Sam interviews Anne Mahlum, who founded Back on My Feet (a running program for homeless men) at 26 before building solidcore, the Pilates studio chain she bootstrapped from $175K in savings and eventually sold for over $300M nine years later. Anne walks through both companies in detail — the nonprofit’s origin, her fundraising tactics, how she discovered Pilates in LA and reverse-engineered the unit economics, navigating a lawsuit with a licensor, surviving COVID by restructuring leases, and what made solidcore’s brand stick. The conversation closes with Anne pitching a business idea called “Jump Seat” — a secondary market for trading airline seats.
Speakers: Sam Parr (host), Anne Mahlum (guest, founder of Back on My Feet and solidcore)
Intro [00:00:00]
Sam: All right, everyone. Today’s episode is Anne Mahlum. Anne started this company called solidcore. solidcore is a Pilates studio where she bootstrapped it — in the first year she did something like a million and a half in revenue, it cost like $100,000 to start. She eventually sold the company near year nine for something like $350 million. She goes through this entire story.
But if you’re listening, I think the really amazing part is to copy some of her attributes, because I get done listening to her and I’m like, I need to step it up — in terms of confidence, in terms of being passionate about something. And in fact, around minute 30, I honestly teared up hearing some of her stories. So check it out.
Back on My Feet — Origin [00:00:55]
Sam: Let’s do a little background. I think you had a normal job but then started a nonprofit called Back on My Feet. Is that right?
Anne: Yeah.
Sam: And what was the original idea?
Anne: I don’t know if you know much about how the homeless system works, but many of the shelters in the major cities — you can go live there for 30 days and then you get kicked out. They give you 30 days to get your act together, which is not very much time for someone who isn’t going through homelessness to be honest, to sort of start over, go back in the city, get back in the system.
Ninety-five percent of the folks we worked with were dealing with addiction on some level. So, you know, Sam — I know a little bit of your background — I think I mentioned on our last conversation that my dad’s an addict. When you ask my dad Mark what was your addiction, he’ll kind of look at you and say “everything,” because my dad doesn’t understand moderation. He had, unfortunately, instances with drugs and alcohol. He went into an inpatient program before I was five, so I don’t really remember that, but it seemed to do the trick — he hasn’t had a drink or used drugs in 37, 38 years.
Unfortunately, gambling then surfaced for my dad when I was a teenager and he struggled with that. And now my dad fishes — he fishes every day for hours a day. But you have to find someplace to put this thing. I felt like if you can master the drugs and the alcohol and try to get away from the bad behaviors, an addictive personality can actually be beneficial. Because when you get into something, you are in it — you obsess over it.
So running was this great alternative, because there is no end. You can always do more, it’s always there for you, you only need a pair of shoes. It was a really great substitute for a lot of these guys who were still chasing the high.
I don’t know if you know this, but there’s a correlation between people who work out who actually tend to drink more, because you’re chasing the dopamine — you’re looking for those opportunities to get the elevated serotonin spikes. So that’s why working out can be a great option for people who are struggling with addiction.
Sam: Yeah, basically addictions don’t go away — they just get transferred. You know what I mean?
Anne: And so our thought was: we can really help to change the emotional identity, get them to like themselves, believe in themselves, put them in a positive support network, and turn them into somebody who is a runner, an athlete, responsible, reliable. And then we can go advocate for them at jobs that need employees who have those types of characteristics. Marriott became the largest employer of Back on My Feet — not because we were a charity, Sam, but because we actually had good candidates for them who were so appreciative to have a job in a respectable place where they got benefits, paid pretty well, and had opportunity for growth.
The First Morning — Showing Up at the Shelter [00:05:30]
Sam: By the way, what do you do your first day? So you just quit your other job. It’s a Monday. You just walk to the corner and go “Hey, everyone — meet me here tomorrow at 5:30, I don’t know if you have running shoes or not but…” What do you do those first five days?
Anne: So I was a little more organized than that. I knew I needed the shelter to work with me and give me permission. So I emailed the director of the shelter — I found him online. He didn’t email me back right away. It took a little while for him to respond, but I kept badgering him. He was trying to think of the nicest way to tell me that this isn’t going to work, these guys have bigger problems, they’re not interested in running.
I was very persuasive. I’m like, “If you could please just meet me — I have literally run by this shelter for two years. I’m not a very religious person, even though the shelter was religious, but I am being called to do this. Please meet with me and let me explain to you why I feel so compelled.”
So he did. And Sam, the crazy thing was —
Sam: That’s such a great line, by the way. “I am being called to do this.” That’s good.
Anne: Yeah, but it’s true. I mean —
Sam: Yeah, totally. But it’s also a great argument.
Anne: And so he met with me. This shelter — I didn’t know anything about it, it was called the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission. When people enter this shelter, the guys have rules: they are not supposed to have any contact with women, zero. They are there to stay clean — no drugs, no alcohol, curfew, no women.
And this guy, Mr. McMillan — I owe a lot to him, because he trusted me and believed in me. He said, “Okay, I’m going to break our rules. I’m going to allow this woman to come in here and build relationships with these guys.” But he said, “I’m not going to tell them there’s some young woman who wants to come run with them. I’m going to let the members of the shelter ask if they are interested in joining a running club. That’s it. And if they say yes, I’ll let you do it.”
I’m waiting and waiting. A couple of weeks go by. I finally get a response: “All right, Ann. Here are the names — nine guys want to run.”
I’m like, “Awesome. I need their shoe sizes.” So I go to a local running store and get the shoes donated — I can be very convincing, it’s one of my superpowers. I got them to give me all new shoes, because I didn’t want to show up there in my new shoes and give these guys crappy old ones. I just felt that would say “I’m better than you,” and I didn’t want them to feel that way. So I got shoes, shirts, socks, shorts.
I went up there, got to meet them in the chapel for the first time. I introduced myself. And then I made them sign a contract. It just said: if you’re going to join the running club, you’ve got to show up three days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday — you have to be on time, you need to come with a positive attitude, and you need to be willing to respect and support your teammates.
Everybody sat up straighter in their chair. They were waiting — at least that’s what it felt like to me — they were waiting for someone to tell them they were capable of excellence. I didn’t say, “You know, just show up if you can, it must be tough living in here, do your best, please try not to be too late.” It was: “These are the expectations. If you can’t agree to them, don’t join the club. And if you join and you can’t agree to them, you’re going to get kicked off the team. We have to adhere to principles.”
Everybody showed up day one. We all ran a mile. Some of the guys cruised through it quickly, and then there was George, who was struggling. But we made a rule that day that nobody finished the run on their own — so everybody went back to get George and we all brought him across the finish line together.
And the media was there for day one. I wanted to get the word out — I wanted everybody to come see this for themselves. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News, the local ABC, NBC — all of a sudden this thing was everywhere.
Getting Press and Leaving Comcast [00:13:00]
Sam: Did people cover you because you’re charismatic? Like, you look like a celebrity. Or was it because the idea was so novel? How does someone who’s not as cool as you get that type of press?
Anne: I’ll give you the straight answer, because this is probably a no-BS podcast. The video and the media was like: here’s this white blonde girl from North Dakota putting herself in the middle of homeless shelters, running with all of these men. The story, everything about it was like “wait — what?” They just had to know the background. And then you add in the fact that my dad is an addict, and I’m so drawn to these guys because I could never help my dad — but running helped me. So now I feel like I can help people who remind me of my dad.
I think it all just worked. And once they got to — I mean, the homelessness itself — people are like “the people who are homeless are actually running?” That alone made brains go “wait, what?” And then you add in the young white girl from North Dakota… so the media truly ate it up.
And it was coming from such a pure place for me — I’m trying to heal myself from ten years of nothing good coming from my dad’s addictions tearing apart my family. And now I get to use all that pain as fuel to help people. Some of the guys in our program — I really think about those first nine guys, because the majority of them were charismatic and lovely. You just can’t help but root for them. Once the media started to talk to Mike and George and James and learn their stories — the fact that they’re out there working hard — it’s the ultimate underdog story.
Volunteers started showing up, the group started to grow. And I’m like, “This is an opportunity.” Tony Robbins talks a lot about windows that open — I’m like, “This is my window.”
I had just taken a job at Comcast. I was supposed to go work there in their Government Affairs department. Six-figure job. Everything that my college degree and graduate degree were setting me up for — this Comcast opportunity was it. I went to a baseball game with some senators and people in the political world. Comcast was hosting it. And I went that night and I was like, “I am so bored out of my mind. There’s no way I can take this job. All I want to be doing is hanging out with the Back on My Feet members. All I’m thinking about is this organization — how I grow it, the vision.”
So I called them the day I was supposed to start. I thanked them for the six weeks they’d given me off from my other nonprofit job, and I said, “I can’t take this job. I have found what I’m supposed to do with my life, and I’m really sorry — I know it’s the day before — but I’ve got to follow my gut on this.”
Sam: How old were you?
Anne: I was 26.
Sam: Twenty-six. Yeah. Everyone in your life is like “are you nuts?”
Anne: Nobody got it. You know, my mom thinks I’m irresponsible. My dad’s concerned for my safety. All my mentor and boss people are like, “Ann, you don’t even have any savings.”
I had nothing.
Year One Fundraising — $1M as a 26-Year-Old [00:18:00]
Sam: What was the first year’s revenue — or however you’d measure it?
Anne: I raised a million bucks in the first year.
Sam: No way! Really? So you’re a machine.
Anne: Oh yeah. And I would ask anybody and everybody for money. And I knew who to ask, Sam. I figured out that I had to find the executives who were runners, in companies that could give.
So I would only meet — Larry Solomon was my first. I had a huge article in Runner’s World. Larry lived in Philly. He was the COO of one of Accenture’s vertical businesses. He emailed me after the article, rooting for me. Well, I took one look at Larry’s title and I was like, “Yeah, can we please have coffee?” Larry is still a very good friend today. We met and I was just like, “I need your help. I want you to sit on the board.”
Larry had just become a runner. And Accenture — Marriott was a client, Bimbo Bakeries, AT&T — they had so many tentacles. I’m like, “I just need you to introduce me. I will go in and close the deal, but I need you to introduce me to the big players so they can write the check. I don’t want to waste weeks or months climbing from the marketing coordinator to the marketing director, just getting passed up the chain — I’ll never raise money fast enough.”
Every meeting I went to, I made a specific ask — whether it was “I need $2,450, and here’s why” — and I always asked them to introduce me to two or three more people.
And I also learned that letting me come and speak at a corporate event was really powerful. I’m like, “Oh, this is powerful” — now I get the whole company excited about Back on My Feet. It was so innovative.
Sam: What’s your pitch? Let’s say I’m an executive. I probably give away a few hundred grand a year. I care about single moms, I care about animals — homeless guys, I mean, I guess that’s important, but why should I care specifically about you?
Anne: Well, first, Sam, I would ask: are you a runner? And hopefully you’d say yes. And I’d say, “So you understand, right? If you’re an executive at this company, you understand how important culture is — and how important culture is for performance, making sure your people feel appreciated and valued.”
A lot of our members grew up in households and environments and neighborhoods where they didn’t have that before. And I can tell you, being out there firsthand with all these guys, they are some of the hardest working individuals I have ever met. But no one’s given them a chance. If you don’t have respect for people who are out there at 5:30 in the morning trying to put their life on the right track — doing the work on their own, nobody is running their miles for them — it’s a pretty compelling sight.
And I can guarantee you: if you give us a check, not only will the money go to helping these individuals with their lives, but we’ll get your employees involved. Talk about a cause where employees can actually get involved on the ground floor, running with us. We do skills training — teach these guys about financial literacy, training for their next opportunity. But I can tell you, from all the companies we work with, we have higher employee engagement with Back on My Feet than people have had with any other nonprofit they’ve worked with.
Sam: You make me emotional. Because like — making rich people richer is kind of insignificant compared to giving someone a shot. It’s like I remember being in the hospital recently because I had a kidney stone, and this Nigerian nurse was taking care of me. In my head I’m like, you’ve probably seen five of me today, you don’t make that much money — but you are making my life so much better right now. You’re calming me down. Versus the doctor who makes way more money, he’s just in and out.
That’s kind of how I feel when I talk about this nonprofit stuff. Did you get equal fulfillment pursuing solidcore for wealth creation versus what you were doing with Back on My Feet?
Fulfillment — Nonprofit vs. For-Profit [00:25:00]
Anne: I had a lot of fun building solidcore, and I feel really good about how I’ve made my wealth over the last ten years. I get to make people’s lives happier, healthier, help people be more confident. And my team — there are thousands of people who work at solidcore who love their job. We pay people really well. I think we pay higher than any other fitness organization. Our coaches on a per-class basis — there are coaches who make over $300 a class, because we’ve always done a revenue share model. I have just never believed, Sam, that it has to be a zero-sum game.
Should I have made the most money? Sure, because I took all the risk and put all the money in. I have no problem saying that. But do I think my employees should have made zero? No. That’s why I put a long-term incentive plan in place, a profit-sharing plan. When I sold the business, every full-time employee who had been with solidcore for a year got paid on that last transaction — and they’re going to get paid on the next transaction as well.
So I would say, honestly, similar fulfillment. But Back on My Feet made my life make sense.
When I started to feel like it was time for my next thing, I thought through a few things. One: who am I? My life is extraordinary, I get to help people all the time. Two: fear — what if I fail at my next thing? Will all of this be for nothing? Will people think I’m a one-hit wonder? That was definitely something I had to work through.
But I couldn’t sit there and tell Back on My Feet members to push and challenge themselves, to move things forward one step at a time, if I wasn’t willing to do the same. I had a board of 134 C-level people. There was an amazing budget, the program, the systems, the processes, the team — everything had been set up. I really felt like I had done my job as founder and first CEO. So that helped me move on to the next thing.
Discovering Pilates — The solidcore Idea [00:30:00]
Sam: And then you go on and do solidcore. If you don’t know — for the listener — it’s a Pilates studio that’s just badass. You scale it out, and you eventually sell it for like $300 million. You had this story — and correct me if I’m wrong — you were in LA, you went to a Pilates studio, you do the math, and you’re like: they have eight reformers, a reformer costs this much money, I think I could do $100K a month if I build this in DC or New York. Is that the story?
Anne: Yeah, pretty close. I discovered it in LA, and then I was back in New York and found another Pilates studio with the same machines. I started going for about 30 days and I was like, “I have never seen my body look like this. It’s only been 30 days and I feel so good — I’m addicted.” I was just bringing everybody I knew. And then I did the math and I was like, “This is an incredible business, and no one’s really doing it on a big scale yet.”
Sam: What was the math?
Anne: There were 10 machines in this particular studio, and the per-class price was like $30. You couldn’t buy a membership — you had to pay every time you went. And there were 10 people per class — it was full every time. Impossible to get into.
So that’s $300 a session. Ten sessions a day — $3,000 a day. Times 30, that’s $90,000 a month. And they’re full all the time.
Sam: Yeah, $3,000 a day times 30 — that’s $90K. That would be cool.
Anne: And I also felt — one of the things I tell people when I speak is: play a game you can win. I knew after Back on My Feet I had to find another game I could win. I was the perfect person to start Back on My Feet because of my story, my experience in nonprofits, my authentic desire to help those guys, and my knack for understanding system scalability and process.
With solidcore, I knew I needed something authentically representative of who I was. I am the workout queen — out of all my friends I’ve done so many marathons, fitness and wellness has always been a key priority. So when I discovered this, I’m like: nobody knows you can work out like this. We’re all out there jumping, pounding, getting injured. This is so different, nobody knows about it. And I know how to build community, I know how to scale, I understand branding, I understand how to give a really good experience. This is a game I think I can win. This is what I’m doing next.
Sam: How old were you?
Anne: 31, 32.
Sam: And you had saved like $175K from five years of running the nonprofit, and you put all of it in?
Anne: Yeah. And that didn’t feel so scary because I was 100% owner. The scary part wasn’t moving the money — it was that the money was going to leave the account.
Sam: Did it all leave?
Anne: A high majority. But the great news was: as soon as I opened, we started making money. And out of necessity, I was — and still am — a killer negotiator. I’d be talking to my general contractor like, “Listen, can we do net-60 terms? If I can pay you sooner I will, but I’m trying to make sure I don’t get in front of my skis.” I would negotiate like that. The first landlord made me give four months of security deposit, which killed me — 30 grand just sitting there. After that I refused to do security deposits, and I was very successful making that happen.
And as soon as we opened and I started selling packages, I’ll never forget my first sale. This woman named Amy — I still know her — she was pregnant. She went online and bought $2,500 worth of private sessions. And I was like, “I can’t believe this woman just gave me all that money and she’s never even done the workout.” So I trained her every day at 5 AM before the 6 AM classes started.
Then we opened, I got press. I leaned on my media contacts from Back on My Feet and got an article in the Washington Post.
Sam: How much was the startup cost?
Anne: The build-out was like $150K. Then I had to pay a licensing fee of $25,000 just to open the studio — just a licensing fee.
Sam: That’s insane. Why can’t I just buy a machine?
Anne: That’s why I ended that relationship after a couple years — and went through a lawsuit. Then I had to buy the machines, which I financed because I couldn’t afford to buy them outright. They were $7,000 a piece — 10 machines, 70 grand — but I didn’t have to pay that all upfront. And rent was $7,000 a month.
Sam: And what was your first month of sales?
Anne: We did over $100K in the first month.
Sam: That’s insane.
Refusing Outside Money — Staying All-In [00:39:00]
Anne: It was nuts. But I was betting big. I have to tell this story. I was petrified. You know those moments where you’re all in and you’re like, “Oh my God, what am I doing?”
Larry — from Back on My Feet — comes back and says, “Listen, I’ll give you $75K for 30% of the business. You grew this nonprofit, I know you’re going to be successful. If you want to keep a little cash, I’ll do this deal.”
Back then, $75K when all I had was $175K was a lot of money. I was beginning to think it was the responsible thing to do. Maybe I should take this money.
And then I remember thinking: I have the money. And if I take his money, all I’m going to be saying is “I doubt myself.” When things really get hard, I’m then going to lean into that $75K and convince myself, “Well, at least I have that.” I can’t take that money — it’s going to take my drive away, it’s going to take the hunger. I need to feel like I’m being chased by a bear. I need to figure this out.
So I just said no. And every hour I was passing out solidcore pamphlets, flyers — anything I could do to get you to come take a class. And then what happened was the same thing that happened to me the first time I took it — everybody started telling their friends. After your first class you’re so sore, and everybody wants to tell everybody. “Oh my God, I’m so sore, I did this workout called solidcore, you’ve got to go.” It just snowballed.
Breaking from the Licensor and Building Own Machines [00:43:00]
Sam: Did you create the routine, or was that part of the license?
Anne: So I got trained on what was called this method called the Lagree. Someone came in and trained me, and then I trained my trainers. I’m not a personal trainer — that’s not my background. We started using their training program and then soon realized we actually want to make this more athletic. These names they were using were kind of silly, nothing intuitive. And then the machines started breaking.
So I’m like: this relationship is doing nothing for me. I don’t know why I have to be associated with Lagree. I want to make my own machines. I need to be in charge of manufacturing. The workouts don’t make sense. I hired somebody with a big background in MMA who was certified, and we started playing around with the workout. She wrote a massive training program, and then we separated from Lagree. He sued me immediately.
Sam: Which you won, I think? Or… you’re not allowed to say?
Anne: Well, it’s far enough down the road. But for all intents and purposes, he had to buy back his machines from me, and we agreed to never talk again — which we haven’t. And frankly, after we did that, all these other people who were part of that program also started making their own machines, realizing: why are we paying a massive premium? This isn’t a franchise, so we’re not getting the benefit of a national brand. It just didn’t make any business financial sense.
And then making my own machines — that was a huge gamble. I didn’t know how to do that. Tooling, engineering, manufacturing, prototypes — I probably lost a couple hundred grand just because I didn’t know what I was doing. The machine wasn’t right, it didn’t work properly, we had to redo it. It was a mess.
First Year Across Five Studios [00:46:30]
Sam: What was your first year revenue?
Anne: The first-year revenue — I think you asked me this last time. Well, it was more than just one studio, because in the first year I had five open.
Sam: I didn’t know you had five at the end of the first year. That’s insane.
Anne: Right? But same thing — momentum, momentum, momentum. You ever hear the funny story about Subway? I don’t know if it’s true, but I love it so I keep telling it. Subway had one location, they were kind of off the beaten path, not doing great. So they thought: we need to open a second one, because people will think if we have two that we’re killing it.
And even though we were killing it, I was like: I need to maximize on this. Get two, three, four open so that people start being like, “I’m seeing this thing everywhere — I must be missing out.” And that really served us well. We just kept reinvesting the profits into the next studio.
Sam: How old was the business when you sold each chunk?
Anne: I did a minority deal in 2017 — so the business was four years old. We had 27 locations, and on an annualized basis each studio was doing about $700K.
Sam: So 27 times $700K — roughly $19 million in revenue. And you sold a chunk for what valuation?
Anne: The valuation was close to $60 million.
Sam: Wow.
Anne: People balked at that. And I said, “Listen, it’s not so much about the number, it’s about the terms. I know how much money I need to get to 100 studios, and that’s $12 million. I’m going to continue using the profits, and I also want to take some secondary off the table.”
Obviously no one liked that — especially that early. And I was like, “Look, don’t get so freaked out about the terms. Tell me what you need in order to do this deal.” There was a healthy preferred return on the minority deal that I agreed to, and I had no problem doing that.
I remember people saying, “Well, how do we know you’re not going to walk away for six million?” And I’m like, “I would just sell the whole business if that was the case. You think I’m in this for $6 million?”
Negotiation Tactics and Never Split the Difference [00:52:00]
Sam: That’s such a good way to approach it. I’m really bad at negotiating. All my staff knows — don’t let Sam talk to people about salary because my default is just “yes.” So I’ve removed myself from negotiations.
Anne: But the approach of “don’t say no, just tell me what you need to win, and I’ll see if I can make that happen — but in order for you to win, it has to take into account what I need” — I did that with landlords and with private equity. The landlord always blocked: “We always do security deposits.” I’m like, “That’s not really a response. What are you trying to protect against? You have a corporate guarantee. Help me understand this, and I can try to solve the problem a different way.” I solved the private equity problem with the preferred return. Like, “Your downside is that I’m not going to see another dime until you make 2.5x your money.”
Sam: That’s the best. “Why do I have to give a deposit?” “Because we’ve always done deposits.” That’s not a good reply — give me a different reply.
Anne: That is the best. And it really does work, because you make them articulate what’s important to them. Usually what’s important to landlords is the total ledger over the full term of the deal. So that’s why we were able to push rent a little further down the road, increase it in year five or six — “Okay, you’re protected on the corporate guarantee, so I’m not going to do a security deposit. And let me tell you why that benefits you: the more I get open, the bigger the brand is, and this location will do better.”
Sam: Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference — I love that book.
Anne: I read that during COVID because I really had to get good at negotiation. One of my favorite examples: he goes into a car dealership, he’s got $10,300, the car’s like $15,000. The dealer comes back and says, “Great news, I got it down to $14,000.” And he says, “Wow, thank you so much — I really appreciate you advocating for me. But the amount of money I have right now hasn’t changed. I still have $10,300. If you can do the deal for that, I’m here.” Guy comes back — $11,300. And now Voss knows: the guy’s not walking away. You’re so close that they’re not going to move.
The whole point is don’t meet in the middle.
Sam: So do you go to $11,000 or do you stick at $10,300?
Anne: He sticks. Because that guy is so close — he’s not going to walk away when you’re only $800 apart. And he just ends up getting the deal done.
COVID Lease Restructuring [00:58:00]
Anne: Me and my lawyer — who I had on staff at that point — we read that book during COVID because we knew: what’s going to kill us is not that we don’t have revenue coming in right now. It’s if these landlords sue us and make us pay rent.
Nobody really understood who was right or wrong. Is this a force majeure? We don’t have any money coming in — how do you expect us to pay rent? So we said: we just have to get the landlords on our side. We have to figure out a way to restructure the deal that doesn’t require us to pay rent when we’re closed, but also doesn’t just kick the can down the road.
So we came up with strategies: how about we lengthen the term of the lease — add another year or two to the back end, so you have a longer tenant. Or maybe we increase rent in years eight, nine, and ten to make up some of the difference. Because if you force us to pay rent right now, you’re not going to get another dime from us — we’re going to go bankrupt. But if you work with us, you have a long-term, growing tenant.
We had 75 studios. There was just no way we were going to be able to pay three months of back rent in a lump sum. People talk about how COVID killed so many gyms — and a lot of that was not just COVID. It was operational and financial decisions that weren’t made as smartly as they could have been.
The Sale — $300M+ at Year Nine [01:04:00]
Sam: When you completely got out, it was like what — $300 million valuation?
Anne: A little more than that. Yeah. Last April I sold all my shares.
Sam: How old was the business then?
Anne: Nine and a half years. That’s a great run.
Sam: And when you look at what made you guys great — was it operational excellence, cool brand, the workout being better than anywhere else? What’s the honest assessment of the one or two factors that set you apart?
Anne: The workout is incredible. And I’m glad you’ve gone to it, because you can understand what I’m saying — it’s just unlike anything that was out there. Now there’s a lot more Pilates out there, but we had speed to market. We are the dominant player in the space. And we have a pretty cool full brand.
The tagline is “create the strongest version of yourself,” and I think the company is still doing a great job of leaning into that. One of my favorite campaigns we did was “It’s Not for Everyone.” We went in hard on that — this isn’t this may not be for you, but for somebody… almost like a Nike commercial. If you like to push yourself.
Sam: Yeah, the Nike Olympics ones. Winning.
Anne: Winning. And “winning is not for everyone.” We did a similar campaign a few years ago, and people watch it and they’re like, “I want that to be for me. I’m tough, I’m strong, I like to push myself.” If you know somebody who does solidcore, you’re like: I know exactly the type of person you are. You’re driven, ambitious, you like to work hard. The work is actually the joy for you. So I think the brand ethos is definitely a big part of our success.
And operationally — I’m pretty good. But what I’m best at is putting systems and processes in place. I’m not the right person to run solidcore today. It’s too big, too monolithic. I move quickly, and that’s not what you need now — you need somebody like Brian, who’s much more methodical, analytical, patient.
Brand-Building Philosophy [01:09:00]
Sam: Who inspired you for branding? What was the exercise you went through?
Anne: I love branding and marketing. I did that for Back on My Feet and solidcore from the beginning. With Back on My Feet, the name itself — I remember someone telling me, “You should call this thing the Homeless Runners Association of America.” And I’m like, that alone will make the thing fail. It doesn’t sound cool. I wanted us to be cool.
Coming up with “solidcore” — it was just iterating a bunch of names. “Oh, that just has it. That just makes you sound badass.” Obviously the core piece has double meanings, and then the brackets — I thought they could indicate your obliques, and tightness, and community, and togetherness. So I’m like, “This is it.”
We haven’t done a redo of the logo or anything. It just kind of stuck. And the brackets — I have a bracket tattoo. I just always feel like things need to be cool for people to want to be a part of them. And I didn’t want to spend a ton of stupid money on branding and marketing.
One of my mantras is that there’s more than one right answer. This was a right enough answer to move forward.
Fitness Business Trends [01:13:00]
Sam: You caught the Pilates thing at the right time. What fitness-related businesses excite you right now?
Anne: Well, HYROX — have you seen HYROX? I went and saw it in New York. It is awesome. I saw that and I’m like, “This is going to be a thing.” It’s already a thing, but it’s really going to be a thing.
And one of the things that my husband and I and a bunch of friends just did is 29029. Have you heard of it?
Sam: Yes. The founders are in the Hamptons. Did you talk to Mark?
Anne: Yes, I did talk to Mark. So you have to go — they’re releasing the schedule soon. We just did it.
The 29029 is the elevation of Everest. They partner with ski mountains around the country, and you have to climb whatever number of times it takes to equal the elevation of Everest. We were at Mont-Tremblant in Canada — our mountain was about 2,200 feet of elevation, so we had to climb it 15 times. 1.7 miles, steep.
I’m like, I’m a marathon runner, I’ve done all these things — I’ll be fine. Completely different than anything I’ve ever done before, purely for the duration. If it takes you 60 to 90 minutes per climb, you’re out there for 15 to 20 hours. Some people literally have to be on their feet for 30 hours to get the 15 hikes in before time runs out.
It is unbelievably inspiring. Most people are there because they’re going through a divorce, fighting a health battle, they’ve lost 100 pounds — they’ve got something bigger going on in their life. They need to show themselves they can climb the mountain physically so they can go back and do it emotionally, mentally, spiritually. It’s awesome.
Sam: And his business is wild. I think they sell out most of their events. Like $5,000 to go, and you’re not slumming it.
Anne: Not at all. And you know what they do really well? They list different mountains, so you don’t feel like you’re failing. Even if you didn’t make it to Everest, if you climbed 10, you made it to Kilimanjaro — so they give you a Kilimanjaro medal instead of just “did you get to all of it?”
Sam: Did you finish?
Anne: I did all of it. Did I almost quit? Well, Mark will tell you — the night before I had a mini meltdown. I’m like, “I don’t do well with sleep deprivation, I’m not going to be able to do this.” I was on three hours of sleep. My strategy was: I’m just going to do as many as I can as fast as I can before I hit a wall. I was on pace to probably finish in the top five.
On my 11th lap, the wall just hit. I made it halfway up the mountain in the time it was taking me to reach the top. I sat in the med tent for 45 minutes asking them, “If I go down, does my half-lap count so I can come back tomorrow?” They said no. And I was like — I really can’t go down. I just couldn’t get myself together.
And along comes Mark. He gives me Coca-Cola — not that kind — and he says, “You’re going to do this. I’m going to walk up the second half of the mountain with you. You’re not going to go back down. I can see it in your eyes — you’re not somebody who needs to go back down.” I took that shot of Coca-Cola, got up, and we made it up the second half. Then I went down, went to bed, and finished my next four in the morning.
Sam: Mark saved you.
The Best Critical Thinkers Are Good at Taboo [01:24:00]
Sam: You put in the notes that the number one reason you had to let people go was that they lacked proper judgment and critical thinking skills. And you said the best critical thinkers are great at Taboo. What is Taboo?
Anne: Taboo is a game where you have teams. You get a card, and at the top of the card is a word — say, “book.” You have to get your team to say that word. But underneath it are five words you can’t use. So it might say “page” or “reading” — you can’t say those to get them to say “book.” You have to think creatively, and you have to know who’s on your team.
There are people who crush that game. And from my experience, whenever we’ve played at a retreat or something, the people who get stuck or flustered or can’t think on their feet — usually don’t work there very much longer. There has to be a correlation between this game — the ability to think through who’s on your team, how do you make this happen, thinking on your feet — and the smartest people I know. My best people are also excellent at that game. There’s something there.
AI and the Future of Personalized Fitness [01:27:30]
Sam: You also mentioned AI taking over fitness — personalizing data, supplements, exercise, food based on individuals. Like if you’re a 44-year-old woman who wants to gain 10 pounds of muscle, we know your blood work, we know this, here’s the program. Is there anyone in the space taking advantage of that insight?
Anne: I’m an advisor and investor — I’ll disclose that — to a company called Oxefit. It’s sort of like Tonal but I think much more comprehensive and better. Their AI is really progressing to do just that. It knows when you’re tired, it knows certain things about how you’re lifting, your imbalances. They’re really investing in the AI so you can add your blood work and every data point you have about yourself, plus your goals, and it will design exactly what you need to be doing.
I think within five years it’ll be kind of foolish to just be guessing at what you should be doing to work out.
Sam: I’ve had a handful of friends get diagnosed with cancer recently, and one of them detected it because he did one of these scans — Prenuvo or something like that. In 50 years we’re going to look back and think it’s insane that cancer could be growing inside your body and you didn’t know. We accept that as normal now. But I’m personally really interested in figuring out exactly the fitness or diet that works for me based on blood work. I don’t think I’ve seen a product that’s nailing that yet, though. I think a lot of it is still pseudo-science.
Anne: I agree. It will get there. Because imagine — if you’ve been so frustrated your entire life not seeing results when you’re willing to do the work, willing to put in the effort, and it’s still not happening — it’s only a matter of time with where we are with AI and the demand for it.
What’s Next — and Staying in the Feminine [01:34:00]
Sam: Are you going to start another company?
Anne: No, sir. Not right now. I know too much. The beauty of starting companies is a lot of times naivete. And the financial motivation is a little bit gone, of course.
With Back on My Feet and solidcore, I felt I was doing something I was called to do. I haven’t had that feeling again, and I’m also not looking for it right now. But if I have that experience again — where I come across something and I’m moved, and I’m like “I have to do this” — that is when I will.
For now, I want to give myself some freedom, some time to feel this new chapter.
Sam: Are you seeking anything? Or just living?
Anne: I’ve read Die with Zero. I want to be playing. I’m trying to stay in my feminine, because I’ve been in my masculine a lot in my life. I want to have room for playing. For me that’s beach volleyball, sports, connecting with friends and family, being a little carefree. I don’t want to put so much rigid structure back in my schedule. I need a breather from that. And I’m not willing to do it halfway — so I’m just not doing it.
The Jump Seat Idea [01:38:00]
Sam: All right, so we were about to wrap up and Ann was like, “You’ve got to talk about this idea.” Tell me about Jump Seat.
Anne: So — you’ve all been at the airport when your flight gets canceled or delayed. You’re desperate to get home. You go up to the airline and they can’t do anything — they’re not going to kick anybody else off a flight. They don’t care about your status.
The idea for Jump Seat is basically a platform like StubHub or Ticketmaster where — let’s say your flight got canceled, Sam, and you have to get home to New York. You go on Jump Seat and you offer $1,000 for any seat on any flight going to New York. All someone has to do is accept your offer. You trade seats. They’re now on your flight whenever it gets rescheduled, but they don’t have the same timeline you do to get home — so it’s no problem for them.
And it can work in reverse, too. If I’m at the airport and I’m in no rush, I put my seat up for sale. If someone else wants to get home sooner, they can buy it.
Sam: It’s like StubHub for plane seats. You own them, but you can auction them off.
Anne: Exactly. And think about how much happier customers would be. And the airlines — you could build in the airline to take a little cut. So now I’m a happier Delta customer because I solved my own problem, even though Delta couldn’t solve it. But they’re allowing the platform — and they can even do it for upgrades. If I’m sitting in 32A and I really want to fly first class, and that person in first class doesn’t really care — they put their seat up for $500, come take my economy seat, and I get to sit up front.
Sam: Would you ever pursue this?
Anne: No, because I don’t think this is a game I can win. I’m not a tech person. That’s why I want someone who’s like, “Oh my God, this makes so much sense.” I want this product so I can use it.
Sam: And you fell in love with the name “Jump Seat.”
Anne: It’s a great name. I have a logo and everything.
Sam: You really do?
Anne: I’ll send it to you.
Sam: How could someone contact you if they wanted to pursue this?
Anne: If you can’t figure out how to find me, you’re not the right person. DM me on Instagram.
Sam: Who owns JumpSeat.com?
Anne: They’re just sitting on it, not using it. I own Jump.com. I bought it years ago. I’ve had this idea for so long. I had my friend make the logo and it’s really good. The name is so perfect — I can just trade seats. People say, “Airlines are never going to allow that.” And I’m like, they already allow aggregators like Expedia. This is already in their backend system. This solves a problem for them and they can make more money by taking five dollars every time someone switches seats. Why would they care?
Sam: So you’re in — meaning, if someone wants to build this, you’d work with them?
Anne: I would love for someone to do it. I won’t give it away for free — you can give me a little equity and run with it. But you’re going to have to convince me why you’re the right person. Why it’s a game they can win. What’s your background? Do you have tech? Any connections in the airline industry? Have you ever built anything like this? Why would this be interesting to you?
Sam: I went to JumpSeat.com — it’s registered but no one’s using it.
Anne: I did not realize you were that far down the rabbit hole.
Sam: Message her. And let me know how many people reach out and if anyone’s actually promising.
Wrap-Up [01:46:00]
Sam: I said this last time, but you inspire the hell out of me. You’re one of my favorite people on earth. I’ve found myself, since we last talked, approaching situations and thinking “what would Ann think about this?” So I just want to thank you for being part of my life and for doing these podcasts.
Anne: You mean a lot to me, too. That’s really sweet. We’ll get you a t-shirt that says “What Would Ann Do.”
Sam: Just kidding — but only if it’s a crop top. At least two sizes too small.
Anne: Exactly. As long as it’s a crop top.
Sam: I appreciate you. Thank you very much. That’s the pod.