From: FitX
Date: September 6, 2020
Subject: FitX Newsletter #10: Sunday September 6th, 2020
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ƒôà FitX Programming Updates
Welcome back to all our returning members and a special welcome to all our new members from the class of 2022. We are excited to have you onboard FitX’s second year on campus. For our new members, this is our bi-weekly newsletter that will highlight all the noteworthy happenings taking place in the wellness space, promote internship and job opportunities and place the spotlight on Rossers working in the fitness industry. We are still building our FitX community so please spread the word to anyone else you know who is passionate about health, wellness, and technology.
For those of you who are new to the club, here’s a bit more about our leadership team:
Sonja Manning, President
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Role Before Ross: Senior Consultant @ Deloitte
Post Ross Plans: Consulting by day and wellness tech start-up moonlighting by night
Favorite Workout: Peloton!
Alex Bozzo, VP of Community & Branding
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Role Before Ross: Biz Dev @ Uber
Post Ross Plans: Cloud Sales @ Microsoft in NYC
Favorite Workout: Barry’s Bootcamp
Elise Gordon, VP of Experiential Learning & Innovation
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Role Before Ross: Product Manager at an Ed Tech startup
Post Ross Plans: Product Manager at a Fitness Tech company
Favorite Workout: Title Boxing in Ann Arbor!
Rohan Kalra, VP of Experiential Learning & Innovation
Hometown: Calcutta, India
Role Before Ross: Loan Portfolio Manager (NY)
Post Ross Plans: Investment Banking (SF)
Favorite Workout: Flywheel
Meredith Chapekis, VP of Alumni and Corporate Engagement
Hometown: Dublin, OH
Role Before Ross: Healthcare Consultant (Chicago)
Post Ross Plans: Marketing / Brand Management
Favorite Workout: Barry’s Bootcamp
Caitlin Sugar, VP of Education & Industry
Hometown: Savannah, GA
Role Before Ross: Technology Consulting @ Deloitte
Summer Internship: Product Manager @ Amazon
Post Ross Plans: Product Manager or Strategy in the Tech Industry
Favorite Workout: Corepower Yoga
If you are interested in joining our FitX leadership team - check out the open positions and the application here. Feel free to reach out to any of us to discuss further!
ƒôà Upcoming Events:
FitX + EVC: Innovation within Wellness on Wednesday 9/9 from 6PM - 7PM EST
Join us as we partner with the EVC club to discuss innovation and disruption within the health and wellness industry. We’ll introduce both clubs in more detail, then break into small groups to conduct an ideation session. Register for the event here.
Q&A & Dance Workout 305 Fitness CEO and Founder Sadie Kurzban on Wednesday September 16th from 6-7PM EST
This is not your regular Q&A. You'll get to learn how Sadie transformed 305 from an idea to an enterprise, and you'll also get to experience the product via a private 20-minute dance cardio party (no coordination required, seriously it's the most fun you'll have working out!). We will discuss what building a wellness business is like, strategies for democratizing wellness, and how to face the challenges of COVID-19 with resilience. The event is $8 and the money is going towards paying their furloughed instructors for class opportunities. Register for the event here and tell us what you want to ask Sadie here. A bit more background on 305 is attached.
ƒæÅFitX Feature: Patrick Gillespie ‘21 - MyFitLink aka “The Happiest Hour”
In this section we feature a Ross student or alum and their work experience within the industry.
What is the mission and history of the company?
MyFitLink's mission is to reimagine the networking experience 1,000 calories at a time. It started out with our founder, Jeff Branham, getting tired of the same old unhealthy team outings of steak or Italian dinners while he was at Deloitte. So he started organizing outings where workouts at top studios replaced the bars/restaurants, and catered acai bowls replaced the high-carb dinners. These events were so successful that he started organizing them for other Deloitte teams, and then for other companies, and the concept of the Happiest Hour was born. Now, the same mission exists but the events are enhanced by partnerships with several studios and wellness products across the country.
What was your role this summer?
My role this summer was in product innovation and business development. Given COVID-19's impact on gyms and studios, I was tasked with figuring out how to replicate the experience of the Happiest Hour in a virtual environment. We identified an opportunity to broaden our scope from fitness to living a High-Performance Lifestyle, with the different factors that influence this lifestyle (fitness, nutrition, sleep, biomarkers, etc.) as the topics of our virtual events. We're also pivoting from paid private events to open networking community-based events.
We're currently in the process of designing the actual activations (keynote speaker, founder stories, panels, etc.), and we're seeking feedback on what would be most valuable. We'd love to hear your thoughts through this survey.
What are you excited about most in the health and wellness industry?
I think the demand for "quantified self" products is going to continue to grow. There's a lot of buzz around biomarker testing, genetics, sleep & health wearables, continuous glucose monitors, etc. So a lot of really cool startups are popping up to meet peoples' interest in these spaces.
ÔÅ® Industry Highlights
Move Over Apple + Google….Amazon Enters The Wearables Market: Apple is the dominant player in the wearables market with the Apple Watch controlling 31% in 2019. Things got interesting last year when Google acquired FitBit for a tidy sum of $2.1 billion and startup Whoop has gotten a lot of press this year when the PGA and NBA announced many of their athletes would be wearing Whoop bands to monitor Covid-19 symptoms. Well, the market just got a bit more crowded as Amazon announced Halo, their smart health wearable and subscription service. Along with a corresponding app and subscription service, the Halo wristband is Amazon’s most ambitious consumer health initiative to date. It’s clear the tech titans will continue to battle for market share in this growing market. What concerns us? The Amazon body scans that are “automatically deleted from any servers where they’re stored after they’re processed.” Yikes.
Pleased to “Meat” You: Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have jumped into the spotlight in the world of imitation meat. Beyond Meat went public in 2019 at $25 but is currently trading at $126 with an $8B market cap. Rival Impossible Foods remains private, recently raising $700M at a $4B valuation. One of the drivers of this growth was of course the COVID-19 outbreak, which initially challenged the supply chain at various meatpacking plants. Both companies are making moves to make the imitation meat more mainstream. Beyond Meat can now be found at Costco, while Impossible made an early splash with the Impossible Whopper at Burger King. Analysts predict that the alternative meat market could be worth $140B by 2030. But these two companies will soon face more competition as there are over 20 different alternative meat companies including Memphis Meat which is focused on lab-grown meat and Good-Catch, which is corning the Seafood market.
Curious about how to be a better ally within the wellness industry?: Read this short but powerful blog article on reclaiming wellness. One thing we can all do is pay attention to and give credit to the ancestral heritage of wellness practices that are mainstream today. Another organization making moves to change the industry that we recommend everyone follow is Dive In Well. Read the founding story here!
ƒôê Financial Highlights
ƒÆ╗ Job Postings
Full-Time:
Internship:
Generally internships in this space start becoming posted in the winter-time frame so you may see a few less here throughout the next few months!
ƒÿ£ FitX Fun Facts
Music meets mental health: John Legend aka Chrissy Tiegen’s husband has joined Headspace as their Chief Music Officer. Headspace has seen strong growth this year given the emphasis on mental health during the pandemic. Legend will help continue that growth by curating new and original music available only on Headspace to help members find their zen.
Podcast Alert (for those post zoom walks!)
Check out Guy Raz’s conversation with John Foley, Peloton CEO, to hear how they have adapted during the Covid Pandemic.
Feedback, thoughts, or partnership ideas for us? Send a note to Sonja.
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