Feb 6, 2023
Len Fridman was laid off from his corporate job in 2009 after nearly a decade, and upon doing a bit of soul searching, he decided to pursue his passion for fitness instead of continuing on in "corporate life." He started a small boot camp business in a local park which quickly went on to become the most successful outdoor program in Canada in multiple cities. Eventually, a need/business frustration presented itself on the software side, which then led him to his Co-Founder Sasha Davids, who promptly jumped onboard.
They started out small but have now scaled to where WellnessLiving is now quietly
powering 5,000 studios, and were recognized by Deloitte in the Fast 500 and Fast 50
in Canada. Len was able to bring on Don Williams, their
Chief Revenue Officer after recently securing a $66M investment from McCarthy
Capital. With a team of 354 strong and growing, WellnessLiving
is able to create amazing tools with the sole goal of helping
fitness studios continue to expand. He loves giving back to the
community as well. WellnessLiving is behind the extremely
successful Stand with Studios grant program.
On their recent growth,
Len states, "We selected McCarthy Capital really for one main
reason: Our vision and goals were completely aligned. Their whole
thing . . . they love to see companies grow, but more importantly,
they want to make sure that the staff of those companies, that they
evolve, that they grow as individuals . . . if they have families,
they want to send their kids to college, and so on. It's just a
complete alignment of values and vision. We're here to grow
now."
Be sure and visit
WellnessLiving at booth #3351 at the IHRSA 2023 trade show in San
Diego!
In this episode, Len and Pete discuss:
1. How a layoff in 2009 led to the creation of the most successful outdoor boot camp program in Canada and Len's initial journey into entrepreneurship.
2. The journey of building a platform to facilitate bookings and scaling a business to 5,000 participating locations.
3. The success story of a growing software
company to 354 people strong and contributing to the boutique
fitness community.
Click here to download transcript.
Other episodes you'll enjoy around software & tech:
Dr. Joseph Maroon: https://www.halotalks.com/episode-377-dr-joseph-maroon/
Derek Flanzraich: https://www.halotalks.com/episode-375-derek-flanzraich-ness-ceo/
Amira Pollack:
https://www.halotalks.com/episode-361-amira-pollack-struct-club-ceo/
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