The Hard Part with Evan McCann Robbie Bent from Othership
Robbie Bent is the Co-Founder and CEO of Othership.
Othership is a platform that includes a physical space and a mobile app to affect positive change and address the problem of loneliness and the detrimental effects it has on our individual and collective health. Othership encourages openness to the awe, belonging, and interconnectivity that animates the human experience for a more joy-filled life and living. They combine a transformational breathwork app and physical spaces built around sauna + ice bath classes.
Takeaways
Don't optimize for money early in your career; focus on being around smart people and interesting problems.
Building a community requires finding a topic with emotional energy and creating a recurrent learning or socializing experience.
Designing a physical space involves understanding the customer journey, iterating based on feedback, and paying attention to detail.
Scaling a business while maintaining quality requires a strong training program and a team that aligns with the company's values.
Trends such as increased loneliness, reduced interest in alcohol, and the rise of wellness practices present opportunities for businesses like Othership.
Designing impactful programming that can keep users engaged and scale.
Building a brand and brands that inspire Robbie.
Raising a $10M Series A and scaling beyond Toronto to NYC and beyond.
Chapters
00:00 Starting in Finance
02:05 Becoming a Founder
04:06 Lessons from a Failed Startup
05:46 Passion and Long-Term Commitment
06:15 Building a Community
08:16 Designing the Physical Space
11:12 Finding Passion and Purpose
13:51 Building and Maintaining a Community
17:11 Scaling the Business and Maintaining Quality
21:23 Inspiring Brands and Experiences
24:12 Creating a Welcoming Experience for First-Timers
27:42 Capitalizing the Business
32:40 Location Selection
33:50 Trends and Opportunities
36:35 Creating an Amazing Programming Experience
39:00 Favorite Books and Podcasts
40:49 Excitement for 2024
42:52 Dealing with Hard Times
43:44 Dealing with Fear and Emotional Support
47:12 Finding Meaning and Purpose
My podcast supporter!
Fasken's Emerging Tech and Venture Capital practice is comprised of 80+ dedicated legal professionals across the Canadian market. We're deeply involved in the startup ecosystem and have worked closely with founders from startup to scale-up to exit. Our team is a leading Canadian law firm for VC financings and tech M&A and act for many of the best-in-class startup and scale-up innovation-based companies and entrepreneurs in Canada.
Given this experience we understand market trends and can assist in guiding your company forward as you scale – we take a holistic and strategic approach to helping our clients achieve their goals and provide the full suite of services including corporate, corporate finance, M&A, commercial, IP, data and compliance, employment, tax and beyond. We are excited to help the next generation of unicorns!