Summary

The administration shut down New York City, business owners were in a bind regardless of industry and arguably gyms were amongst the hardest hit. Unlike restaurants, there was no take-out option and no foot traffic meant no revenue. Everything changed in the blink of an eye and organizations had to think quick or face the reality of potential doom. Eric knew the desire for human interaction wasn't gone forever but his baby , the business he invested his life savings to build (SWERVE 1.0) had to grow up quick and his in-person model had to transform. Coming out of the pandemic had tremendous challenges amplified by staffing shortages, supply chain concerns and a looming recession. Posner’s SWERVE 2.0 was a brilliant fix for addressing the many changes that stemmed. SWERVE 2.0, a SaaS company was Eric and his team’s way to  marry team-based workouts with tech-induced fitness. He led his team to act quick when many of his peers saw their businesses collapse; he leveraged the lessons he's learned over a lifetime as a leader and he doubled down on the white space he saw years prior.  

Eric Posner (Co-Founder & CEO) is the driver of the company's vision, financials, investor relations, and marketing. Eric co-founded Swerve with his high school friend and teammate JH McNierney, who both went on to play division one Lacrosse in college. After pursuing his education at Harvard, studying Psychology and Economics, he went into investment banking, where he unlocked a new way of team building with clients and colleagues, working out together. After taking countless classes, the idea was born to bring the power of team sports to the boutique fitness space. In creating Swerve in 2013, the two embarked on a new journey together. Opening four indoor cycling studios in NYC and in the Hamptons, allowing the two friends and business partners to create an elevated fitness concept that included something they were incredibly passionate about - team sports. 

The differentiation at Swerve was in the way the class was divided into teams allowing for team competition and community-building rather than leaderboards and individual winners. As the pandemic brought empty studios and saddles, it also sparked innovation and change. Eric and JH found the whitespace in the market and pivoted Swerve into a content & technology company to meet the needs of the evolved consumer and to solve problems for big box gyms. Now, Swerve’s world-class trainers are filmed at the NYC HQ and livestreamed onto large video walls inside of existing cycling studios (within big box gyms), creating an immersive, theater-like experience. Swerve's proprietary technology seamlessly connects to existing bikes at gyms, offering a turnkey operation. The newest version of Swerve launched in November 2021, and is redefining group fitness as a category by infusing livestreamed content, connected fitness technology with two-way communication, and gamifying the experience through a team-based format that appeals to a broad audience of all fitness levels. The company's plan is to have 5,000 locations in 5 years!

More on Mile 40:

Website: https://www.bishoytadros.com/mile-40-running-podcast/

Instagram: @mile_40_podcast @bishoy_tadros

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHvuxTTbSiOPkggBR5A2AFg