Robbie Bent - Othership & Tailored Wellness Experiences

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[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Robbie Bet, welcome to The Future of Fitness Man.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Not better to be here.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, excited to have you.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: This is very unique what you guys are doing with the other ship.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's falling for a little bit. I don't know who brought it across my desk first, maybe it was the binaries, maybe someone else.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But some media and I'm kind of falling.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I know we've had a couple conversations over the past year or so and you're prepping for your new opening in New York which you're going to talk about about.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But very unique style in your background too.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to get into that in a minute.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you don't come from the typical fitness health wellness industry background to work with Ethereum.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It's some kind of non-traditional industries I would say, but very forward facing industries.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So let's start with that, Robbie.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe just give us a little bit of introduction to who you are personally and how you got to the founder of other ship.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So after school I really was competitive.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: My parents were quite strict and really pushed me to be successful.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was a good pair of suit.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And sorry, I wanted to go into investment banking because that was the fastest way I saw to make money and be a successful person.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I started my career in finance.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I worked in investment banking in the hedge fund for four years.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: That didn't work out for me.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I really struggled in that environment. It was very difficult.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I missed quite young.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: So 24 and thought like, oh, I can make money in tech.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Facebook was kind of just a new thing. Mark Zuckerberg's XMA just me.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, oh, that's the way to make money.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was very driven by some actual gains early on.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I started tech company, raise venture funding.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: We kind of built a Google file like roaming style solutions.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: You could use your phone globally.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Screw that to 100 employees.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The business never really worked.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It ended up failing.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And a ton of experience there.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But felt pretty much like a failure.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, you know, my career in finance,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and work, my career in tech, how didn't work.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So I had no money.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I had to move back in with my parents.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when my journey is a health and wellness started.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I was struggling also with drugs,

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_01]: alcohol, it's times deal with failure.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I had to change the move to Israel.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just kind of start my life over.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Which I took.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not Jewish.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't speak Hebrew.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was just a chance to start from scratch.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So I moved out there.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And luckily enough got into the past and the meditation.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I actually didn't have the money to fly home for Christmas.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was by myself quite lonely.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And so there was this, you know,

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, you're free food and stay here.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And those are just meditation.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: But it was pretty eye-opening.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's 10 hours of meditation per day in complete silence.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's quite strenuous.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And so at that retreat I had learned about psychedelic medicines.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And got interested in using them for alcohol addiction.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Which was a problem for me for most of my 20s.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I learned a bit and it up going to Peru on an ayahuasca retreat.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: It was quite impactful for me.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And I then came back to Toronto from Israel, moved home.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And I had been chatting with the scroll during all these travels.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And she picked me up from the airport and we went on our first date.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And she became my wife.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was through her.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: She's a nutritionist and dietitian.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was listening to the early podcast.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know, run to Patrick.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if she's still massive.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But before Peter and Andrea, you know,

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: it was kind of run a Patrick and Ben Greenfield and Dave Asprey.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And so she got me into health and wellness bio hacking.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just suggested for a first date.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I heard about the sky whip off.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the ice baths.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And we should try and find one.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Up time we get a Google search.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And there wasn't even a bathhouse or sauna in the city of Toronto.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So we needed to drive out to this like suburb of Mississauga to an old Russian bunja with the traditional Venek and food.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And then that was our first date.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And there we tried the ice bath together.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, normally at first date you're nervous.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: What I'm going to say, what do I look like?

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I can add a bathhouse year just wearing a bathing suit on the towel.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: You can cover your body and you know,

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01]: the hot and cold kind of does what alcohol does.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: They're very similar.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, one is healthy and one is not, but it helps with friction and social anxiety.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So the date was incredible.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And then that became a ritual for us for years every week.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want to be in places that had alcohol for, you know,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sober for all now for over eight years.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's fine.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I can be around.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It could even have like a sip and it wouldn't bother me.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But to be around alcohol initially was challenging.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what we would do is go to these bathhouses.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: We moved to San Francisco.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I ended up working for the Ethereum Foundation early on.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And the combination of this hot cold meditation,

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: like medicine, you know, therapy, all this stuff and then having a really supporting wife.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Really changed my life.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I joined Ethereum.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I had a lot of exposure and tech and hardware and software and

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_01]: did super well there.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And on that journey,

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: we lived in San Francisco and Berlin and everywhere that we live.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: We'd formed these WhatsApp groups and go to bathhouses.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And that would be the Friday night Saturday.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: We'd wake up feeling amazing.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I got pretty obsessed with using a sauna and an ice bath weekly.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And probably traveled to 70 plus bathhouses across the US and Europe and Japan and Turkey.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Chemoscales and Mexico all over.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is like one of my favorite things to do.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: We ended moving back to Toronto in 2019 and myself,

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_01]: my wife, another couple and one of my best friends from college wanted to create a healthy community.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So in our backyard, we ended up building an ice bath by hands with a children filtration.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was just open season.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know, if you knew in the neighborhood, you opened the gate,

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: you could come and use it.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even have to be home.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_01]: There was like a QR code to join in what's that group.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And so people will just drop in all the time.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I might be having coffee in my backyard and four friends would show up and

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_01]: start doing the ice bath and we started learning how to guide them through that experience

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and experimenting with all kinds of things, like sound bowls, central oils.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And that community grew to 300 people.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And so every day there'd be at least 20 people at my house hanging out at night.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: We'd have a fire going and it was just a healthy social environment.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It was awesome.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And as winter came, it's quite cold.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: The ice bath on its own is left appealing when it's, you know,

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01]: below 32 degrees below zero degrees.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we converted my garage.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_01]: It was the three car garage we converted into a sauna ice bath and tea room

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and a downloader and an app.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know, you would get the app if you're in the community to let yourself in.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And you'd clean up after yourself and every day one of my self or my co-founders would work there.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And that grew into a thousand person community.

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, it was like a side business and that was unpermined.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just be clear.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was just something we were doing for fun while I was working for Ethereum

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and the whole reason behind other ship was just to create healthy community

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and a space where people can see a lot of their emotions.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And in that space, we sort of stumbled on something special.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It was the idea that maybe you didn't need massage and food

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: and all these other things to do.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_01]: The hot cold also maybe you didn't need three hours because before that,

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_01]: everywhere in the world you'd go to a bath house and it was an unlimited time.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: It's usually you know, hundred, hundred plus dollars.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It stayed.

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It was like a big experience that happens in frequently.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And for us we started to see this thing you could do in a shorter time period.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_01]: That was pretty interesting.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we also started to see the beginnings of programming.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And the programming just happens, you know people are off their phone.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01]: They're struggling to get in the ice bath.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: What do you do?

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So one of the first stories we ever had.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: A program is a Valentine's Day when just three couples were there.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And we're doing some guided self massage in the sauna.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: One partner starts, some expert partner goes.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Then everyone shares about their first day.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Couples plunged together with an eye gaze and a hug.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: To get out, come back into the sauna and share what's inspiring about your relationship

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and all three couples are crying.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was sort of really wow.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Like this is a really powerful container to have a class happen and that sort of where what others

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: It was really known for these signature classes was born.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's so interesting man.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And I recently, so my wife and I were traveling this year.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We went to Central Asia and we stopped in Turkey on the way back in Istanbul for a couple nights.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And I met some people who were well traveled and they, one of the things they do like to use when they travel.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: They go to bathhouses.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So I decided, well, I'm a trip.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: This sounds like something I could totally get into.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So I tried an ancient bathhouse in one of the ancient cities and used back a stand and then in Istanbul.

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I went to a more modern one and I was like, I could really get into this.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, and it just seems like something I'm so shocked that like everyone around the world

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_00]: does, but in the United States, it may be Canada's same as you can probably speak to.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you know, something even living here, leaving California, living to Montana.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: People are the sauna cultures different here.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: We have kind of a finished affinity here in town.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So like my neighbor built his own sauna, we'll do sauna, you know, and it's like a thing.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a couple hours, right?

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: You get some appetizers, you do a couple sessions have a beer in between, like it's just what you do to hang out and socialize.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm just, I feel like our culture here in the United States is just starting to maybe see a glimpse of what's that.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: That's like, I mean, from your take, is that accurate or do you agree?

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it agree? Where do you stand on that?

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, if you look at, you know, humanity since the beginning of time, almost all cultures have some form of hot cold and the practices ancient, like back to the ancient Greeks where people would gather to share ideas in the bathhouse.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And Mexico and Latin American countries, you have a Tema Scal, if it's spiritual experience.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: For indigenous populations, there's the sweat lodge.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And Russia, there's the Banya and the Venet and Finland.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01]: There's the sauna itself was created in the steam, it's like a spiritual experience.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And Asia you have the on-sense, you know, the, like in Turkey you have the Hamaums.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And so most cultures have this and it's existed since, you know, kind of the beginning of time.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's really interesting in Canada, the US London, places with a Christian background.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it was because of, you know, bathing being naked.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: There was a bit more taboo around it until recently, you know, in the last 10 years, it's become very clear about the science and now North Americans are starting to pay attention to, you know, if you listen to a health and wellness podcast, it's on a cold plan just right up there with exercise.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And it will be in 10 years even even more clear.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's to do with religious aspects and then also with complicated zoning in the US.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a very intense bathhouse code and health codes that were related to brothels 50 years ago, escort sexual public bathhouses in like both San Francisco and New York.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: It's very hard to build these spaces and to comply with the health code record.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think it's especially in cities like using in Montana, outdoor much easier.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_01]: You see this more even outside of Toronto, you'd see these Nordic spots and they're quite popular in Canada and have been for a long time.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But in city across North America, you know, outside of New York Mallors almost zero bathhouses, which was kind of mind-blowing.

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know that that's a really interesting point in making me think too, because I live in San Francisco in the early 2000s and in my 20s.

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And when you heard the term bathhouse, it was a very specific image that you've seen you ate of what was going on in the bathhouse.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And then when I opened my first human Santa Barbara, we were in what was called the funk zone and back then it was truly funky.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's like, you know, a reason why I noticed it just being completely changed.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: But it was, you know, our 400 meter loop that we ran consisted of like a fist dryer, a strip club, a dope bookstore and the bathhouse.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Right, to be an idea what was going on.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And the bathhouse was attached to the dope bookstore which consignuated a certain amount of activity going on in there as well.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think you're right. I think in the culture now I'm kind of talking to the truth.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You seem to have like that term bathhouse as more generations kind of keep continue.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: That'll probably fall off of what that used to be that connotation used to be pretty cool.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty cool. So there's a place in New York called Bathhouse that's awesome.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: There's one in Williamsburg and one in Flatiron that just opens and they just repurpose the word.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And so instead of calling it something different, it's just called Bathhouse.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember when they launched it was like, well, that's really bold because before like in 2019 bathhouse terminology was exactly like you said.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01]: It means like you know sex, escorts, orgy, type place.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And so now though that seems ridiculous to me only five years later and it's like, yeah bathhouse.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Like it's a cool spot. So I think that's already happening in five years from now it'll be a term of pride perhaps.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Well, our species has a strong sense of amnesia anyway.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And we go to generation generation. So it's pretty, it's pretty amazing.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: There's some more questions I want to ask you is like, let's say you sit down on a flight and sit down next to someone and they ask you like, oh hey nice to meet you Robby.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So what do you do? What industry are you in? What do you tell them?

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. You know, I had this at a, was that a comedy show and comic, was a private comedy show, comics and magicians performing at your table.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And what do you do? And I'm like, oh, run like a social wellness thing. I run tables like laughing like what are you talking about? It's not what you do like social wellness that doesn't mean anything.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: You know if I say bathhouse it's not it's not that either because we have the best way to describe what we're doing or known for the signature classes and it's a mix of a Cirque du Soleil, like experience.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Where you are seeing a world class performance with insane lighting, you know, incredible music world class special effects.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And as part of that performance you are a part of it you're participating either through breath work, sounds, singing visualizations, movement.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And in addition to that while performing you're getting the health benefits of the hot and cold.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So I really think one way to describe it is sort of like wellness is entertainment, making wellness fun.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But it doesn't have a name yet because it didn't exist before. And so it's just you know, it's other ship. It's an otherworldly experience.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's how I describe it and I have to explain what happens.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know, it might say like, oh, we'll have a 250 person party with three saxophone players, a pianist, a bongo drummer, a fire dancer, a magician, happening in the world's, you know, the, the

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_01]: night club with no alcohol. So just it really is really hard to explain because also the space can be used for silence.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: So we have quiet free flows where you might be there and there's a live, childless playing and there's journals around for you to journal and you're using the hot and cold and a more quiet,

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_01]: introspective, zenway. And so I like to think of it as a community space where you can come and connect work on your emotions in a number of different ways.

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like how do you explain that in 30 seconds? Yeah. It's really hard. You'll get it. I mean, it'll probably take like five years until you can nail that down.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think you'll get it. I mean, it's obvious like when I look at, you know, just simply by looking at your website here and you talk, like,

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, some of the brand and content, like really cool content, by the way, the person on LinkedIn, like whatever that video was,

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I was really, I know you're proud of it. But I think you should check out your LinkedIn. It's experiential, obviously, right? Like that's you guys are,

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, you're selling experiences. You're selling community which, you know, the tough thing about that is like people have to experience it's really understand the experience, right?

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So maybe best you can as walk us through, like what is the, whatever you call member community member customer experience, best you can walk us through that.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, those are a number of ways to use this space. It's open from 6am to 1am every day in the orc and there are 28 different classes.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So each day, there's a number of different ways to use this space. So 1 is the class of which there are 28 and there's 4 classes at the base 7am noon 530, 715 and those classes.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: There are like pieces of entertainment. They're not meant to be done the same one every day. They have some novelty to them.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why we've created so many so that you can go back and it's like you're almost watching a new show each time.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I personally found you can do the same class once, once a month and so even if you're coming, you know 28 times a month, the next month, you can completely fresh.

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So those classes range from down we call them down might be like an intro to meditation, if I be a deep stretch class it might be a sense of class where you're sitting in the dark working through the sense of taste or handing out minced.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Your sense of smell is different or on the therapy of happening on the stove, your sense of touch is your massaging your body. So they're down there meant to be like introspective many meditations relaxing.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01]: It was a sound immersion where you know guide will be playing five different instruments some group singing.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Then there's up classes up is really about least almost cheesy exercises that make us feel like a child and have fun so 80s dance party call and response you know guide saying hi everyone.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_01]: A snowball game where you're holding a snowball you're throwing it to each other than throwing it on the stove they're like little games that are more akin to fitness so people are talking to each other creating relationships.

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01]: The energy is very high and then our signature all around classes which are emotional and so there's six or seven like very deep emotional classes around themes like loving kindness acceptance emotions A to see which is experiencing different emotions gratitude inner power confidence.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And these classes are combining elements of groups therapy with hot cold and and somatic work.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And those are our deepest experiences that really help people make breakthroughs and so we kind of have something for everyone so those four classes have sessions happen every day in between.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_01]: There's what we call free flow and that's using the space on on your own so perhaps you and I are hanging out instead of a coffee.

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We want to catch up we'll go in their guides there if I'm looking for private ice bath guidance that's a great time to go and ask one of the guides for guidance.

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_01]: They're still doing tail waving dancing in the sauna preparing ice balls with different room therapy they're available to chat making tea stuff like that.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: But we're really you know maybe we wanted to do a 60 minutes on our 10 minute ice bath then the third offering at night is is so tools and the socials are usually went to Thursday Friday Saturday and may range.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we'll have a DJ come in like I said and like a full piece bands and have 200 people and it will be like a full on nightclub party.

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it'll be more entertainment so have stand up comics come in and perform in the sauna and it's like going to a comedy show except you're doing it without alcohol and new environment sometimes we'll have live music.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_01]: So really the way to think about the spaces that is definitely good for health but more importantly it's a space that you can connect and be entertained.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And so the whole idea about another surprise that was just like a fun place to connect and do emotional work if you feel called.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, very very cool.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: What I want to ask this question and kind of figure out how to like ask it correctly but as we see like this emergence of you know like alternative wellness offerings I'm just going to call that right so a lot of stuff like you're doing or though you know the contrast therapies the pod studios like.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Are these consumers the people who are coming in are these people who be like a traditional fitness gym owner or gym consumer and the point this question is like are people going to pay.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Are fitness people going to pay for both right are they going to pay for both models or is it tapping into a whole new market that's not really the same like should we be comparing the two markets in a way.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Is that me? Oh, you should and I mean like look there are people who are fitness users that are like hey I want recovery and pause remedy for us are great for that and they might be professional athletes a lot of runners triathlon people that are coming for recovery and that are hardcore about their fitness and they want to perform and their professional athletes and we have a ton of those customers but that's not what other ship is about it will make you unique and that's not our messaging.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's not a hey I'm going to go and do the ice bath instead of go to berries at all like they they work in tandem and so the more people that are doing fitness the more people need to recover.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: The more they will use hot cold what's exciting about other ship is we've happened to something completely different it's really tapping into culture and so the person that goes to berries or works out guess what they're drinking way less and so they're not they are looking to recover but they're looking to have fun and so if I'm.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: a healthy person that's like counting my macros and using a blood glucose monitor and going to the gym.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Like the days of me wanted to go to a nightclub and have 15 beers that is over you know people want to be healthy they it's very clear due to like aura and loop these apps what alcohol does to like you can see your sleep score and in one drink.

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: It's people listening all the education is free and available now from Peter Tia and in a few minutes so I think there's a desire to have experiences that aren't alcohol related.

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So we have time to be becoming in for like bachelor parties bachelor parties birthdays you know so I think there is.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_01]: The people that come frequently to recover small market people that want to come instead of going out for a fancy expensive unhealthy dinner.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_01]: out of people that want to come instead of going to a bar or nightclub and that's really exciting not person doesn't come every day but they do come monthly to celebrate so I think there's a massive new market that's hospitality.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And wellness adjacent where people are coming for entertainment and fun and then I think there's a new market for professionals that are stressed and so we have a ton of people who come to the don't work out because they're too busy.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And like hey I've worked you know I'm an investment banker and I've worked 14 hours unlike fuck no chance.

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go to the gym it's my PM I'm tired the friction to come and use the sauna and ice bath in a social environment it's much lower so I don't think as people looking for connection make up.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01]: The broad part of the market and it's why in our discussions will never mention recovery.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_01]: The health benefits but it's just not or provided everybody like a cool space thing.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think fundamentally robbing like when I look at these type of experiences even my limited experience at bath houses like commons and things like that that I did.

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think about the gym and I think about training.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I think about it's a thing I got to check off my list for the day right and I've been doing it for a long time I've been exercising stage of five right so it's just like.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing sometimes I don't always look forward to it after drag myself into the gym but I got to get it done because that's the discipline right discipline of the fitness industry.

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: When I think about experiences like this one of them I look forward to it and like it's not there you're right there's no friction right it's just like oh she's going to relax and chill I don't have to worry about anything and like that's equally is healthy.

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: But we just can't put a metric on it which is which is the hard part right so I mean would you agree that that's kind of what you're seeing and you're experienced so far.

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I just think that people if we're talking about like living a healthy life okay like did I do my daily journal did I go for my weekly flow did I like you know spend time shopping to have a healthy food there's so many individual things and working out like did I recover and stretch did I meditate today there's.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You could spend four hours a day just doing these healthy things and so that individual time is there's so much competition for it now at the same time everyone at night is looking for stuff to do and all that stuff like.

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Sports game comedy show bar restaurant movie you know like we're not on all day long working on ourselves we need time to relax and all of that I just mentioned is pretty much.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_01]: University unhealthy like for the most part hanging out in social groups is built around alcohol and like unhealthy food almost always.

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And so it cannot be if you have like the discipline but most likely like you're going to a game you might get a roast beef sandwich in there in a beer and so if you can take that time where people like everyone is hanging out and doing social things for the most part 90.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_01]: By person population so if you can take that time and make that time more healthy I think that's very interesting because competing.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_01]: For individual like wellness time is just it's just very difficult.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Well it's gotten so complicated right like to maintain your health and fitness and you look at and I love everything that you know people like superman and a tea have done.

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm bringing the education but if you follow the protocols it can be done right over well name like there's so many things you have to do right there's so much discipline involved and.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: You know it's like every day of the week you have a different workout a different variety of workout and then you have to your cold therapy in your sauna and you have to do nutrition and then you have to.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Check your VO2 max every month and like get a cold without your life and I think this is something where you're right and.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I see it generationally and this is going to get your take on to like you know I look at my parents generation my model B86 everything included a cocktail right like when I was growing up it's like all I saw was my parents like every night was a cocktail right going you know after their tennis there was.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_00]: A cocktail right there's like everything had cocktails all the pictures we had of that age was like everybody had a cocktail and then it's like generation goes by.

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So great.

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, yeah, but I guess she was like had her feet up she's pregnant with the cigarette and I was like oh okay.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I know I have animals but the you know as you see these kind of generations move along.

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the younger, you know, especially 35 and under 10 to be more more likely to do what you're talking about here there's less take to alcohol it's a really interesting thing like it just seems to be being shoved away.

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Definitely not this that's crazy somebody told me that I'm of the strip of they were just saying like in the York the dry January is up is over 50% of people that are like doing that.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't believe that's that and that's not yeah there's young people but just in general.

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_01]: People are drinking less than you're seeing the rise of like you know athletic Ruco massive like huge huge brands providing non alcohol based drinks and alcohol does have value that solves a problem.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And that problem is social anxiety and that's why it's so popular because it does a couple things so like you go out to a bar and if you ever are sober which you know eight years from me thought alcohol's it's uncomfortable.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, what am I going to say.

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Who's people like me there's just like that's how I feel and I know many others and so alcohol was a crash to just feel a little better also you know I'm thinking about all my problems of the day might to do less than it would just be wondering that stuff would slow down so it did solve a real problem.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're going to do something you need like that's why the Han cold so powerful because it helps you lose in your inhibitions forget about your stresses a bit and so entertainment can do that as well.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Like if you go to sports game you could be like so absorbed in the game and you can cheering and be with your partner is like cheering for the same thing.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_01]: So I just think that bars are so popular but people won't go out without the alcohol piece so it's like what else can you use for stimulation and to kind of shift that but yeah agreed.

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_01]: That's how it all is declining big time yeah.

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Give me some ideas if you can like who is the core member do you call a member what do you call people go in journeys.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay what is the jays.

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_01]: What is the core kind of demographic of the jays yeah so you know 60 65% women and we use the classes really they're quite emotional based and it's because we want a certain culture in the space and we want that culture to bleed beyond the class.

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you come to a loving kindness class it's very clear what the culture is of the business and of the community and a lot of the space.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_01]: We want people to become friends like we have classes that are specifically where you know there'll be a question prompt and you'll be put the four five strangers and I'll be questions asked of you.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Once you're kind of feeling relaxed from the hot and cold and the goal is to try to create friendships and so the type of people that come really make a big difference.

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_01]: In your personal experience so if somebody is kind of interesting quizzes and ask you a question and you get to talk a bit about yourself a few times you're going to have a much better experience is going to feel more authentic.

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So we really gear the space towards safety so that includes like these emotional classes that sort of set the tone.

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_01]: The towels are designed in a specific way the lighting palettes design a specific way the site line across the space area design is to make the space feel very safe for that demographic.

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_01]: You can imagine a bath house you know not saying it's a bad way but with 90% of like fitness obsessed men can be a creative very aggressive.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Culture so we're just very careful about designing the space in a way that it is accessible for most one thing where we're working on is like the brand is is very cool when you see it everybody looks really good on this space.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01]: It feels accessible but also almost too cool in some ways so we want the experience to feel like oh this makes me feel like I've never been to Burning Man I can go.

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But not that oh I don't fit in there and so you know we're experimenting with things like a bring up parent for free day.

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I did 11 kind of class with my mom recently we're both crying I was agizing with her and I wanted to do psychedelic medicines for a long time and she just it's not accessible for her it feels illegal and risky and that experience was almost psychedelic.

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think this idea of having multi generation and bringing parents is something we're now really leading into but firstly like primarily you know female but but still pretty good split.

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like Pilates and yoga where it might be 85 95% women so it's kind of 60 65% women who are seen like all age ranges so both in Toronto and Flatiron.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Toronto our first location skews a bit younger so average ages 32 and I would say it's kind of 22 to 40 but that neighborhood skews younger.

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_01]: We've recently opened in New Yorkville and we're seeing a lot of an older generation.

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_01]: We're also seeing a lot of divorce A's come out and older people that are single to try to meet people on the weekends which is just awesome to see.

[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And people are starting my grandparents come so it's very the goal is that it's accessible for all and you know it's all invitation base so it's not hey five minute coal plunge or like you need to be five times a week.

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just an invitation come don't go in the plunge we don't care you know we'll guide you but use the faces you want this is just a space to be yourself with others so I would say huge focus on females a bit younger but also trying to expand demographic of older.

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah yeah super interesting and what is the actual this is ball robber here you guys looking to do like much corporate locations and then franchise you can keep them all under one roof what are you thinking.

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean as of now there's been no discussions about franchiseing I think it would be quite challenging so each city has its own.

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Health code and this is why you don't see too many of these open like we've been around for three years since we opened the first bath house it been around for about seven and six five.

[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It is so difficult to build these and get through code so you know minimum price three four five six million dollars depending on what you want included.

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_01]: So the investment versus a yoga studio or fitness studios quite challenging and then the complexity of the engineering the ventilation the plumbing the electrical.

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_01]: They're like what we have by code in New York we have six pools and each one there's no such thing as a nice bath it's not allowed in New York they need to be pools if you're having multiple bodies going in.

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So we have six pumps like the mechanical we have in the basement could power water park it is in thing.

[00:32:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think it's just I'm not sure how to actually do that with a franchise so I've seen a lot of franchises pause what house a bunch of these are doing great and their smaller footprint and more like clinical but I don't know how we franchise that side of our business and the second pieces they're guy training.

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So these 28 classes we've scripted them all from scratch there's no way to hire a yoga person and make the classes because they don't exist.

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have 150 hour training program that we created and I think between the training of the guys in hospitality it's the complexity of the construction and the capital expenditure it would be a tough business to franchise so our goals right now are to just be corporally owned control the experience.

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And and deliver the best talk call experience in the world and expand across the Northeast.

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah awesome what is like which is New York what would a typical J pay per month.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah so journey years the J's that's what we probably have we have once you've been 22 times during official ship head and so we have a we have a like a you know group for people there's like milestones it's awesome we love our ship heads as well.

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And so a person would pay it's expensive for drop in the way we look at it is it should be cheaper than a bath house so in New York 64 dollars for a drop in if you buy a single pass and that is to don't deter but.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a space for tourists sure if you're visiting the city come but this is the space for members and it's for people who come frequently so the price will range from 30 dollars to 64 dollars depending on how often you come 30 on the low end which is you know kind of 30% of the cost of the traditional bath house so it's like very.

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_01]: reasonable and then 64 for a drop in so someone who pays that 64 they're still getting a deal on a bath house traditional bath house but it's kind of like a night out so it's you know.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_01]: In New York two hours it's significantly more expensive than not but.

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It is that it's a social night equivalent to like a play or something like that so yeah ranges from like 30 to 64 dollars.

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And is it a membership.

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah we have the classes so the more passes you buy the cheaper the price we have memberships you know the more you come.

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_01]: We're experimenting with memberships do 22 and 33.

[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah awesome yeah what's a vision here I'm going to put like.

[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_00]: 20 24 20 30 to convene number.

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I can 2030 where where do you see the business where do you see the operations.

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I think what's really interesting about other ship is that like our stated mission is space for transformation and so it's really to create a space where you can find behavioral change in it.

[00:35:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's all our experiences whether be the app or or the space are based on these experiences that help you become more yourself and it help you do it in a group.

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I really am inspired by what religions have done in the past and those have been falling off.

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And so for me coming into this space I was struggling I really had a drug problem wasn't happy wasn't successful.

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It's self-confidence issues.

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a whole thing and I kind of hacked my own program together and it was because of these like object failures that I searched for health.

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of people I know that are working hard for corporate jobs are like struggling like it's tough.

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_01]: If you live in New York you have a phone.

[00:35:55] [SPEAKER_01]: You're like struggling to make ends meet that's like the majority of people who live here it's expensive kids like it's just life is it's hard if you have a phone.

[00:36:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I would love to create this platform that allows people to more easily interact with emotional resources.

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey friends Eric Malson here.

[00:36:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I've had the honor of interviewing over 750 professionals across the fitness health and wellness industries.

[00:36:19] [SPEAKER_00]: There's one thing I know for sure without a doubt there is a tremendous opportunity leverage a highly valuable and relatively untapped network of independent podcasts or as in content creators.

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[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly why I've launched a podcast collective.

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[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_00]: We work with a very limited number of clients to ensure the highest level of service so please don't hesitate to reach out learn more.

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Go to podcastcollective.io to learn more and contact me directly.

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_00]: That's podcastcollective.io.

[00:37:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So to go onto a therapist, a lot of friction, it's expensive.

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Go to like a meditation retreat that's insane.

[00:37:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You know people like it's tough.

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_01]: So I would love to have a more broad based appeal to the entire population.

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And that includes just like many other ships and all major cities.

[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It would be really awesome to have a retreat built so if you've come 22 times, you can like go to that retreat.

[00:38:05] [SPEAKER_01]: It would be awesome to have kind of like a you know Coachella meets Tony Robbins type thing where you go for a few days for like the people that really like it.

[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_01]: The app I would love to have people coming groups like my goals that you come into a new city.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have friends that are healthy the same way we were in Toronto.

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And you're able to quickly assimilate into a community and use that community.

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So you know, 2030 I'd love to have 30 40 50 studios around with American and giant community built on top that helps people go from maybe like,

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I'm just not happy with my life right now and to be having more of the services accessible.

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I like it.

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And it sounds like more urban settings is what your house have a certain population size or yeah, what are the markets that you guys are identifying.

[00:38:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean like for us, I have this experience where I went on retreat and I saw so many people in our community.

[00:38:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Especially around COVID like all we're going to move to Costa Rica and do a retreat center.

[00:38:51] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's great, but like we can just service so many people.

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you want to talk about impact like where people struggle the most is not in these like beautiful idea like environments it's in cities cities are just hard to live in as a human they're amazing, but they're difficult.

[00:39:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm like very passionate about bringing this into the most dense hardcore urban environments for corporate people that are working all the time on their phones don't have exposure to nature.

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't have exposure to sunlight are like just living in the grind that to me that's my my people that's like you know I resonate with that and so you know New York Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago.

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Major cities and of course the West Coast San Francisco places like that but I think major cities is where we want to be and where I think people will have the most within you if most.

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, really interesting man.

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And you think it would ever work in a smaller market like my markets really small, you know we're like 100,000 people here in the valley but you know maybe cities of your areas up to a million.

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Like just a little bit smaller than major cities you think that would work.

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean I think he would just have to adjust the sizing and so but yes I mean I've seen about houses in like super tiny cities so you just have to adjust the sizing and adapt your build costs and ensure that you can build for like ex amount but like you know in the cheapest format.

[00:40:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Outdoor sauna and again like depends on smaller cities I would assume they're like less likely to enforce these hardcore health codes about a mobile.

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_01]: sauna and coal plunge in your small city and people gather at night and you know you can up 10 people like even just to build a small city back yard putting a sauna and coal plunge and buddy friends over fuck yeah.

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think the demand will be there everywhere it's just like will the economics work with the throughput and the cost.

[00:40:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, Robbie, what you're sure where you can like where is the business at now like are you guys raising money I know your three locations right to the Toronto area one and flat iron in New York.

[00:40:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm really excited to see it in the next month when I come out there but yeah give us some idea of like where where where are you after from a business perspective.

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_01]: You have a race 10 million dollars today so we're is we sell fund of the first unit we race to $2 million dollars seed round for this I can unit and then we rate the $8 million series a for New York units one and two.

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_01]: New York one launched two weeks ago. It's already our most successful unit in terms of check-ins which is insane we're doing numbers here that took us a year to build to and Toronto.

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So super excited about the reception from New Yorkers it's like traditionally like quite a challenging market especially to navigate opening costs that really works.

[00:41:28] [SPEAKER_01]: But once you can open if your product is unique the demand is like pretty unparalleled so we're starting to see that it's been such a challenge or took me 25 months.

[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Lost out on multiple sites.

[00:41:38] [SPEAKER_01]: States was delayed ton the problems with construction with code permitting, hiring and so now like to get open here major major achievement for the brand and now we're starting to see fruits of that so it's really exciting.

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_01]: We're now starting construction on a way in the first place should be open next year and so the.

[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I think in terms of fundraising we're profitable right now and so after Williamsburg will kind of decide what to do and there's a number of options like one would be an institutional fundraise and expanding pretty aggressively across New York and some of these markets I mentioned.

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Another would be like going a bit slower for a while and self funding out of cash flow and so there's a lot of options and not a hundred percent sure which way will go but right now it's just like heads down.

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_01]: In show the experience in New York is incredible and show that we can get our build cost down in Williamsburg we made a ton of mistakes and plan on it's so hard to build it in New York like I built a number of restaurants and we built three of these before and we were like you know two and half times or our budget and so.

[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Just be I think for anyone out there looking to do this be very very aware what's required because you know some of the most of the month for me recently just dealing with like the over just so.

[00:42:50] [SPEAKER_01]: We are now full steam ahead on Williamsburg and then we'll kind of assess next year with the next step.

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know New York you make it there you can make it anywhere right because they say and so I thought it was really interesting we're talking about pre-recording like.

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_00]: You're all in like your whole teams and Williamsburg you have a house rented you're all living together like tell us about that I think that's pretty cool I don't hear about that too often.

[00:43:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean our entire team is like has the logo tattooed on our bodies and so it's like where we're we're we know as all in as you can be we put in a ton of our own personal money we've guaranteed all these leases we've guaranteed debt on each of the buildings.

[00:43:27] [SPEAKER_01]: This is myself and my wife our co-founders it's another couple who are my best friends it's five of us and I'm a friend from college and so.

[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I had lived in hacker houses a lot in my ethereum days and had just seen like those.

[00:43:40] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of Silicon Valley lore about like the company starting in the garage and you know there's a few people and like our company didn't start in the garage it was a garage.

[00:43:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really big believer in like the culture and the authenticity of the mission spreads out to the the journeys and so.

[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_01]: We decided in New York or do we this is such a big thing I don't think there's ever been a Toronto based.

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Or Canadian based company that built something from scratch that went into the US in the wellness space that was completely new and like opened and flat are you know from the small.

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Town of wealth outside of Toronto and like flat are and it's like the biggest stage in the world for health and wellness and so.

[00:44:17] [SPEAKER_01]: It's scary you know it's expensive for we're over budget and we're like are we going to be able to do this like it's New York and so to build culture we decided to rent the house.

[00:44:27] [SPEAKER_01]: All together.

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's five co-founders of my son who's two years old there's like a little dog whose my sister my mom is here so grandma is in the house and then we're flying our best guides.

[00:44:37] [SPEAKER_01]: We're here for five months and so every two weeks we have our best guides from Toronto our best run to restaurant Toronto coming down.

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Living in the house it refuses the culture so people from Toronto are so excited to become to New York and perform and share what they've learned and so when they go back it's great for the Toronto team.

[00:44:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And then for the New York team in the box there always people who are obsessed with the mission in the space kind of leading by example to infuse cultural values.

[00:45:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we all live in this house together so you know we come home it's midnight after like a long shift we order pizza that we talk about work we're just talking about it.

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_01]: All the time full immersion into just this business and it's like like you want to succeed at this level like that is what it takes complete sacrifice on all the time and like we care we just want it to be the best in the world and it's worth it.

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah it's intense and hard but it's been like you know I'm saying I'm 40 years old and it's like I had an opportunity to go back and live in community like in university so it's been an awesome.

[00:45:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah man that's great I mean I've worked really hard hours over the years and when it's fun you barely feel it right but as soon as it doesn't become fun become like one of the biggest weights ever so.

[00:45:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Awesome I'm what that's really cool yeah definitely had a few you know in the last four months of it not being fine you know we were running out of money we weren't open we couldn't get our permits and my guy was going down to city hall like I didn't down four times like please like.

[00:46:00] [SPEAKER_01]: What do we need to do and it was really intense being over budget now luckily you know we're open and profitable but it was it was not fun it was waking up every day and like holy fraction like this is.

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_01]: This has to work so yeah both have been burned and we're going we've there's not a business or other option yeah yeah I love all the boat analogy last question for you rabbit.

[00:46:21] [SPEAKER_00]: As an industry I mean you know kind of give insights people listen to this podcast a lot of people in the industry like how can we help you what do you need help with right now what would you like to hear from people about it reach out.

[00:46:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's just building the community in New York so number one is hey let's you know get the word up and bring in friends and by people we have the first time or free deal you know so it's just it's just kind of like every person that comes in and experiences for the first time a son of performance.

[00:46:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just screaming in the dark you know it's a amazing so we're just trying to build the same level of community in New York as we are in the US as we did and Canada so it's just driving demand driving brand awareness and then you know specifically looking to talk with.

[00:47:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a big real estate firms that are interested in having us as an amenity across the country so real estate investors real estate firms.

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_01]: We've got a few offers recently to become like a flagship or anchor tenant in residential real estate buildings and so.

[00:47:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I am residential real estate buildings where the developers all in the building and then other should be.

[00:47:22] [SPEAKER_01]: A large amenity and so you know we're definitely looking for real estate partners to help us scale a business.

[00:47:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah okay right on and the people want to get a whole new robby I mean your website see as other ship dot us is that the same but.

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah yeah and you can book there but at Robby Bands on Instagram at Robby that one on Twitter, Robby Ben on LinkedIn you can add me and ask me like hey I heard about you know other ship and I want to give some friends.

[00:47:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I've read past like just reach out and let me know and I'll get you set up for the new year.

[00:47:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah yeah right on man well fuck it to me, you in person in September right beyond active.

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah let's do it.

[00:47:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah yeah yeah I'm super down I'm really excited for it this is something that really interests me at this phase of life for sure so.

[00:48:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Great work man it was it was a pleasure talking to you and really appreciate you spend some time and yeah we'll we'll be talking to you.

[00:48:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for your gentleman thank you Robby Ben to us.

[00:48:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey wait don't leave yet this is your host Eric Malzone and I hope you enjoyed this episode of future if minutes if you did.

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[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Eric Malzone and this is the future of fitness have a great day.