212. Tom Dowd, CEO of F45 Training

4 snips

Nov 14, 2023

Tom Dowd, CEO of F45 Training, discusses the challenges faced by the company, his leadership philosophy, and plans for growth. Topics include financial struggles, restoring the corporate headquarters, executing basic strategies for success, introducing new workout programs, exploring concepts and expansions, and Mark Wahlberg's involvement.

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ANECDOTE

Initial Investment

Tom Dowd invested in F45 after a meeting with Mark Wahlberg.
Wahlberg joined the initial meeting after Dowd insisted he see the F45 presentation.

ANECDOTE

Becoming CEO

After F45's IPO, inexperienced leadership mismanaged the company.
Dowd ultimately took over as CEO to fix the issues himself.

INSIGHT

Mismanagement Extent

The mismanagement of F45 was worse than investors initially realized.
It became clear when examining the high SG&A and questionable deals.

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Today, I’m joined by Tom Dowd, CEO of F45 Training, a studio franchise built on high-intensity functional group workouts.

Founded in 2012, F45’s early success skyrocketed it to 2200+ franchises and a 2021 IPO, before financial troubles hit. Now, investor Tom Dowd has stepped in as CEO, leveraging experience as an executive at GNC and Performance Inspired Nutrition to steer the course.

In this episode, we discuss how the company’s recent challenges — including layoffs, a leadership shakeup, and financial struggles — led to Tom assuming the CEO role. Plus, he shares his back-to-basics approach to turning the business around.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why F45 faced financial struggles the past few years • Tom’s leadership philosophy and plans to push F45 to new heights • About Mark Wahlberg’s involvement as investor and Chief Branding Officer

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F45 Training Website: https://f45training.com/ F45 Training IG: https://www.instagram.com/f45_training/ Tom’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/bigdealdowd/ Mark Wahlberg’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/markwahlberg/

The Fitt Insider podcast is brought to you by Jack Taylor, our exclusive PR partner. More than just PR, they’re creative storytellers and brand builders who actually understand the health and wellness industry. Learn more and get in touch at https://fitt.co/jacktaylor

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:52) Investing in F45 with Mark Wahlberg (03:52) Taking over the CEO role (07:19) F45’s financial and strategic challenges when Tom took over (11:43) Tom’s operating and growth philosophy (14:56) Balancing internal strategy and wall street metrics (19:49) Executing the basics and getting buy-in from employees and franchisees (21:28) The importance of brand recognition (23:06) The success of their pilates concepts (26:46) Expansion of trending concepts (31:16) Potential additional revenue streams and partnerships (33:38) Considering going from a public company back to private (35:29) Future plans and growth (37:00) Conclusion