Lauren Foundos - FORTE: A Bold Vision of Digitalization

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. To live your healthiest, longest life possible, you need to understand what's going on inside your body. People age at different speeds, and generic annual blood work doesn't properly evaluate your biological age, but Insight Tracker does. InsightTracker is a truly personalized nutrition and performance system designed to extend your health span and slow down the aging process. Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics, Insight Tracker analyzes your blood, DNA, and fitness tracking data to identify where you're optimized and where you're not. You'll get a daily action plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition, and supplementation for your body. Add inner age 2.0 to any plan to calculate your true biological age and see how you're aging from the inside out. For a limited time, get 20% off the entire Insight Tracker store. Just go to insightracker.com forward slash future. That's insightracker.com forward slash future. All right, we are live. Lauren Fundos, welcome to the future of fitness.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, fired up. It's been uh been tracking you down for a little while now. Just been keep hearing the name and uh now I'm talking to the person. And you know, we probably could have done a whole podcast just on skiing and different ski resorts, which uh everyone in the audience missed that for the first 15 minutes of non-recording. Uh but we both share that passion, that's for sure. Um let's start with that. Tell me about your uh tell me about your COVID winners. Where what were you doing?

Yeah, I had the great pleasure of locating for one month near uh Jackson Hole and a second month um in Montana outside in Livingston near, you know, skiing around Big Sky. So that was pretty, pretty amazing with the gyms being closed, you know, never really missed a day at the gym my whole life. And so got the cross-country skis working, never thought I would say that, but you know, was really trying to make it work, obviously using digital from the places that I went to and uh yeah, got to experience a whole different, different lifestyle and and really also made me appreciate the fact that there's not a lot of gyms around in those places. Um, and just you know, not everyone has such great access to things. And you know, you live in New York City and you become super spoiled. Um so it was a good it was a good eye-opener to just live in our country outside of the place that I normally reside.

Yeah, yeah. Does Livingston even have a gym? I mean it's a it's a beautiful game.

So that was yeah, there was a Livingston CrossFit, so that was you know, that was a big awakening too, because I hadn't really worked out in a fit in a gym. So going from no working out in a gym with no dumbbells to like, you know, hang cleans and pull-ups and a hundred box shops, I was certainly pretty, pretty quickly crippled after that. Because New York was obviously much more closed than than Livingston, Montana was.

Yeah, right on. Well, that's great. I'm glad you got out uh and enjoyed Montana. I've obviously I'm a huge fan. Uh Lauren, let's let's start with the background for people who don't know too much about you. Um, give us I I know you're you weren't an athlete, turned entrepreneur, but maybe you know, fill us on the on the finer details of how you got to be the uh the founder and CEO of Forte. Are you still acting CEO? Yeah.

Yep, yep, correct.

Yeah, awesome. Uh yeah.

Yeah. So I used to work on Wall Street um for a little over a decade trading government bonds. I'm pretty grateful right now not to be working on Wall Street if you're watching the markets at all. It's been quite a quite an uh interesting turn of events. Hopefully, this is gonna correct soon. But um, you know, I think uh, you know, for me, um my passion in life has always been working out. It's always been like my escape. My my parents actually didn't even encourage me to play sports, they're you know, from another country and wanted me to focus on school, and it was always just something that I gravitated to and was kind of always my my escape almost, like my you know, therapy. Like I just I I love to do it, and and so it I it's hard for me to understand why uh most of the population has no interest, but that goal is to make it accessible and get everybody involved. But yeah, working out is a huge part of my life. I played field hockey, um, was you know played in college for top top number one team, and so um excited to be building a company that I'm like so passionate about and literally live and breathe. And you know, it doesn't it makes it not feel like work every day, to be honest, as cheesy as that sounds, and you know, it's totally the truth.

And I I'm curious, I mean, I I I haven't seen Forte as as a technology, I haven't experienced it personally, but I've read enough and heard enough about it that I fully understand, you know, uh the problems that you guys are solving, and a little bit now just pre-recording, and we'll get into it about where your vision for all this can go with you know the digital side of fitness and how important it is. It's not just something you do and you can't make the gym, right? Um but when you have the impetus for this concept and this idea for the company, what what started it? I mean, generally there's a problem that you have of your own or some or you notice something in the market. Like what what drove you to start the concept?

Yeah, for sure. So I actually started taking my customers on Wall Street to work out with me because I was losing my sense of self because I was waking up so early and going out at night, and I had no time, I had to be at work so early the gyms weren't open. And so I started feeling like I need to work out, and I would go after work and everyone would be like, Where were you? You know, and I'm like, just one hour. I'm gonna be with everybody all night, but one hour I just need to go work out. And so I started bringing, you know, people to work out with me and getting a big group of people to go take new classes and hire a trainer, and and everyone's an athlete and competitive, and so you know, it morphed into this really fun thing, and me getting really into the like fitness scene to to use it as a form of entertainment, to be honest, and as opposed to you know going to a concert and just going out for steaks and all the things you do on Wall Street. And so um that got me really into the scene, and then also just it was the peak of studios, you know, studios classes were booked, they were people were waiting at 12 o'clock to go log on to get a spot. Like it was the pure, it was like at the height of studios, and so there was just like everyone was so into it, there wasn't enough access to it, classes were filling up, and then I lived next to Peloton and I saw what was going on in there, which you know, in the beginning it was kind of just me, a 5 a.m. class by myself, and I was like, it's a good idea, but nobody really knows this brand. At the time, obviously, they've done an incredible job and built an incredible business, but there were all these companies that were doing something great, and I was like, they should be doing this, they have these amazing audiences, this sticky product. Like, why are they not reaching beyond the walls of their business? This seems like, you know, and so I started talking to the studios and gyms that I was close with, and I would ask them, like, you know, would you want to stream? And at the time, a lot of people would say, no, people will copy our workouts and they're unique, and you know, like they had this kind of like close-off mindset. And some of them were like, Yeah, let's do it. So every time I'd go back, they're like, When are we starting the streaming thing? I'm like, I have no idea why I even said that. Like, I was scared to go back to some of the places because they'd bring it up every time. I'm like, stop asking me about that. I should have never said that. And I just became so fixated on what I thought the future would look like. And and it's fun because I look at like the designs that we designed out as I try to like envision what the product would look like, and it's pretty much to a tee exactly still what it is. And this was before everything that's out there exists. And you know, I I always uh it's exciting that you know, as a founder to see the market understand your product over time. You know, there was obviously a lot of resistance at at first. People wanted people to go to the facility that they built, and and you know, obviously the pandemic then created a further shift in just this mentality. And so it's exciting as a founder to watch that process and kind of be in the right place at the right time and you know, have the operators, you know, which are our buyers, really understand it and start to really embrace it, which is making things you know continue to be super exciting.

When did you kind of have this vision? You start, you know, telling people to to go digital. Was it I I think your company founded in 2015, right? Yeah. So was it slavely?

Before that, yeah. Before that, obviously, at a certain point, I'm like, okay, yes, we're going for this, we'll incorporate this thing. Right. But before that was certainly started the process. And and um, you know, at that point too, like people, it was just a different world, right? Now it's like if you have something, you gotta get it out there, get it out on Instagram, get it out like and own it, or people will say it's theirs before it used to be like really close, like close off like SoulCycle wouldn't allow flywheel instructors to take their class. There was like this, like, you know, keep it inside the walls mentality. And now we've shifted to the opposite. It's like, you know, tell everybody everything you're doing always, right? And and so it's uh, you know, it's been an interesting shift just with technology and just the you know, in general.

Yeah, and and looking at that timeline, I mean you're you're ahead of the curb for sure. This wasn't just something like you know, all of a sudden it was a hard pivot because you know, the the pandemic changed it the way we do business completely. You you saw this coming down the pipe. So maybe give div get a little bit into the weeds of like what is it exactly that Forte does? What is the service and the the technology that you guys offer?

Yeah, so we build like an end-to-end platform. If somebody wants to offer digital, we help them build a site, apps, all the things. It's branded, it looks like you know, our client is the UFC, it looks like the UFCs, it's integrated into their site, uh, app, ecosystem, CRM. Um, so it's a really true integrated omni-channel member experience as opposed to, you know, if it's separated and you have to go on another platform and put a credit card in type of thing. Um, we also, it's it's a big we spent a couple years actually developing this proprietary automated like live streaming production. So my thesis was that I was always overproduced. It's not a movie. You're on a yoga mat, a spin bite, you're going nowhere fast, you know, staying in a little space. And so it was just shot like a movie because that's what people knew how to hire those people, and so they did that. So we have fixed cameras, it's rotating between the various cameras. We know what the class is gonna be. Um, right, we know the boxing class is gonna warm up this way and do this, and then 50 minutes come and cool down. And so we can automate the cameras, and then in the studio, they're lighting up so the trainer knows where to look. And then once the instructor talks into the mic, we know the decibels are their voice. And so, this automation that we put on a computer in that location that they're live streaming, we call the Autobot it live streamed from around the world, thousands of classes daily with no human operators, but it's produced looking because live it has to be high quality, but it also people were overspending and shooting it with a camera crew, and it's also not that. So that's a big differentiator. A lot of our competition are just generic video hosting platforms. They have live streaming, but nobody actually does live on them. Like before the pandemic, the forward-thinking brands had like video on demand where you shoot them with the camera crew, upload them to a website. And that was sort of forward thinking. Even today, now, many, many years later, people are still, you know, now they're using Zoom for the live often. And then they use like these video hosting platforms for the VOD. And so um, you know, that's a giant differentiator for us. And then it's live, it's two-way, it has live leaderboards, you can connect your Apple Watch. We also work with MyZone, so you can compete in real time, chat with people, follow people. So it's a super interactive platform. We're just um deploying NFTs and really, you know, interactive features and working on 3D tracking, so form tracking and you know, all that stuff, rep counting. You could do a lot once you're tracking, obviously, you know, people's motion, which is pretty cool. Um, and then we have like music licensing deals because that was a big reason why Jim's never created content. Um, it's core to the experience, obviously. And so Paloton played a pretty hefty toll on that. So, really solving that was important um to move the clients forward because it's pretty complicated. And then we just integrate with all the CRMs, and um you know, so that way it's a real omni-channel experience for members. And if it's included in your membership, you don't have to create accounts and you see it in the schedule as if it were another class and and stuff like that. So, really trying to, you know, building it for the industry specifically, um, and making it super easy for the client to deploy.

That's a lot. You got a lot going on within this platform. And I mean, it's it's uh I mean, I just I've worked with companies that just do one single component of everything that you're doing, and I know the time and development and you know the just the ups and downs of developing one component of that and then trying to tie it all in. There, there's how big is your team now? How many people do you have working with?

Um over over 50 people, I think. Um we just added a couple last week and we're continuing to hire. So we went, you know, from a handful to pretty big pretty quickly, which has obviously been been super exciting. Um, and I think, you know, to your point that we're definitely doing a lot, but it it's like a lot of everything was really fragmented before. And so trying to really make it um like almost like a plug-and-play business model, we have it down to a science for the onboarding, how we you know set that up. And so, you know, it's kind of fun as a founder too. You know, at first you're sort of like doing all these things and not sure where it's headed and where you're going, and now it's like a really boring business. I get on the calls and we have the onboarding for a client. They go, you know, you put the coin in, they all the operational steps go on and it spits it out, and then it always works. And so, you know, now we're like a grown-up, you know, business, and it's it's fun to see that um, you know, as a founder, too, that it's like, you know, it's not it's very predictable, and we know what the processes are and the timeline. And you know, it's exciting to be to be in that place. It's a different stage of of the journey for sure.

Yeah, it's something with the app, and I'm not a developer, so I'm far from it. Uh I don't know, but you know, it seems to me with my experience with apps and technology platforms within the space, is that when it looks and feels simple, that's really expensive. Like somewhere behind that took a ton of hours, right? Like for it to get down to those one or two clicks. Like Amazon is just the the the poster child for this because two swipes, like I ordered something before I went to bed last night and I was like, oh god, like we're talking about for me.

Yeah, me too.

I'm like, oh, I need to remember anything before we get back. It was like swipe and buy it. Okay, done. That was done. It took me five seconds. Totally. Um, but that was that took a lot of development and a lot of engineers and a lot of thought and a lot of you know failure to get to that point. And I would imagine you could probably neither uh either confirm or deny that that is probably the same for you guys.

Totally. I would say, like, when you I never appreciate, you just expect things to work, you expect tech to work, and when you actually build tech, you become a lot more sympathetic to when things don't work. Like, I'll go to a food website and I'm like, I'll email the customer. I'm like, by the way, this link is dead, and I'm on a Chrome browser and I'm using a MacBook Pro, and I send them all the things so they can fix their problems. And they're like, lady, do you want a refund? I'm like, no, I'm good. I'm just letting you know your site's doing this. Like, you just expect it to work. And I think you, you nobody really realized how how complicated some of this stuff is. And I think what made us successful is like a lot of this stuff that we would do, I would tell the engineers, like, I want it to just magically work. My customer, they make fitness programming and gyms. Like, they don't know about tech, they don't need to know about it, and I don't want them to be stressed trying to figure it out. Like, we have to solve this problem. And I was like, I want it to work like this, and they would be like, That's impossible. You don't understand how, you know, and like basically make me feel like you don't understand how this works. I'm like, yeah, I don't know how it works, but I know that this is how this has to work. So like come back to me. And they would come back and be like, all right, these are the limits. And I'm like, nah, that's not good enough either. We're gonna need it to do this. Like they totally, I just want them to start teaching their class. I don't want them to lift a finger or touch anything. Like, and so it was because I also didn't understand some of the things that I kept like pushing, like, there's gotta be a way, there's gotta be a way to do this. And so it got us to this place that, you know, is is pretty magical. Clients are like, it's just, I'm like, they're like, let me see it work. I'm like, it's all in the clouds, like it's magically all gonna work, you know? And so I think because I, yeah, like it's in the clouds, there's not much to see here. And so I think that that's like really helped us. We're versus like a technical person trying to develop it would be like, well, there's just limits with you know, this many two-way simultaneous videos. Or I'm like, well, we gotta find a way past those limits, you know. And I think because I am naive in that regard, it helped us build this product, which which ended up working out really well.

Yeah, I mean, that makes a ton of sense. And you know, I I look at well, here's a question I have for you because I think about this stuff and know how challenging it sounds like a very high quality platform that serves a very specific issue. It solves a lot of things, actually. And I see some of the brands that you work with. Is this cost prohibitive for like the individual boutique owner or you know, uh gyms that are just kind of getting started? Uh or is it something that's universally, you know, pretty pretty doable for most for most locations?

Yeah, so we started out with the larger players for obvious reasons with a leaner team just to, you know, kind of get more market share. Obviously, the risk to that is that the kinks may not be worked out, and then it's a double-edged sword to going that route. But but now we have actually got it to our our costs are really cost effective. Um, and so we have more of a variance in pricing that we can offer that makes it accessible for any type of client. I would say the biggest variance in our price is the you know, playing Justin Bieber and Madonna just costs a lot of money and it doesn't scale down the more people you have listening. And so the variance in our pricing is play is for more expensive music options. But in terms of the architecture and the infrastructure, we've definitely got it down to a place where it's cost effective and and very simple for for smaller guys to onboard as well. So we're kind of moving down, focusing on all sides of this of the market at this point, versus when we started, we were focused on the larger players, um, just because you know we're venture backed and trying to grow quickly and trying to do it as fast as we can.

Yeah, of course. So you're you know, you started in 2015 when you founded the company. Uh you have this vision, the pandemic comes along, like everything falls in line for this particular solution, right? It just makes a ton of sense all of a sudden. You've got everything prepared and ready to go. I would imagine you saw a nice little, you know, bump in business. Now we're kind of coming out of this. Yeah. Now we're coming out of it. Things are you know, quote unquote normalizing, recalibrating, whatever you want to call it into whatever we're gonna have in the future. Um are people now how is the market reacting? How are people talking about like, are they saying, like, okay, we still need this solution? Like, no, no, no, that was a pandemic world. We don't need this anymore. We're we're all in person now, right? What do you say to those people? Like, how is this still because your vision just just is still the same? It just happened to go right through the pandemic.

Yeah, I thought it was a great idea without the pandemic, right?

So yeah, right, right.

I think for for me, like, say before the pandemic, like 67% of US gym goers were using digital apps. And I would tell the gyms that they're like, well, we don't want them doing that, we want them coming here. I'm like, well, they're already starting, like just like the New York, you know, and taxi limousine commission didn't want Uber to do what now they have an app so you could do the same thing. And it took them nine years to develop it instead of just fighting it out of the gate and having the app, right? So it's like, yeah, you can not want things, it doesn't mean that they're not gonna happen, right? So I think it's I that's kind of always been my perspective. The consumer behavior was on demand, they want it now, they were already starting to do that, and so the gyms were sort of resistant to adopt that. Obviously, Peloton and a lot of these companies really like, you know, kept creating noise in the digital space, but again, they were focusing on their core business. And then the pandemic really rocked that, and they had to, you know, some forward-thinking brands were starting to do some digital and have that, uh, you know, have the ability for that, but most people weren't, and then they had to do it. And of course, like it wasn't the circumstances that we wanted to be having those conversations under. But I, in some ways, I feel like it was good for the gyms to really reset and and and like have to be awakened to start getting activated and doing it because they otherwise I felt like they were gonna be like blockbuster and wake up and there's one and it's a hotel and it's a joke, and you could sleep in it, and all their brick and mortars like seemed like they were taking over the world, and and so quickly that was eradicated, right? And so, so I think in many ways it's good because because all these fitness apps were tech companies or you know, all but but the gyms where the 60 million people in the US are members, they weren't playing in the space, right? I'm like, people would be using your app if you were offering it, but you weren't, and so it's really exciting to see these big companies that have great communities start executing on this because I think it just they they weren't involved in it before. And obviously the pandemic woke them up, and of course, there were some people that did it because they had to, then they went retreated, and then the second wave happened, and then they apologized for not doing it the first time, and you know, the conversations were it's a whole journey here, and I think that it's exciting now because people realize that one behavior has shifted, just like work from home. It's gonna be really tricky to get people to say that you gotta punch in and you you gotta be here, and you can only take a 45-minute lunch, and all that stuff is never gonna go back to the way it was. And I think the same for working out, so people realize they can get a workout from home. Like I didn't, I never thought in a million years I'd miss a day at the gym. And obviously, I didn't go to the gym for well over a year, and and I'm still here, and I went back and I'm still as fit as I was, and so that was like a you know eye-opening, even for me, to see that I was still able to stay in shape. And so, you know, I think those behaviors have changed. But like for me, my dream and my like passion for this whole company is really just most people still don't work out, and I do really believe that digital is like the gateway to getting more people involved in in working out and the confidence to go to the gym. And I think like that's. That's the most like beautiful opportunity of it, of all of it. Um, and then obviously just enhancing the regular gym experience. Most people, you know, aren't college athletes and haven't worked out at those levels. They don't know what to do. They walk on the treadmill, maybe hit a couple machines, do a couple side bends, and then leave, right? Like I think just giving people a better experience so they so they have uh you know more success and just uh you know, just giving them kind of guidance around the gym. And I think that that that's where we're really moving towards as well, just having you know, creating a more digitized, better experience for people, even in the club.

Can you expand on that? You you talked about uh how digital is the bridge to get to, I just call them the 80%. It's roughly 80% of you know Americans don't engage in fitness programs. So, how how is that a bridge? What what's your yeah traveling that?

So we're working actually with a 3D tracking company that we're really excited to announce, and where like most people don't go to the gym because they say they need to lose weight is number one. And then in the sense of yoga, they say they don't go to yoga because they're not flexible enough. In both cases, you go to those places to achieve those goals is the irony. And so, really showing people, I think, like what goes on in a UFC gym, right? Like, what are the moves in a boxing class? You can you can practice them, know that you're mastering the move, so you're not gonna go there and look silly. It's gonna show you, like, actually, you have nailed the cross. This is exactly 100% right. Your form is great, right? And so, like, just giving people the confidence to go in there. And then we built the feature with the two-ways, so you could share your video with the trainer only or your friends and or everyone, and hopefully go like as the progression. So I just think the barrier to entry is so high. You got to feel really fed up with yourself, you know, to go to a place where it's like you don't want to go to the beach or the gym. Those are like the last two places on your list to hit when you are feeling at your all-time low, right? It's like the the onboarding process has never evolved, and that's the only way to be a member is to go there. And so I think it's like meeting people where they are and where they're ready is gonna be a really awesome opportunity for the gyms to get more people involved in it. And so I think like being able to connect with the brand, the community, see what goes on inside. You know, it's like there's so many things you're curious about, but to actually go do it, it just people never get over that hump. And so I do really think that it's gonna be an opportunity for the gyms to, you know, most people live around the corner and are not a member. They're all fighting for the same people that are just shifting around in the workout habits that they have, as opposed to ever trying to really increase the funnel. So I think that's like the most exciting opportunity for everybody is really cracking that code because everybody wins.

Yeah, and there's a lot of people again after that too. I mean, that's the big focus for or argument for web 3.0, right? Is getting people, you know, whatever kind of thing, augmented reality or you know, some kind of digital space and and doing movement that they wouldn't have done before because they feel more comfortable at home. Uh I'm curious with this vision that you have, is anybody actually doing it, using your platform to on-ramp people digitally? And and like I'm I'm just curious about some tangible examples of how that looks.

Yeah, so we're just actually starting to roll some of this out now, as well as like going through the sales process when people don't end up joining, then giving them the opportunity to join digitally, you know, giving it to them, and then hopefully getting them back into the funnel. We're also working on some very data-driven um working with data basically to be able to, it's a pretty beautiful thing, uh, actually coming from some people that I know from Wall Street, but getting data where we can actually see customer receipts and and so purchases. So you're just bought dumbbells on Amazon and maybe protein powder, and maybe we see it's your honeymoon, and then we kind of target you in that very moment where you're ripe for ripe for uh, you know, somebody to hit you versus like you know in a in another phase. So we're actually working to also help our customers reach those people that live around the corner that match their exact customer prototype with some really, really unique data that actually I never thought my old life would come in handy, but this is where this is coming from. And so um, because of the Facebook and Apple privacy changes, there's it's a lot harder to target the right people, and customer acquisition costs have been going up significantly. So that's another um thing that we're starting to deploy now, which I'm really, really excited about because you know, getting more people in the funnel is a great thing to want, but like the execution on that's pretty hard, and so we're really trying to help with that because everybody wins in this equation if we can get more people as members and just you know in the in the funnel.

Yeah, wow. Yeah, wow, that's that's a lot. So super cool. You mentioned some integrations and things like that too. Are you guys are playing around with wordable data and biometrics? How is that starting to tie into your platform?

Yeah, so so we're definitely trying to continue to bridge the digital user or the person that's a hybrid. It's like some people are all in person, some people are hybrid, and there's a big portion of people that are just digital only. And in the cases that we see that, they just, you know, they didn't end up canceling their membership. They love their brand and they love their gym, but they're in this one case, they're in downtown Boston and they don't go to work anymore, they don't go to their office anymore. So they're, you know, when that may happen, and they were still in a state where people are starting to put some different demands on, but it hasn't fully happened. And so those members have stayed really engaged in the brand through digital. And my assumption is that if they have to start going to work, they'll actually go back to that physical brick and mortar. So that's been cool. But I think for us, what we're trying to do is whether you're in the gym, you could be on the leaderboard competing with the people that are remote. Whether you're, you know, in the gym, you're also you're there, the camera that will be tracking your movements and counting reps. So there's a cumulative rep count and you know, giving people correction. So really enhancing um the two experiences and also just like allowing people to like sort of do a simple test, like put your arms up, do a squat, and show people like these are five stretches that you should do because of your you know imbalances in your body, which everyone has at every age, and being able to like also give that information to trainers so they can enhance both the digital experience where they're not physically in front of you to correct you and make sure you're doing things right, and also in a class where they can't get around to everybody. And so um, you know, and then just knowing like this person, you know, can't put their hands over their head. So if they're not following all these instructions, like this is why, and just kind of, you know, just enhancing the experience for for everybody. I mean, things have things have not changed, right? They're still doing a step, and you know, just the same, the instructor is nothing's changed, right? So really trying to enhance the experience, but still make it fun, I think, without you know, being super overwhelming. The other thing is just showing people that you know the working out is sort of working for you. I think people working out is always like driven by weight loss and getting a six-pack. And even though you have to eat salad and like no chicken and planned chicken and you know, very simple things to get that, it's all in the kitchen. And so even though you're working out and maybe not getting skinnier, it's still really good for your body. Like your overall stress level is going down, your sleep is better. Like, there's still so many benefits. So, with that wearable data too, we'll be able to use heart rate variability soon to be able to show people those insights. Like, this is working. Because I think a lot of people just give up. They're like, what am I working? What am I doing? I hate this, I don't like doing it, and what am I getting out of it? You know, and so I think being able to show in a fun way that this is this is healthy and this is working and you are getting better, you know, with the ability to track your reps, right? If you're an athlete, you would have a program and you would count how many times you did the bench and the weight progression. If you're normal, you're not that neurotic, right? But but giving people that insight without having them having to jot it down, I think will be able to help keep people motivated and showing them that like that their plank form is perfect now. Now let's work on your squat. Like you are getting better. I think that otherwise it's like the same group of highly motivated people, and and you know, that's we haven't been able to tap into anything else other than that, right? We're all just fighting for the same people.

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Yeah, while still keeping it fun, you know, most people are without being like so data driven that you know, just just keeping it interesting, showing people that there's progress, right? Because I think most people, you know, they don't they like even in terms of being corrected in a class, like I think the average that people want is like 10%. They don't want to really be told constantly like how to do it right, but they want a little bit of feedback, just enough. So I think like, yeah, trying to play into those um human traits that we know and and keep people motivated. I think like the gym has always had a high churn rate, right? I think its biggest enemy is laziness, it's not digital. That I know for sure is just people falling off the wagon, right? Like, I can't understand that concept, but that's like every one of my friends, like, yeah, I don't know what happened summer, and then I fell off it. Like, you know, I think that that's also the biggest thing. So just giving them the ability to meet their customer when they're traveling, when summer happens, and all those things, and just try to keep them engaged, um, you know, and as and for trainers to be able to use it as a tool when they're not gonna see their clients, to have them log in and do workouts and you know, stuff like that, I think, and and compete on the leaderboard and like, you know, make sure they get a certain score and hold them accountable and use it in a tool like that, I think is is gonna be really um important for them to, you know, to to keep people activated. Um, because I think it's just always been you have to be there or you're you're not there, right? There was like either or. And so trying to keep blending those two worlds and um, you know, some days you go in person and you do things that you wouldn't have at home, and other days you can get a workout in at home, and you know, that that balance will be different for everybody.

Yeah. I wanna touch on competition a little bit because I would imagine uh, you know, in the space that you're in, the pandemic created quite a bit of competition. I mean, I can I won't name any, but I can I I know companies that started and are already gone right during that three-year period, two-year period. Um trying to do this omnichannel presence and trying to deliver well and in a way that you know gyms and health clubs and personal trainers can who aren't you know massive content creators or don't have studios can do. So walk me through a little bit, like how was the competition kind of rose and then how do you stand apart? What is your mode or your your defensible space that you have in this sector?

Yeah, I think like obviously the connected fitness space went pretty crazy, and obviously Peloton and and Tonal and the others have built great businesses, but the magnitude of them, you know, is a couple million people. Well, you know, like YMCA, I think, has 23 million members. Like, you know, people kind of were not paying attention to these juggernauts that, you know, are exist like you know, they they built an impress impressive business, but you know, Zumba has like 17 million people a week doing it. And that was a guy that came to Miami that had so much positive energy that everyone was attracted to it, and it became a global that's impressive to me. That's like those are the you know, the people that need to amplify with technology, right? So I think those are great businesses, but I'm excited that these guys are now getting involved. And there was a lot of uh trainer focus apps, obviously, that you know worked really well during the pandemic, and you know, it won't need names. Obviously, a lot, a lot of them closed funds were refunded and because the trainers went back to the gym. And so I think the rise of the trainer on their own is a real thing, and they can do that with brands and you know, connect with brands um differently than they used to. But but I think they still need the marketing engine and the and the you know the community of the gym. There's obviously unicorns and outliers that have succeeded, like Kayla had signs to great lengths on their own, but that's more far and few between. I think for me, another like systemic thing that we're trying to address is like the gyms need to, you know, the tech companies are paying these trainers really well, and they're they're employees and they have equity and they have health insurance. And the gyms have never really looked at their employees that way. They're sort of, you know, paying them by the hour, and they don't have health insurance and they're they're killing their bodies. And so I think some something that we're focusing on is like the you guys kind of need to work together and you need to value each other in the appropriate way, and then everybody wins, as opposed to you know, just trainer-focused apps, because it's, you know, they're they they're not a market, they can't do all those things. Often when you find out about successful ones, they have a business team that's operating behind them. It's not just like one great person with great energy that has good programming. There's a lot of really good people. It's like singers, right? Like there's amazing singers all over the place, and they're not all making it big, right? It's like the same concept. And so I'm excited that you know, there's been a shift again because you know, my thesis is always that people will want to go somewhere. They will want to, they they will want a place to go to, um, you know, instead of living in our Zoom, you know, like siloed workout worlds. And I think that the gyms are really positioned, and so they just weren't playing in it. So it's really exciting that they get it now, and a lot of them are starting to really see the opportunity. Um, their staff is coming back, you know, and and I think that as they start to evolve and understand that there's real value in this business, that there is gonna be a really nice shift in the landscape that we're starting to see.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's funny going back to what you said about uh you know, like Zumba or YMCA, like you know, people sleep on these companies and like Jazzer size, right?

No, no, no, TechCrunch doesn't write about, yeah, these are beautiful business, enormous businesses. Like, you know, it's like I I it makes me laugh. I'm like, this is not, you know, every VC is like focused on you know the next device, like home device. I'm like, there's there's these huge businesses that are have monster, like giant communities, right? And and they're still giant. And so I think once yeah, beautiful thing, huge. I mean, it's it's it's crazy. So I think like that's where the opportunity, silver sneakers, don't get me started. That's a big kahuna right there. I mean, these are monsters, 18 million people. I mean, totally, totally. And it's like, nope, TechCrunch is definitely not writing about silver sneakers, but 18 million people, that's a beautiful thing right there. And and so it's funny, they've actually gotten a bit, you know, the older demographic is also loving the digital because, you know, it's a lot of work to go to the gym and driving there, and so they're like crushing it with the digital, and it's just all these things that are kind of ignored. And I think that people do want a hybrid, and it's nice to have a place in a community to go to. And I think that you know, people have been excited about the extremes during the pandemic in terms of just the funding that went into these things. But like home gyms have always existed, it's always been a great thing, there's always a niche community, and Peloton made it more interesting, did a great job marketing it, and certainly built out a newer audience, probably, I would say, in that regard. But it's it's it was always there, you know, it's just a better mousetrap. And I think that excited for the gyms were sort of all the people that are active, those are the easy ones, right? And then the goal of hopefully getting some more people to work at is you know, is the biggest opportunity.

You're I'm just thought of this question. I'm I'm glad because you're perfect to ask this question too. Uh, you know, we're in um June, right, of 2022, and you know, if we were f talking about following the stock market and war abroad and you know, China lockdowns, all kinds of stuff. Like it's it's there's a lot of shit going on, right? And um interest rates are going up and all that stuff. And given that your background on Wall Street, and then also you know, going to a lot of VCs and um, you know, raising funds for your company and being that, how do you see the appetite for investors for the fitness and health and wellness sector um over the next few years if we're kind of continue on this path, even given though I'm not asking you for a crystal ball, you know, um look at things, but what do you what what would you forecast in the next few years?

Yeah, I mean, I think Peloton did a big service in getting investors to pay attention to the industry as a real business. Um so that was exciting. I think that that a lot of funds that never really looked, they always would say like dating and fitness were things they stayed away from. They were too fickle and people jumped from one to the other. And so they most sophisticated investors did not entertain the space. So that was a great shift, and also ended up becoming quite a curse when things started to really turn for them and their numbers, you know, there went from 50 billion to 8 billion, and so there was certainly that shift. And and I think then in, you know, there's definitely investors are certainly super spooked with that, coupled with um, you know, obviously the market, right? And they just can market conditions, and and so that's been certainly interesting. Like we um, you know, over 10x in in and we hit our 2022 projections, which everyone thought were a joke already, and we still have a long ways to go for the year. So we're like, you know, whereas if that was in the height of the pandemic, we would be flooded with with cash. It was definitely definitely, you know, we're about to close a growth round, and it's certainly um, I think there's been a reset. And and just in general, in the market, there's a reset on the valuation of companies, um, which was which which makes sense. I mean, I think like where things were getting valued were certainly pretty out of control. Um, but I think we're in a phase now that's like gone to the other extreme and obviously we'll start to settle back in um, you know, in a little bit. I think investors though definitely didn't understand the space fully. Um, and and so now they're certainly, I think they're they're back to being spooked. And I think that will wear off as they start to, you know, see where things shake out and stuff like that. But it's definitely been been an interesting journey on both the operator, you know, relationship and their emotional journey, as well as the investor journey for sure.

Yeah, that's yeah, it is interesting. I mean, I you know, Elon Musk talks about it too, is like we we have to have some kind of recession because this investor. I mean, I I talk to a lot of companies, and this is gonna sound funny to say, but I'll say it is like companies are valued on their valuation. Like that there's so many great companies that maybe haven't been, you know, gotten a valuation or you know, haven't you know got whatever a certain amount of funding, or some are just bootstrapped and they're not seen at the same tier of companies. And to me, that's I don't I don't know. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm old school, I've never taken investment on anything I've done, so I don't know. But um one of the things I want to ask you to kind of wrap this up a little bit, Lauren, is like I I had uh Ali O'Radi on the podcast a little while ago, and I asked him about, you know, I've been following his journey because I had him on early when he was just starting. Uh, and I asked him how his entrepreneurial journey has been. And he said, uh, you know, it's it's like learning how to drive a Formula One race car every day. And uh so I'm curious, in your uh seven year span now, how has your entrepreneurial journey been? How would you describe it to people who uh have never experienced and probably won't experience something like what you're doing?

Yeah, I would say it's like waking up every day and getting on a treadmill at 15 on a 15 incline at speed 15. It's just like, you know, there's no, it's it's that that's how I feel. You know, you wake up every day, it's like, you know, in the beginning, you're just the only one driving it, right? So if you just decide to do nothing, obviously nothing's gonna come your way and there's gonna be no opportunities, right? And just the the responsibilities and the things grow. Now we have a ton of employees and we're raising and we're investing heavily and we're, you know, doing all these things to continue growing the platform. So, so the the I guess stress of it is different, but it's it's still so intense. But I think like, you know, I wouldn't change the experience for the I I wouldn't necessarily recommend, I wouldn't wish my company on my worst enemy. Like I my own health has probably deteriorated. I sleep very little. It's am I everything as you know, maybe my I haven't seen my friends and family more as much as I'd like to. Like, I I haven't found a way to live a balanced life, and I don't know if I believe that that really exists in in these sort of intense, you know, when you're where it's where it's you know, feast or famine, you either make it work or you don't, right? So it's you kind of really need to go at it hard. But at the same time, it's been like I I would have never thought my my old career, I thought my old career was great and I was crushing it. And and like now I'm like I could never go back to doing that. Like it's so exciting to be solving a problem, you know, that makes people healthier, that is gonna help businesses evolve and stay relevant. And like I I didn't even know what I was missing until you know I got into this industry. I think like, you know, if you're a doctor and you're saving lives, or if you're a trainer and you're making people healthier, like you see that. But as a person that worked in finance and watched the treasury auctions, you know, I thought my life was awesome. And then I'm like, whoa, what was I really doing every day on this earth? Like, what was I really working towards? You know, and and you spend a lot of time at work, and you know, so I think that it's important that you do that. And I'm grateful for this experience that, you know, it it hoisted me into this whole different, different life. But I think as a founder, like you just gotta get started and stop. People like, I have this idea, I've been thinking about it. I was like, already, stopping you. I'm like, just start it, tell somebody that you started it and start talking about it, or you're just gonna be here in 10 years. Like, you know, like I just was like, all right, I'm gonna do this. Like, I I when I had this vision, I was like, I'm gonna just leave my job. And everyone's like, what? You're like crushing it. I'm like, if I don't do it, somebody else is gonna do it. And I don't want to waste a day thinking about it. And so, like, worst case scenario is I come back to this job, you know, and I let all my trading licenses lapse a couple years ago. I'm like, I'm in it, I'm not going back, baby. And I think, you know, it's just like that moment where where you know, you just gotta you gotta just try it and figure it out, and you don't know what you don't know, and there's never a good time. And um, yeah, it's definitely it's definitely an intense experience for sure. So it's not for the faint of faint of heart, I would say.

Yeah, sounds like it. Well, Lauren, uh thank you so much for joining us. I know uh we're butting up on time. I'm sure you got like four more meetings to go today, but uh it's been a real pleasure. Uh you lived up to the hype. Really excited to have you on the show. And uh thank you so much. Yeah, if people want to uh learn more about you, your company, is there any place you want to send them in particular?

Yeah, you can go to goforte.fit and that will tell you about what the company does, and then also partnerships at forte.fit, you can reach out and uh get in touch with us.

Uh awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. Learn from those. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minutes. 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, Catbox, 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 the 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 many people are getting value out of it. That's awesome. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more, get in touch with me, simply go to the feature of finished.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I'd love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Derek Mildzone, and this is the feature of Finance every day.