The Assembly Founder Jon Ward on GLP-1s, Deal Flow and Fitness's Future

When I think about health, I think of an industry. And that's kind of fucked. Right? Health is like, it's it should just be something. It's it's and maybe that's just one man's view. That's n equals one. I don't know. But like that's the way I think about it.

I think it's hard. I think about think of all a the consumer wants control back of their health. Yes. They don't necessarily totally like or trust healthcare. So they're saying, well, F it. I'm gonna listen to an influencer or I'm gonna listen to someone that's innovating new companies and new brands because like it's gonna take forever for them to actually access these bigger institutions. So they're willing to take the risk of like, yeah, there's no study on it. Think of that. They're doing it. But they can get stuck in e-com world and they only listen to what's going on e-comm. And if you're in fitness, you can generate a feeling that like fitness is the best way to actually stay and maintain your health.

All right, here we go. John Ward, welcome back to the future of fitness, man. It's great to see you.

Great to see you as well. Thanks for having me. Super appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah, of course. Um, well, you know, I like what you're building. I haven't been able to attend one of your events yet. I'm hoping that'll change this year, but we should definitely talk about it some more. Um, you know, everyone I know has had a really good time, a lot of people I know and respect, and I know you're bringing together a lot of great people and you know, our networks overlap extensively. And we're gonna talk about all that, the assembly, the community you're building. Um, you know, that's gonna come up organically, but you know, I think the the biggest thing that you and I agree upon and see this tremendous opportunity, right? Is like there is a convergence happening, and I talk about it often of fitness, health, wellness, performance, whatever you want. It's all kind of coming under one roof. And the fitness industry is so well positioned to leverage what we've already built and be kind of the distribution for such a thing. But yet I see very, very few people taking actionable steps. And as you know, I'm just joking, like the people who do will be richly rewarded, I think, right? Like in so many ways. It's like you know, this is a mission-driven, purpose-driven industry. Like we all want to, we all want to help people. So uh, but I think the communication, the relationships is how we get there, opening doors and having new conversations with people we haven't talked to before, stepping outside of our comfort zones, out of our silos, and getting to that point. And that's one of the missions that you're doing at at the assembly. So um couldn't think of a better man to have that conversation with. So when I say all that, how does that resonate to you? Is that is that are you like, Eric, shut up, that's just fluff, that's full of shit, or or you know, from your experience and the relationships you have, do you think it's happening?

I mean, honestly, it's the world that I live in, you know. Sometimes I think it would might be easier in just a life if I didn't have these kind of conversations or pursue these like really unknown, uncharted territories. But what I would say is that the people that I'm communicating with on a regular basis are looking for something different. That there's like too many things from e-com brands emerging and getting these like crazy investments put into them. I mean, just look at like groons, right? Like three years and you get $1.3 billion transaction. There's something going on there, and there's something going on with like the consumer, the consumers wanting to integrate their whole health life, and especially in fitness, you know, like fitness is like doing innovation and they're trying new things and they're bringing in different modalities. And just from my experience, like the leaders that I'm talking to, like it's already where their mind is going, it's already where they're at. And now it's how do they how do they execute it? Like, how do they bring something like that to life in a very built-out kind of model? And in my personal experience, those people who are very curious and open and semi-risk taking with the ability to believe something that's not current, those people already have plans in motion. You know, it's like already happening. And in fitness, I've I've found, you know, what a what oper like you have this ability to affect people's life. You know, they come to a gym, they come work out, they come to a studio, they have an instructor that they're like deeply tied and connected to. You have their ears and eyes. And I think in a kind of what we're talking about, this like more broad perspective of health, like that's what the consumer, in my opinion, is looking for. They're thinking about, they're searching for is like who's gonna tether together a whole health like system for themselves. And uh fitness is like incredibly primed. Like the most ideal industry to lever it, you know. And uh I'm excited for it. Like, I I think it's I think it's here for the taking, whoever decides.

Well, it's it and it it is like you're right. There's a lot of people acting on it, right? And there's a lot of people kind of sitting in the city on the sidelines doing what they've always done, which is you know, selling memberships, delivering access to fitness, retention, personal training models are the same. Personal training or you know, coach and trainer education has changed very little. Um you know, there's there's a lot of forward-thinking people out there doing it. You know, and I look at all these different models and whatever you want to call it, like you know, the consumer demand has changed, whether it's health, whether it's longevity, whether it's, you know, whatever you want to call, like this, this it's it we're not in the fat loss industry anymore. I mean, definitively that's now a medical thing, right? Like it's it is. So people want to lose weight, what are they doing? They're like, the first option isn't going to the gym anymore, it's getting on a GLP1. That's universal. Like that's at least here in in you know the United States or the West or North America. So it's like, okay, so as we kind of lost that leg, and we can still support these people, of course. Like they need strength training. They knew, but a lot of people don't. Like, here's the here's the fact. I know a lot of people on GLP ones. I would say half are going to the gym. The other half are like, why would I need to go to the gym? I don't know.

Oh, then they do GLP ones without working out?

Yeah.

Wow.

I mean, they're active, right? Maybe they're doing things or playing golf, but they're not doing the prerequisites of like the strength training and eating enough protein and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the point I'm making is like the consumer demand is there still. You know, people want better health, they want better lifestyles, and especially the younger generations are very keen. And you see a lot of models like um uh Gloria Winters from YMCA was just on for the second time. She talks about her vision for being at the forefront of preventative health, right? Super cool. Like, who's better physician than YMCA?

Yeah.

You see these really cool models that you know really well, like Dr. Ryan Green and Monarch Athletic Club. You know, but it's expensive. Yeah, it's expensive, right? It's $1,500 a month. And then you start to see these other ones where it kind of is mixed. Maybe like you know, Eric Casper is getting you looking to put his what is called a slim model injected inside the spaces of health clubs and gyms. So there's like job longevity and health services in there. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So there's a lot of innovation happening. And you know, one of the things I want to pull out of you is like, you know, I just mentioned a few, but like from your perspective, like, where is the innovation happening? Who are some of the people who are doing really interesting things?

I think what happens a lot of times, at least what I see is like there's this e-com push, this D2C market that gets like elevated. And then from there, the more like B2B sort of like gyms or boutique studios are like, well, it's got it resonates with the the direct-to-consumer model, like we should try to pull it in. The struggle that I see them a lot of times gyms are have is you can't get sometimes you can get lost in the sauce of like just trying to provide whatever is directly hot at the moment, but then you have to like build it into this like scaled thing. So you have to like really figure out like how do you build infrastructure around something that's going to be there longer than a year. And you know, to me, like these groups that are doing this blood work assessment, circumventing, like it's basically the telehealth is like sort of cutting out the experience at the gym. And the real challenge that I see is like there's only so much money that people have. So if they go to a gym and the gym's like 200 bucks a month, they don't have an opportunity to do something else. Some of them. So, like, are they gonna do that and then they're gonna do their blood work and then they're gonna do massage and then they're gonna do all these other things. So these these opportunities to pull in products and services that are gonna be there for a long time. I don't know exactly how you bet on it if you're you know on the leadership team at some of these organizations. But like, you know, a good friend of mine is Becca McCarthy, and she has a company called Evolve. It's the first like direct-to-consumer GLP one, and their revenue went from zero dollars to over a hundred million in under a year. You know, it's like there's a market, you know, everybody's trying to do the peptides. And the part the part that I do think enterprises struggle with is the direct-to-consumer, you can throw something out there, and it's okay if it's not like totally like FDA approved. Because sometimes, like I heard this woman, uh, she's the CEO of MIDI health, it's uh women's like telehealth, and her conversation was essentially people aren't waiting for research. Research is happening on the go. No, they're not. It's actually happening in real time, and so these companies are gathering all this data, and then they're pushing it to research, and they're saying, like, here's what we got. Because are you gonna wait four years? Are you gonna wait five years to just find out that it's good or not good? Like, you don't have that kind of time that people don't have that kind of money. So I think the ethical, upstanding brands, I think sometimes some brands are amazing storytellers and marketers, and you can get lost in the sauce of all of those things. Like, there's a lack of sort of like thought leadership around some of those. That what is the product that you're using? You know, are you to make it affordable, are you having to find like the lower end quality to match a price point that fits your customer base? Uh, how do you do it long term? I think this like unit economics is gonna make it way more accessible for some of these other brands. Like we had a topic at our it would we changed the topic, but we were like, you know, is health becoming about rich white, white men? You know, like the only people that can afford it.

When I when I think longevity, that's exactly what I think of.

And I, you know, I think it'll come down over time, but as of right now, that's who's being positioned. Right. And that's who's getting drawn into the industry, that's the kind of money that's coming in. But there's a lot of people doing interesting stuff out there, you know, like people like these hospitality brands are creating such special moments and like places that people it's going from like this big overdone thing to this more reduced down nature context. And uh you know, there's like these big fitness brands that are like trying to figure out how do you build a budget in to re-orchestrate and re-engineer the inside of a of a gym so it's not separate, you know, it's more connected. So, anyways, I th I think in general, from like the peptides, the GLP ones to new equipment coming out, there's so much in this consumer market that is so interesting. I don't know which ones land the ship, but from like brain regulation to sleep to you know workouts to you know circating your rhythm checks to I don't know if you saw NECO, but NECO Health is super interesting. It's like the founder of Spotify has this like sort of prenou style full body MRI evaluation piece. And that's I don't even know if all these gyms necessarily need to have the build out. Like I think that the the licensing portion of a lot of these things could ultimately create the lever that opens the door for new clients and new partnerships and new constructs that make it happen rather than doing the build themselves. So I mean there's a ton out there. It's like good luck. Last piece I'll say on that is I think a lot of times by the time a product gets to corporate, the only people that can really do a deal with someone like that that's in corporate is if someone that has the infrastructure to support it. And sometimes these D2C brands spend all their money on ad spend and they're they're just trying to focus on reducing CAC. And for them to go omni-channel, so like they're almost, if there was a way for brands to start creating an access point with less restriction to pull these brands in earlier, I think you would probably get a more like connected, tethered experience from a consumer directly into like the other companies. But that's just my own like thought around it.

You uh one of the things you said like was it was it's so like the consumer doesn't care about the research as much. Right? Like that is really Juliette Starret, who I know you know well, I one of our podcasts, we were kind of joking about like, you know, we thought, you know, as because you depending on where you go and the quality that you're looking for, you can get a GLP one just about anywhere from a hundred bucks a month to a thousand bucks a month, with you know, it just depends, right? We're like, you know, I we thought people would be skeptical of just ordering something and buying needles off Amazon and injecting it in their body. Turns out they're not. Like they are totally fine with it, right? Like actively pursuing it. And that's that to me is like something that's pretty amazing. Like, people want the result, the research is important, but they're totally willing to just step aside and just do something experimentally and you know, have ChatGPT be their doctor and guide them through it. Like that's happening a lot. Yeah. And that that's a really just an interesting point. And you know, I think to right now within this kind of messy phase that we're in, which is full of opportunities. We don't have any necessarily like the business models and the the you know, the the product uh category, like everything hasn't been pulled together, and there's gonna be multiple ones that can win in this category, but you know, it's just a lot going on. There's a lot of new products, like Vero Bioscience is a client of mine. They offer proteomics now, which is super interesting. Like you can tell how fast your eight your organs are aging over the next 17 years and gives you interventions on how to do it. Like, I want that. Sign me up for all of it, right? But you're right, like we only have so much money that we can spend. And I think the biggest thing is like at this point, if you're an operator or an executive or a leader within the industry, or even you know, just a single operator, like conversations are key. Like we need people talking across the span, right? Like we need medical professionals talking to the leader in industries and our and our leaders in our industry, the fitness industry, to you know, people who are in the wellness space creating products and red light and sauna and all those things just need to be talking. And I feel like that's kind of the blend that you're looking for in the assembly.

Correct.

So as you build this intentionally, right? Because I know people apply for your community, and we talk about what the community is, like there you say no to people. And that's a hard thing to do, especially for someone who likes to me, like who likes to please everyone. But like as you as you as you look at us, how are you curating a community like that? And what is the angle for the the assembly? Like, yeah, what what's your North Star as you as you pick and choose?

Uh I mean, as of right now, I'm really just looking for thought leadership. And it's thought leadership is in every industry. So like we have Andy Galpin that's on our board, we have Juliet and Kelly that are on the board, Stacey Sims is coming this year. Those are just like people that are in that space of like overall general health. They're like uh the new form of the doctor because they're on podcasts and stuff, you know. They all are doctors, actually. But I I view who is actually who is curious, who is open, who's gonna who's doing something or has done something, who has an ability to affect people at scale, who's a good person. Who's like, you know, what the everybody has this joke, it's like, yeah, like I can hit up someone, one of my friends who I see has a connection on LinkedIn, like 97% of the time they've never met them and don't know them and can't introduce me. So are you a are you of someone that is open to willing and share and provide value to other people by inherently getting value in return from you? And the people that I say no to, like, it's maybe it's not right timing for their company. Like maybe they can't scale into some of these organizations. Maybe it's not the right person that's like ultimately like you're coming to the assembly to do business. This is like you're you're coming here under the pretense that you're going to be yourself here. And you are an executive, but you're probably a mother, and you're probably a son, and you're probably like an adventurer or whatever, right? But the ultimate is like everybody's looking for deal flow. That's what you're here to do. Right. And what I'm saying is like we're creating something on specifically to help generate more natural deal flow. So the thought leaders who can help other thought leaders that like the Andy Galpin can help an organization align their health protocols. And then you maybe get less of the shitty peptides, or you get less of the shitty product that's coming through that a red light bed that is literally like a fluorescent light bulb that they colored red, you know, like no shade to anybody in the red light, so don't hate me for that. But that's the whole point. The whole point is like if you're trying to go omni-channel, you're trying to go into different verticals, you need people who know what they're talking about. You need people who know how to share and give you guidance or perspective or whatever. And so, like, it is a C-suite style like founder group, and that's not because I don't love everybody else. It's just if who in the organization could pull the trigger and who in the organization and sometimes the people that I talk to, they're great companies, but they don't they don't resemble like an assembly member. You know, they don't resemble someone who can like we can sit down here and just talk about whatever, but also like we can activate and really provide value to one another. So yeah, in a nutshell, thought leaders working with other thought leaders, the almost everybody in the group's like a theoretical keynote speaker. And how do you have better influence and make better decisions in your company is like by aggregating these people together. So that's like the core thesis or one of them for the assembly.

Well, it comes down to a fundamental issue, and I I don't refrain from using this word, but like networking, right? Like, you know, when I that word that word comes with weight.

It's kind of dirty almost. Yeah, it is.

Yes, exactly. Thank you. It comes with weight, right? It's like you hear you think about like some forced uh event where everyone has a name tag and like someone's gonna try to sell you something, right? Uh maybe a real estate agent or something like that's gonna come up and be like, whatever. We all know. We all, if you've been in one, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And I think when it comes to like, have you read the book The Go Giver?

Oh, love that book.

Yes.

A while ago. It's a great book, though.

Yeah, I had the author on like six years ago. It was like one of the best things I've read the book so many times. And I was just so excited to talk to him. I'm such a fanboy who's probably like this kid's weird. But the I think ultimately when I when I look at like how you build relationships and how you have truly like a valuable network, which I think you see the value. It's like you you have to be presenting value first. You know what I mean? You can't just go into a group be like, hey, what can you guys do for me? Here's what I want. It just doesn't that's whether people recognize it consciously or unconsciously, there's there's a there's a red flag when people do that. Like you have to spend time, you have to get to know people. People still like to do business with people that they know and like and trust. Like that's the fundamental principle. So I feel like events like this, most of the events that I go to, I you know, I I've I've been to a lot of them over the industry. And the best part about them all, right, everyone says this, is like the conversations you have in the hallway, right? Or maybe the dinner or lunch or the coffee that you have, right? Like you and I were at the Athletech Media event. We had a, we sat down for you know 45 minutes and it was a great conversation. Then we start brainstorming, hey, how can we work together? We we still haven't sorted that out, but there's ways, right? Yeah. And I think that's something a lot of people miss is like um it's a patient play, but you have to go with the right mindset, and that's a hard thing to cultivate in an event. And I feel like that's kind of the core challenge of what you do is building a community like that and getting people interact in that way.

Yeah. I mean, look, we have house rules, and it's kind of the guiding ship for like how we interengage with one another. It's like it sounds crazy, but like crazy for deal flow, but like part of the rules is no selling. Like, no selling, you're not allowed to wear a suit. Like this is like, you know, it's selfishly. I just wanted to wear what I wear all the time. But the core, the core premise is like there is this world of transactions that like lives like say in this like very fine line. And then above that is is value. And in the value is you can sit there and here you talk like we can do this, and we can do that, we can have this thing, and we can go here, we can do this thing, and we should talk about this. And above here is this action. And you just like do the thing, and the first other person sees how you engage and you work just by taking action. And then you don't have anything that you're looking for in return. Inherently, that person wants to start doing stuff with you. So, like, that's like currently my life. It's like I just go like, hey, you need this, you want this, you want this to happen. That is actually just what the assembly is. It is energy, it is vulnerability, it is connection, it is people working together. The only thing we're doing, we're doing right now is we're posting on LinkedIn. Not even great. We're just like posting a handful of times. But there's hundreds of conversations happening behind closed doors of people just looking for a trusted network to be able to say, Hey, uh I know you had this last time we talked, you had this thing you were looking for. I know a guy. Or you're looking for capital. I know a guy like literally fits this family office model that you're talking about, and he knows other people. Can I connect you? Yeah, like who is he? Sends the link, there you go, off and running. And so there's a different sort of game style being played in that world. That uh the main thing about it, it has to be safe and trusted. So the level of safety and being able to share your network. Like, you're not gonna share your network with some, you know, no, some Jabroni. You're like, hey, I met this guy at Safeway. Like, I'm gonna send him over to you, like he's a really good guy. You're gonna go, I know him, I've seen him work, or this person comes from like a someone I really trust, and he would never send them to me if it wasn't valuable, or he wasn't a good person, or she wasn't a good person. So that's the case, and that's what you're creating in let's say fitness, it's like but it's in like hospitality, and it's in e-com and it's in healthcare, and it's in DOD, and it's in retail. That's just like that is what this is, and it's one-to-one. So, like C-suite founders know other really insightful doing things sort of C-suite founders, whether they're enterprise, they're mid-size, or they're early stage startups. They all know people in that chain who are doing things and uh they just want to be connected. So that's kind of what we're doing, and we're helping kind of guide the ship on you should meet for X reason, or like, hey, here's a great opportunity, or they just meet and they're doing their own thing and uh they just start something. And we have the once-a-year event, but really the assembly will be just it'll be just come a membership group. Like it already is started, it's already launched. It'll just roll directly, like this will probably the last year, so get your tickets while you can. Yeah, it'll be the last year that we do just an event. It's a three-day, four night, a kind of immersive very few speakers. It's all like just hang out, like have guided conversations, do experiences together, get to know one another. And then we have a membership group that's like all virtual comms. It's I think about it like this is actually how like the business would normally work. It's like you get to know someone, you get to see how they interact, you get to see the value they're providing. We have touch points throughout the course of the year where you can meet in person, we'll do dinners or workouts or contrast bathing or whatever, and then we have the once once-a year sort of gathering, but it allows you the time and space that most of them don't have. Yes. That's like the biggest thing that I always say is like somebody's trying to build the bridge that goes from fitness to healthcare. And the the lack, the problem is the time, the initiatives, and the relationship. So we're essentially creating this membership group to allow those things to exactly what you said. Let it build over trust. And the more trust that gets built over time, the more transformational work you can do. If you get to a certain level of trust, you can only do that certain style of deal. But if you fully know someone and trust them and see the expertise or execution they do, then you can you can really do something. And without it, I don't think you can.

For the event too, like people bring their significant others. Is this like a thing, or is it like uh, you know, is it like a personal trip that's mixed in with quote unquote business, or is it mostly like uh, you know, people are there specifically for for for like the mission that they're on?

Yeah. It's a company. I mean, we have some people that are like well-known executives that are maybe they took time off or they're advising or whatever, they'll be there, but it's business. You know, we companies are usually the ones footing the bill for coming. But we do have some really well-known executives who have kind of just taken some time that are going to be there. Um, but they're really looking to get in the game and try to figure out like how do they impact something at a more broader scale.

Yeah. You know, one of the things I want to ask you, like, I feel like most high-level C-suite people are probably, I mean, this is just an assumption. I want you to tell me I'm wrong. Like, they're probably tired of people hitting them up for shit. Right. And yeah. So for them, they're probably very guarded about like, well, who do I network with? Yeah. Because I feel like everyone wants something from me. So how do you like for someone at that level, what do what do you feel like they really want, right? Like a CEO of a major company. Do they are the do they are they lonely at the top and they just want to connect with other CEOs, other executives, or do they, you know, or are they scared to reach out for things that they want because they're just fearful of people who are going to sell to them? You know, I I don't know. Like, what do you think? Where do you think the executive is heads at?

We had a board meeting and like the conversation was like, I was not expecting it, but they were like, my inbox is so full of shit.

Yeah.

That like I there's probably 90% fluff, and then there's like 10% of the stuff I have I actually want to do and take care of. So like it's a time suck. It's like a time thing, and then people are getting access to them, or like they're trying to help somebody else out, and then like their inbox gets more and more full, or just even their comms are getting more and more full, and it's really hard for them to find vetted groups of people. And if they do, it's like onesie twosie, it's not like a more network effect that it becomes inherently difficult. And like just think of all the people reaching out that are listening to this, and I'm talking directly to you. Think of the amount of people that reach out to you. That how when are you gonna spend the time to vet them? Like, when are you gonna spend the time to know who they are, what their background is, are they good, are they not good? They just get kind of lumped into this bucket. So how think how much you're missing in the bucket potential, and so that's like what we do is like we just I spend a lot of my time just like vetting the human beings that are coming in and why they're coming in and what their backgrounds are and what kind of value can they provide. But at that level, it's just like you know, we're this membership group, and I probably 50% of the time they're like, I'm just trying to protect my time. I don't know if I can do this. Like the membership part, and then they see who's in and they see what we're doing, they're like, okay, yeah, this is like more of what would be helpful for me in my career or my business if I could just have a place to talk, you know? Like there's not many people that can relate to what these people are going through.

Yeah.

And the pressures or the challenges, or even the vulnerability of like, I'm not totally sure what to do here. And you may have done this before. Can I like ask you or can I book time with you, or can we go to get coffee or whatever? And so it's like a safe place, safe space for these people in like a vetted group that they're all kind of craving. I don't know if they would all come out and say that they're wanting that, but when I talk to one-on-one, it's like, this feels good, you know. Thank you.

Well, it's uh I mean I talk to a lot of executives here, right, on this podcast, obviously. And uh, you know, the five minutes before and the five minutes after the recordings are where most of the great conversations really happen. Like the recordings are great, right? But like, you know, um especially seeing some that are maybe a little hesitant at the beginning of the interview, a little stiff. And then as they go out throughout them, you know, they just you slowly see them become themselves over a 45-minute interview, right? And it's so cool. And they're like, okay, there's there's the guy, there's there's a woman, that's the real person. And then at the end, it's like five minutes. I'm like, hey, that was great, thank you. You know, let me know if I can do anything for you, and now we're friends, right? So it's it's a really and I think that's something that people need to realize too. Like, you can't, I mean, just if you look at the number of pitches I get for this podcast, it's it's incredible.

Yeah, yeah.

It used to be like one every few weeks.

Yeah.

Right? Now it's like five a day. And um and I'm not even that big, dude. Like my podcast isn't even that big, right? So I can't imagine like in these bigger consumer pockets. But anyway, it's it's an interesting thing. And I we we danced around a little bit, but maybe tell me, tell us more about what this community is focused on. So you started off with a great event last year, right? Um you're following up with another one this year, um, but you've you found that kind of this year-round community thing is the need for it. So give me some some details on what you're doing.

Well, what one other thing I wanted to add into it is like this group is essentially all under NDA and there's no media. So it is the place that you come to, and we have Chatham House rules on everything we do, which is like you can't really say anything, you can't really you can say what the topic was, but you can't say who said it. And we would probably benefit way more by getting media involved, but like the whole point is like trust is the center, and everything else that comes off of the center is like kind of the thing. Uh but look, the assembly to me is you know, we we basically say like we're the strategic operating layer for modern health leaders that we bring the right people into the room and create the environment that generates the true relationship that ultimately leads to these unrealized opportunities. So, like in fitness, there's a TAM. There's this TAM. And what I'm saying is, well, there's there's this TAM. There's a TAM that you could function in that expands the portfolio or expands the industry or expands into different verticals or expands directly into consumers, that you can only super generate that kind of deal flow, one in the environment. So I think the environment is like super important. It's like we're just trying to make people be friends. So, like, that was one of the coolest takeaways we had last year was people were like, I just look for assembly people everywhere I go now, because it's the most friends that I had generated coming out of anything. That's and you guys weren't trying to force anything, you just like let it happen. And I think that is mission critical, is if some if you could call someone and just say, How's your life going? That's the start. And then these people really thinking through the idea of like, hey, like, should we be talking about a licensing deal or should we be like really thinking about how to expand into a market that we don't know and like trial something and really have time to do it, you know? Like, I just think of like the level of enterprise brands that we already have in there. If I was a startup and I'm trying to go omni-channel, I would like really consider it. Because for me, going omni-channel took me years just to find the right person in an organization. I'm saying, like, we vetted this already. We vetted it like really explicitly for people like that to come in. And, you know, I genuinely think that all the people at this level are looking for people like themselves. They're looking for no offense to all the expos, but like I go to the expo and I'm just like, I catch myself to it. I'm just pitching the shit out of people, and they're pitching the shit out to back to me. But we're staying in this like very transactional conversation. And like most of these leaders, they're like, I'm just so tired of going to events. So I have to overcome the the event theme in their brain. You know, it's like we don't do events or we don't like going to those. I'm like, good, because it's not, or like the anti-event event. We're like throwing a party that's like wellness related, and then you get to meet all your new new friends. So future state is we're going to help assist, and essentially I play middle of the pack on BD to super amplify deal flow. It's like deal flow in a new context, where most times people in the org are trying to generate it, and most of these people at the C's are not generating the deals themselves. It's bottoms up. We're really thinking through if we could make a C-suite founders business life improve, it would go top down. What does that look like? And that's what we've we've built the paywall, super focused on connectivity through humans and then connectivity through making their life more effective on a business front. And all the things we mentioned, like not having to work through a bajillion emails and people pulling at them and people figuring out where they go, like essentially it's a network on network on network, and inside the network, you can likely find the exact thing that you're looking for and not have to like vet everything yourself.

Yeah.

I think that is a very secret magical unlock that if it's a trusted net, that's why it has to be Uber trusted, that you can essentially move quicker and faster and find the thing you're looking for with like less ease or more ease, sorry.

It's uh, you know, with what you're describing and what you're building is like 70% art, 30%. It's very all this stuff, like it's all it's all feel, right? It's like uh you got to get to know someone. Do they have the right mindset? How do we build this community brick? And that's that's you know, that is not done overnight. Like that's a brick-by-brick thing. And not only that, but you have to make sure that the value is maintained in the community so people stick around.

Yep.

Right. And that um, you know, uh that's that's the trick, right? Because I I've I've tried building communities in the past. I had one called the Fitness Accelerator early, like 2018. It was a Slack community for fitness industry people, and it actually did okay, but I just found it really tiring because I have so these other things to do. Like you have to be full-time, right? And I've seen a lot of people try to build communities and just like, well, we're gonna launch an app and it's a community app and it's gonna be great. Right. Or we're gonna, you know, same thing. We're gonna use Slack, whatever it is. But it's like, unless you have someone day in, day in out thinking about how can I offer every single person in this community more value? Like, where are the connections? Where are the dots that need to be connected? What are the visions that people aren't seeing and you know, uh the the introduction, all that stuff. Like it's it's it's a thing, man. And it's it's a very difficult thing. And I want to go so say that one line for me again. So it's the strategic operating layer for modern Say it again.

It's the strategic operating layer for modern health leaders. I like that. Where we we we help generate and curate the room that allows for trusted real relationships to build, yeah, and then ultimately generate this unrealized opportunity. These people don't know each other. These people from different industries don't know each other. And if they do know each other, it's happenstance. It's like their neighbor knew a guy that knew the CMO for Yeti. And it's like, oh, I know this guy. And the unrealized portion is like, what could happen if you know this high level of executive at the NFL knew someone in the fitness industry, and they're like, we want to do a, you know, play, I think it's called play 40, which is like the flag football league for kids. It's like, we want a sponsor here, and then we can do this thing over here. We have people in this group that are not in specifically in the industry. Like mostly it's industry and health people, but it's like some of these people in the group are just like super high-level business people that are like, I want to come in and make an impact and like have it be meaningful. And they've scaled a lot of companies, and they're just here because they're like, this is the this is like essentially the room I want to be in to like learn from all these people and provide like value at a like a just different level. Like, I would say the part that always trips me up is I I think health is very much in like the world, but it's not culture, it's not cultural. And why is that? I don't know why that is, you know. I don't know why people don't think of lifetime and it's like everywhere, like they think of it because they've seen it before. But like Whoop and Aura, and you know, like I wouldn't even say that grooms is super, but like there's other brands that are starting to come out and like people know them in culture. So eventually it needs to transition from like we're building something to like that we can push culture, and then culture essentially affects the ability for people to like think of health on a more regular basis. But that's like kind of the framework that I'm like working within, is like eventually the way that this works is like it has to be fully integrated into not fitness, not hospitality, not like DOD. It's just called health. It's just called health. And think of the experience if like a fitness company was directly integrated with like Johns Hopkins, and the data information sharing was like going across, and the consumer experience doesn't get lost in fitness. Yeah. And you can't do it, like that's why the assembly assembly exists. Like, I wasn't necessarily like an events person, but we go to an event to move an initiative forward. That's why we do the in-person. But if we're doing the in-person under the framework that like doesn't totally make it go, we can maybe find a way to improve it. But like without the relationship and without the trust, you can't do the healthcare to fitness thing. It's just like you could talk about doing it, but like we're trying to provide the infrastructure to make it happen.

Yeah, and that's that's the trick, right? It really is. It's like, you know, one of the biggest things there's there's been no way of communicating. A lot of that becomes we don't speak the same language. Fitness doesn't speak the same language. Totally. It just doesn't. And uh and we need to change that. But now, you know, I feel like a lot of that language is data. Like data can flow back and forth, right? From you know, users, there's a lot of passive health data being acquired now for really cool innovators in that space, but also the other wearables, and then there's you know what health has on their side. It's funny what you say about health, because I think about when I think about health, I think of an industry, and that's kind of fucked, right? Like it's health is like it's it should just be something, it's it's and maybe that's just one man's view. That's n equals one. I don't know. But like that's the way I think about it.

I don't think so. I think you're I think you're I think it's hard. Yeah. I I think because I think about think of all the the consumer wants control back of their health. Yes. They don't necessarily totally like or trust healthcare. So they're saying, well, F it. I'm gonna listen to an influencer or I'm gonna listen to someone that's innovating new companies and new brands because like it's gonna take forever for them to actually access these bigger institutions. So they're willing to take the risk of like, yeah, there's no study on it. Think of that. They're trying, they're doing it, but they can get stuck in the e-comm world and they only listen to what's going on e-comm. And if you're in fitness, like the gener you can generate a feeling that like fitness is the best way to actually stay and maintain your health. And that's why like CrossFit was big. And then you know, people in like the DOD world, they have a much you should meet these people, they're so fascinating. Like they're super health and research based, but the stuff that they do, like have you ever met the guys over at Beaver Fit before? Ever? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Great guys. I mean, the world that they live in, heavy bananas, yeah, bananas. Yeah, it's like so. That's where to me it's like that that's why the thought leadership, like the Andy Galpans and the Kelly and Juliet, and like the Stacey Sims, like they have to be available in some context, in the right context. Like everybody's trying to get a hold of them, so like there's like we have to like preface the group, like just don't ping them just to ask, like, hey, my blood, my blood, my blood sugar's high, what do I do? But the really needs to be like if I'm a fitness person and I'm trying to go into this world, maybe the bridge is someone like a Stacey Sims.

Yeah.

Maybe it is the Andy Galpin going, like, hey, like, I would think of this, and then they're doing business together. And the last part about the assembly is like, this is about it's about not selling, but this is about doing business together. So whoever comes in has to be the person that's like essentially can generate the thing in the organization that is meaningful, otherwise, like the deal flow can't work or it doesn't work, and so that's why like I've probably rejected. Sorry to anybody that I reject, I didn't get back to you or anything. And sometimes I'm just late right now, so like just mind that too. But probably rejected over a hundred people, which is like money that I could like greatly use, but it's like the curation of the group is the most important part right now, and having the right people that can do the business, work with the people is it. My future vision is like, I don't want to get too far out with it, but this is the world that I live in. Is I just see this as a potentially a new way of doing business. It's like a more curated, more protected, like we have things behind the paywall that's like will just assist in like, are you trying to create a marketing partnership? Are you trying to create a uh brand partnership? Are you trying to see the new startups that are coming through? Or like, are you looking for investment and just like a more simplified version of their everyday life, but just like concise? So we'll see the next I'd probably say in the next six months it'll really start amplifying and gaining a ton of momentum. And we're just trying to make them into like our fans, like the people that are in our group, like when I was at Plunge, we just use so many influencers to get our message out, and then over time you start use losing the brand connection, and then if you don't like take care of the customer fully, the customer is always the best salesperson in any organization. So, like ours is like take good care of them, make sure that they feel like this is going to be something that's like worthwhile to them, and then that is our like sales team. So we don't really very rarely reach out to people, but I think over course in time, like kind of like a little mini family unit, a bunch of like misfits and not misfits, they're super super great people, but just people who are looking to do something different. And uh I'm the person pitching the weird vision and the thought about it, you know, and they're like, Well, this guy seems kind of crazy, we'll do it. And uh it's working so far, so it's good.

Good.

Yeah, you know, I think about that. Like, there's two brands that I pitch all the time, and they don't, you know, I wish they sponsored me or gave me some kind of money back because I probably sell so much of the ship, but eight, sleep, and garmin. Love the brands, love the product, right? And they keep innovating and they keep just consistently delivering. And I think that's you know, to your point of like where you're out with punch. But anyway, as we kind of wrap this up, what's uh how do people get into the assembly? What's what's the process?

Yeah, so on our on our site, it's called uh it's just the assembly.health. We have uh applications on the top right corner of the website. You can apply for uh a membership, you can apply for the event. Uh that's October 13th through the 16th in Beaver Creek, uh, Colorado. And then uh if you're a startup and you're kind of new and you just want to maybe get connected to some of these folks or you're looking to maybe raise some money, we have a startup application that's on the site as well. Um and then we have we're on LinkedIn, uh, we're on Instagram. LinkedIn's kind of our core strategy because that's where most people live. But you can follow us on any one of those.

Um John, thanks so much for doing this. It's it's a real pleasure. You know, I like I told you I would I would love to make it out this year. I don't know, it's my wife's birthday. And uh whatever, you know. Okay, well, cool. I'll give you her number and you can explain that really well.

I'll I've been pitching visions all day. So I'll just tell her this beautiful vision of what's coming. And hey, maybe she can come. Yeah. Uh anyway.

Um I really like what you're doing. I like you. I like the people that you have in it. Um, you know, I love a lot of them, and uh they're all though really great people. So keep up the great work. Uh people follow you on LinkedIn, I presume, is the best place to go. Or what would you like to go?

Yeah, I think LinkedIn for me is probably the best channel. Uh I think it's I don't know the exact maybe it's John Ward007. Goldeneye. Yeah. Yeah. So uh yeah, give me a follow and then I'll just be putting updates and things that we're doing on that. Right on. All right, man.

Well, thank you for joining me.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. John Ward. Appreciate it.