know March rolled around they were seven months in of developing a platform that was gonna be a scheduling you know billing and an integrated solution that would really combine you know the trainizes of the world with mind body. And you know was it functional no it's pretty close there was no virtual component but it allowed us to not only have people that were familiar with our product the the engineers to then pivot and attach a virtual product to it and and take some of the foundational you know elements of the product that we'd already developed to then launch with like the scheduling the billing and a lot of people like well why did you do that? Why didn't you just do Zoom? I'm like yeah try managing 240 zoom accounts at the time you know for scheduling for billing for tracking for you name it like it didn't make sense. Now fast forward I mean Zoom has integrations and you know and tools now that that you know you you wouldn't necessarily need to to do what we did but we also designed a product that's actually designed for training like there's tools in the product whether it's screen annotation whether it's timers whether it's you know um even the camera you know angle of of you know the product so there was a lot of things that we did that was specific for the space not for you know a board meeting as an example so yeah that's that's a little of the history yeah so that that whole thing was the impetus for it is now a workout right so tell us like how that's evolved to where you are now and what the vision is for that platform we're moving forward. Yeah so here's here's what happened we we did this pivot and we like our our main purpose and focus was the service resistant client base. And within three weeks we had about 30% adoption within about seven weeks we had 70% adoption because people didn't have a choice we had delivered I think 1500 personal training sessions virtually in eight weeks so 1.4 million in revenue and we said hey you know that's pretty good adoption and the unsolicit feedback we got is like wow this is way better than I thought it was going to be wow this is this is like personal training in person but it's a thousand times more convenient. I can do it in the confines of my own home I can wake up five minutes before my session instead of 30 minutes. I can have my coffee when I'm cooling down. And then we started picking up clients in New York Boston St. Louis LA all over North America so we open up this world of opportunity where we could deliver the same high quality premium service that we were used to delivering that was not geographically bound anymore. And so you know what happened was is that we we realized like wait a minute there's a huge opportunity here. Unfortunately and fortunately right when we figured this out we got notice on June um I think it was June 30th so you know two months later uh or May 30th sorry that we could open up June 1st that we could open up our locations so now all of a sudden right when we're getting you know hang the hang of the virtual training our locations could open so we what we did is we didn't want to distract our leadership or management to not get back not get people back into the gym because that's what they signed up for to be for to begin with so we said focus your time and attention on this we got to get back people people back in the gyms back in our brick and mortar locations meanwhile we're like okay there's a huge opportunity here on the virtual training so what we did is we kind of went underground. We said okay what does this look like? Well we didn't want to call it innovative fitness because multiple reasons number one you know that didn't mean anything to anyone outside of the geographical locations we had uh we didn't want to jeopardize the brand just in case you know you know our idea of virtual training you know was a flop. We didn't we didn't know where the landscape was going to go. We also knew for to be successful in the tech enabled service model and building a platform that we're gonna have to raise money. Like it's it's it's gonna cost a lot of money. And so we didn't also want to dilute the position in innovative uh for outside capital to come in early on if if you know this wasn't here to stay. So what we did is we we separated the entities we branded we we went after a brand that we thought was you know going to be synonymous in the industry and and be recognized as a progressive brand called workout and we had a whole nother path and a whole nother strategy we were our leadership and management was about getting people back in the gym that felt comfortable about providing that premium service that people had had um you know really got familiar with and and and enjoyed and part of their life for the last five six seven 10 12 20 years um build up that model meanwhile enhance the platform that we had pivoted with to build a platform that was gonna be robust of providing the industry both the trainers and the consumers a means of of you know connecting on a virtual platform and we even looked at the the model like you know innovative fitness was an employee based model geographically bound employee based model that is you know obviously brick and mortar focused workout we're like let's provide a solution to all the industry professionals that are out there that are using FaceTime or Zoom or Microsoft Teams to deliver a virtual session that you know and a virtual service that we think is here to stay. And so we created a marketplace a platform that provides value to the fitness professional and value to the consumer. And so essentially we become a platform where we connect consumers and users around the world that are looking for highly vetted and highly qualified trainers to connect with trainers anytime anywhere. And at the same token we provide trainers and fitness professionals a platform where you know it's a turnkey solution everything from scheduling billing you know payment processing let alone lead acquisition to marketing and so you know that that is what we've done and and we've done that over the course of 14 months and then we went to a private beta and then went to a public beta and just recently you know August 1st we came out of our public beta and now it's alive so yeah that's that's where we're at it's uh there's so many things that you're pulling together there and one of the I'm curious because I've seen people attend a marketplace before right um I can none of them actually come there but I know I see what do you think is the indicator that you guys will be successful or indicators that you will be successful in this area right is it the timing is it the inertia that you guys have with you know 12 locations already built in and that many 240 trainers is it you know what what is it that really makes you believe that you guys are gonna uh really hit this this one on the head so you know it's here's the reality we're still a scrappy startup you know it it um every single day I taught to you you know before this this recording and you know it's it's it's tough. I mean we're in the war room still you know just like any startup is um especially a tech startup I think foundationally I'll tell you why we'd be successful and I would tell any VC investor or someone that asks me about the the product number one industry expense experience I mean we know the training industry um I've been able to attract even more phenomenal people than myself to be a part of the the company you know and and uh and so the depth of experience we have on our team is is phenomenal that I'd say that's number one. Number two, uh we are first to mark we were one of the first to market. So we got ahead of things we were a little bit more advanced we've you know the learnings we've had over the last 14 months is is it's crazy how many times we've actually you know quote unquote pivoted even in this existing model and this existing new business. So that's number two. Number three, we have quality people from a trainer perspective like we're not talking about new trainers that are on the platform. You know we've we've signed some significant brands um that are recognized across major league sports. We've signed so we have you know we're working with them to onboard all of their instructors their coaches or yoga instructors you name it. We have Jordan Speace head strength coach Damon Goddard great guy out of Dallas phenomenal coach he coaches many of the PGA players and you know he's providing his services on our platform. And so we definitely have recognized that we're attracting high caliber trainers and if we're attracting high caliber trainers that have five 10 15 20 years experience in the industry I mean they have options and so that's a good indication that we've found something. You know so I think all of these things I think are gonna you know assist us of being successful. And one one of the things that I was shocked at is that I always thought supply would be a bad would be a the Biggest challenge. So the supply of good quality trainers. If you if you're listening and you own a personal training gym or even a gym alone, you know, it's hard to find good people. And it's hard even harder to find great trainers. And that has not been an issue. I mean, we have over 120 trainers on the platform today. We anticipate over 300 by the end of October. You know, that's not the issue. The challenge is actually carving through, you know, the noise from a digital marketing perspective and getting the brand out there to build the audience and create the demand. But if we find the right people, they're going to help us create the demand. So marketplaces are funny because you know you have to build the demand and the supply at the exact same time for it to be successful. You got to find that flywheel that's going to do that. And, you know, at the same time, or at the same time though, marketplaces are really relevant today with all the challenges with privacy and digital marketing, you name it. Like if you can build evangelists and advocates of your brand, which is your trainers, they can help you push the product out there. And so, you know, I think we're, I think we're on our way. I mean, you know, and and you know, may maybe I'll hint something right now. We we've had, you know, celebrity actresses and actors that we are negotiating contracts with, and you know, even you know, celebrity athletes that you know want to be involved, both from an investment perspective and you know, face the brand. And I think that's gonna assist for sure. Um, but uh you know, still a lot of work to do. Uh, you know, and you look at the the the great stories in the industry right now, whether it's high price, athletic greens, uh, therragon, roop, uh, aura, like, you know, there's some, you know, let alone tonal tempo and you know, the unicorn of them all, uh, Peloton, you know, there's some massive valuations happening. Um, but there's a lot of competition. So, you know, we got to carve through that. We feel like that we've found some white space um that we're gonna go after, and and uh we're gonna be different than your B2B solution that exists from a software perspective. Um, and we're gonna be different than the tonal tempo form Pelotons that really only focus on the consumer and don't focus on the service provider.

So great answer, Curtis. Uh you know, one of the last questions I want to respect your time too is, you know, uh, and I asked this with the spirit of the connection and people reaching out and can help you in the growth and the endeavor that you're you're in. Uh what is one of the biggest needs you have right now as a business with workout?

I would say what keeps me up, and people say that the scrappy, it's not even a scrappy startup, it's a scrappy seed round. We just completed a seed round investment round of of three million. Um, you know, we're getting ready for Series A. That's the hardest stage. That's that that is the hardest stage. Can convincing people or showing them the opportunity and the vision and that product market fit and why that there's a need for this. And if you're not in the industry, you don't understand the pain points that a trainer has. You don't understand the the evolution and and uh you know the disruption that occurred because of COVID, and that virtual training is here to stay, and that there is no marketplace for trainers, and that trainers don't, a lot of them don't want to be on entrepreneur. They want, they want, they don't want to do a website and figure out how to acquire leads and and take payments and you know uh figure out their scheduling and billing system. Like, and we have all that. And so I think it's you know, there's a massive opportunity that I think a lot of people don't understand unless you're in the industry. And you know, it's it's gonna take some time, and but we've already proven that. I mean, you know, a seed round of of three million um at a valuation of 20 million, you know, dollars and and getting ready for a series A with you know celebrity actors and actors, uh, actors, actresses, and and athletes, you know, is is a good good start. Um, but yeah, if if there's one thing, you know, is is uh it's probably on that side, you know, it's something that keeps me up at night. And I'm not shy with you know taking risks as you know. You know, I shared what I did at 22. Um, but you know, having people really, really understand and grasp the opportunity in the industry, I think uh I think there's some blinders on. And and uh those of you that are listening that are part of the industry, you know what I'm talking about because you know there's a lot of pain points to be a trainer in this in this world, and uh things are about to be shooking up a lot.

Yeah, well said, man. That's great. So, Curtis, if people do want to get connected with you or uh just find out more online, where where do you send them?

Yeah, multiple ways. So uh personally, you can follow me on Instagram. I I'm really good responsive on that. Email Curtis C-U-R-T-I-S at workout.com and workout is spelled w-r-k-o-ut. So you drop the first O. Um, Curtis at workout.com. Uh or you can just go to the website. So www.workout, w-r-o-ut- dot com. Check us out. Um, you know, check out our our brick and mortar brand, Innovative Fitness. And um, like I say, I'm I'm super responsive. Uh, Instagram, LinkedIn, you name it, I'll be there and and uh just honored to to share the story today with you, Eric. And and uh thanks for having me.

Yeah, man. Well, I mean, and if people haven't picked it up yet, this isn't the first conversation you and I have had. And I'm I'm a big fan of what workout is doing. I think it's really cool. I think it's a huge opportunity for all the reasons that you said, and especially that, you know, I think the biggest one that that you nailed right at the end is that personal trainers and coaches don't want to be entrepreneurs for the most part. They're kind of four forced into this sphere, right? But when you can take all those things out and allow them purely to focus on their clients and delivering the results and all of that, then you've done a great service to the industry, and now we have the technology to back it up. So great job so far, man. I'm in your corner. I hope uh I hope everything goes swimmingly well. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, thanks again, Eric. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Curtis Christofferson. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This was 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 and 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 feature of fitness.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.