HALO Talks

"The industry has changed so much . . . ideally a PE firm should be complementary and supportive from a strategy standpoint," states Richard Steere, Founder of New Heights Capital. He spent 10 years as an M&A advisor before moving into private equity, was one of the earliest investors in the sector, and a first mover in the HVLP 2.0 model. He's done minority, preferred, structured equity deals and others. . .and was also an initial investor in The Edge Fitness Clubs, Fresh Meal plan, Orange Theory Fitness at the franchisee level, and more. He and Pete discuss what happens when you bring in institutional capital, having conversations with landlords, his disciplined approach to investing and evaluating companies, thoughts around HALO sector deals in the COVID climate, his outlook on the sector for the next few months (bullish!) and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

Currently the CEO of Texas Family Fitness with 13 locations, Josh Wheeler is a 33 year HALO sector veteran who started as a front desk employee with Gold's. Josh is a lifelong learner and clearly appreciative of his Mentors, whom he cites often in this educational, wide-ranging chat with Pete. "I look at people, systems and accountability. Who are my people? What systems are in place, and what level of accountability?" says Wheeler. He discusses having a "big appetite" for growth against, ". . .being real careful to not grow just the sake of growing." He defines HVLPHS, a phrase they coined (High Volume, Low Price, High Service), what a persona mix is, their plans for the future, and more! This is a must-listen for any executive at any level in the HALO space. Click here to download transcript. 

As a newcomer to the HALO sector, Erick Donaldson built out 99 Bxng, to one of the top boxing clubs in the Tusla, OK area. Donaldson has always been in fitness. He received a baseball scholarship to Oral Roberts. While rehabbing a torn Achilles he encountered a boxing club in the area and loved it so much he ended up buying and rebranding it! He discusses the challenges of learning the business from the ground up (he had no experience with fitness clubs before), his thoughts on personal trainers, ("Trainers are your new marketers . . . and when they have the backing of the location, it only elevates them!") his plans for expansion, how boxing has made a "very strong" comeback, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

In his second appearance on HALO Talks, 38 year industry veteran Frank Ancharski discusses his current role as COO of leading RaaS ("rewards as a service") gift card provider, Promotion Vault. "People really still don't get that 'free' and 'discounted' dues don't work. It erodes your revenue stream and EBITDA. We're on a Mission to let people know there are far better options than discounting memberships and dues . . . this isn't a gimmicky thing or tchotchke, we're a real life behavioral change company," he states. Promotion Vault offers a completely digital, zero-waste gift card solution with top brands like Amazon, Lululemon, Starbucks, Nike, Under Armor and many others.  Frank and Pete discuss what "breakage" is and why it's a good thing, why "point" systems can harm your balance sheet,  how the CEO of a well known brand switched from "zero down" to a $25-50 gift card on a join which resulted in significant increased cash flow and revenues, why continuing to sell on price hurts the entire industry, how u

A former competitive triathlete, Damien Dau, Founder of ActivePlace, was frustrated with the fragmented nature of his online community. "People just don't do one thing anymore, there's an integration of categories," he states. Focusing initially on the endurance market (running, cycling, triathlete, swimming) ActivePlace, "Helps grow your active life by connecting you to health & fitness products, experts, community, information and inspiration." Damien discusses how they're markedly different from things like Facebook Groups, how they pivoted to make it through COVID, their subscription model launching shortly, lessons for startup Founders and more!  Click here to download transcript.

A former D1 cheerleader for Syracuse University, Danielle Donovan founded CHEERFIT after tearing her ACL twice. She decided to forgo surgery and worked to rehab her injuries herself. "Cheerleading has evolved from cheering for sports to becoming its own sport in general . . . It's going to be featured in the next Olympics!" she states. CHEERFIT offers a 2-day, 8 hour certification with standardized workouts appropriate for kids as young as 6-8, for both cheerleading gyms and for selling directly into the health clubs. She chats with Pete about how her program has scaled from just "fitness for cheerleaders" to include kids of all ages, and even their parents who may have been cheerleaders in the past. Her program could be a strong revenue driver for any club wishing to tap into this extremely fast-growing segment. Listen now to learn more. Download complete transcript here. 

Founder of Health Hero, Anthony Diaz naturally gravitates toward helping people due to his Dad's background as head dietician and nutritionist at a health care facility. Started 6 years ago, now with 4,200+ clients around the world, Health Hero is, among many other things, a gamification app placed in MS Teams, Slack, or Salesforce. "We take gamification and health engagement seriously, and if you provide those elements you can change behaviors, and we've seen that, we've done it, and we continue to do it," Diaz states. In essence, they're "building UnitedHealthcare in reverse." Learn more about their significant differentiators, how to think about enterprise level sales, tips to scale quickly, their future plans, and more!  Click to download transcript. 

While not actual Step Brothers, Bryan Baia and Calvin Martin might as well be! These two savvy, hard working (and hilarious!) friends have been working together since 2013 when they met at Equinox. Years later, they began their own brand, recently signed with OBE Fitness, and are now completely independent running 3 full classes per week.  They discuss how they did it, their new partnership with OBE, the importance of knowing your strengths and splitting up work, and more. "Who we are as people and as coaches, the way we connect and really build our brand, is when we get in front of people . . . when that happened, it took things to another level," states Martin.    Their advice to club owners on how to get the best from their training staff and what to do post-COVID is crucial. Keep an eye on these guys. Big things in their future! (And here's the Instagram post Pete keeps coming back to!)

Dr. Cooper is a legend in the HALO sector. Currently a spry 90 years old, Cooper founded his clinic 51 years ago in Dallas which has since grown to a 30 acre campus. It is one of the few places in the USA that combines a medical and fitness center. With books published in 42 languages, over 600 peer reviewed papers presented, Dr. Cooper was--putting it mildly--way ahead of his time. After presenting his keynote at IHRSA 2021, he sat down with Pete to discuss the results of one 25 year study in particular ("You're better off being fit and fat, than skinny and sedentary") and adamantly continues to drive the point home that, "No drug can replicate the results of an active lifestyle." He points out some of the problems with statin drugs, the 8 factors his Institute focuses on to get people "Cooperized," the critical importance of Vitamin D3, his personal regimen, thoughts on wearables and personal fitness data, ("Data drives decisions!") and more. His message (perhaps now more than ever due to COVID) is a must l

We're excited to release our Oct 14th conversation with Liz Clark, the newly appointed CEO of IHRSA. She joined Pete for a HALO Talks live during the IHRSA 2021 convention in Dallas. Liz grew up in Montana, played 3 varsity sports and is an avid outdoor fan, "but I'm a city kid now and live in DC!" she jokes.  When asked about the advocacy role IHRSA plays she states, "Yes, we have a trade show and publications, but we were never an advocacy focused organization. We did do a lot of advocacy at the state level, but nothing federally. We just weren't structured that way. That wasn't the Mission of the Board . . . but obviously over time it became much more critical."  She continues, "We know we lost a lot of members over the years because we weren't focused on advocacy . . . I was very intentionally chosen for this position to pivot the organization to focus on advocacy and communication. That is the first thing we're doing out of the gate."  She discusses the need for IHRSA to reevaluate "our value for member

Jonathan is the CEO of Ingenuity Brands, which has Brainiac as their flagship product. He states, "I got into this space unintentionally. I always wanted to do things to help people and the planet." His background was founding a company focused on renewable energy. Listen to learn more about how (and why) they ended up in the "brain health" space, and a some tips on balancing entrepreneurial energy with discipline, planning, excitement, and focus. ("It's about planting seeds, harvesting relationships, it's about working your butt off ultimately, and following the opportunity.") Jonathan's story and how he ended up doing what he does currently is a wild, fun ride and a must-listen for any entrepreneur!  Click here to download transcript. 

Darryl and David Bailey have been in the HALO sector for 40 years. The family business began in 1979 and they were way ahead of the curve with with regards to using software to manage their clubs. They even developed their own, a system called PSI Power Software. Currently at 17 locations, they started small and eventually grew them into 20-40,000 square feet facilities and now completely dominate the Jacksonville, Florida area. Among many other topics in this wide ranging discussion with Pete--they discuss about how their demographic has skewed toward women versus when they first started, how the first four days back after they were allowed to reopen were the largest in the club's history, building brand loyalty, what their future plans are, advice for newer club owners, and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

Lynn Cherry picked up a pickleball racquet about three years ago and, a month later, she got hooked and quickly started the Pickleball Fire podcast and website. Pickleball started back in the 60's, and is now one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. "Anyone can get on the court and play immediately! I've met so many people who've never played any other sport in their life, but they get on the court and can get started easily!" she states. We are still in the "top of the first" when it comes to pickleball and many people in the industry want to get it into the 2028 LA Olympics. Lynn chats about the sports explosion, RV parks/pickleball concepts, how the demographic is moving to the younger generations, why this is a must for anyone in the HALO sector to consider, and more!  Download complete transcript here. 

As a serial entrepreneur (who also was on the founding team of Audible in addition to other start ups,) CEO of Halotherapy Solutions Steve Spiro states, "I kind of just stumbled onto the Halotherapy industry. It's been great, and business is absolutely exploding now!" Halotherapy began about 150 years ago in Poland and Russia, made its way to the USA about 10-15 years ago, and has been slowly growing since. Pete and Steve chat about the powerful benefits of implementing this in your facility, pricing structures, how "localized wellness and 'staycations' are going to be huge," the response from the medical community, their partnership with Clearlight saunas, and more! Click to download transcript. 

Upper Hand makes running studios, facilities, and academies easier and offers best-in-class scheduling experiences for clients and better access to data for staff. Kevin MacCauley, CEO, initially began the company as a market place to help connect parents with youth coaches. Upper Hand has changed quite a bit over time and is now at the "nexus of sports and technology." "How do you start thinking about athlete progression? How is software helping that business owner? How does it help them deliver the value of what they're doing to help the athlete know they're getting better? Something like 20% of US income is spent on youth sports and fitness," states MacCauley. He chats with Pete about what made them pivot, offers some case studies with D-BAT (Baseball and Softball Academies,) Athletic Republic, Modern Goalkeeper, why it's critical to be a partner to your customers and not, "a vendor" and more.  Click here to download transcript. 

Co-Founder of The Axle Workout, Andrew Page has been a sports performance coach and fitness trainer since 19. He's worked with NBA players in the Euro league, the Hospital for Special Surgery,  and has a long history with injury recovery and injury prevention. "A 7 foot long, 45 pound bar isn't really that big for guys 6'6 and up, but when you put it in the hands of someone who has never lifted weights before, it becomes a different challenge," states Page about the origins of the company.  "We saw an opportunity to create something much more practical for someone who has never lifted," he continued. Staring with a Crunch rollout, they now sell on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Wayfair, and many others. He chats with Pete about the importance of staying lean, how it's possible to start a business without a lot of money, getting a "digital marketing education," and more!  Click here to download transcript. 

"Scenting is something luxury brands have always done, and paid attention to. Sense of smell has always been pivotal in the HALO market--two of the most famous brands that focus on it are Equinox and SoulCycle," states Daniel Zimmon, Founder of NatScent.  He and Pete discuss the strong use case for creating a unique scent, empirical data behind the effectiveness (and very high ROI!) of scenting, the results of a famous NIKE experiment, and some examples of how this is used by companies like Wynn hotels, Aveda, Apple, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and others. This is something that should be strongly considered by any HALO company. Click here for complete transcript. 

Pete McCall is a respected industry veteran with 15+ years in the HALO sector. He recently published his second book with Human Kinetics titled Ageless Intensity: High-Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process. "My definition of fitness is having the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it," he states.  He discusses his motives behind the book, provides thoughts on where fitness is going (virtual reality!), chats about the increased importance of technology at the club level--especially for those 25 and younger, building out co-working/remote working facilities in the clubs, reviews recent studies around aging and testosterone, and more. Grab the book, leave a review on Amazon, and "get after it!" Finally, if you're not familiar with that fantastic commercial discussed in the podcast, you can see it here. (But don't say we didn't warn you!)  Click here to download transcript.

As a "typical entrepreneur" who dives head first into everything, Dan did the same with CrossFit, ". . . after doing nothing for 10 years. I  went down the rabbit hole, realized the software in the space was sub-par. Now, here I am 10 years later!" he jokes. He discusses how PushPress differentiates itself in a very crowded field ("We built it on the concept of integrations & expandability like the concept of app store, so you can make it your own") and more. PushPress also tends to focus on the single owner-operated facilities as well--a space where others may have left. As a self-professed "tech nerd," he offers up thoughts on where the market is going (data driven decisions, AI, automations) as well as pricing discussions, sales (top-down or bottom-up shoppers), the importance of failure, and more! Click here to download transcript. 

In this info-packed episode, we're treated to an "insider's look" at the public and private markets from a highly experienced veteran. Sharon chats about what public markets look at and why some companies get valued the way they do. "Any analyst worth their salt is doing their own modeling and trying to figure out where the risks lie, and where the opportunities are," she states. She continues about the importance of playing the long game, (regardless of whether you're public or private,) calibrating market euphoria, ("First mover is advantage is important, but it's only important  so long as you can maintain your flywheel and maintain your innovation gap relative to your competition,") thoughts on inflation, labor, going back to the office, and more! Click here for complete transcript.