601: The Couple Who Built a 9-FIGURE Brand While Working Full-Time Jobs | Natalie Holloway

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Natalie Holloway turned a $5,000 side hustle into Bala — a globally recognized fitness brand worn by millions and backed by Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova. In this interview, the Bala co-founder breaks down how she and her husband Max bootstrapped the brand from their garage to $20M+ in sales, weathered near-bankruptcy after the post-COVID crash, and rebuilt into a nine-figure company with 20+ products and collaborations with brands like Spanx and Pucci. From surviving massive layoffs to mastering profitability and rebuilding from the ground up, this is a raw, unfiltered look at what it takes to build, lose, and rebuild a modern fitness empire. What you’ll learn from this interview: • How Bala grew from a $5K side hustle to a nine-figure global brand • The story behind their $900K Shark Tank deal with Mark Cuban & Maria Sharapova • What really happened after the COVID fitness boom — and how they recovered • The leadership lessons from scaling a 30-person team down to 3 and back again • How to manage co-founding a company with your partner without burning out • The strategy behind Bala’s collaborations with Spanx and major lifestyle brands • How to protect your IP, handle copycats, and stay focused on innovation • Why Natalie is now mentoring founders and writing The Bala Playbook to share hard-won lessons By the end of this interview, you’ll walk away with a roadmap for building a resilient, profitable, and enduring brand — and the mindset to navigate every high and low along the journey. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to ⁠⁠https://your.omnisend.com/foundr⁠⁠ to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH NATALIE HOLLOWAY Website → https://shopbala.com/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/natalieholloway/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Founder Fam, I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omniscend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e-commerce founders. We've been recommending OmnisCent to Founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling the seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results.
0:24.0	Did you know on average, Omnysend customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment.
0:32.6	And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code founder 50.
0:39.3	Just head to Omnysend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now
0:46.2	let's jump back into the show. Welcome back to the founder podcast. What if I told you that the
0:52.1	same year a founder scaled from 2 million to
0:54.9	20 million in revenue, they also came within inches of bankruptcy and had to lay off 90% of their
1:01.4	team just to survive. While today's guest, Natalie Holloway, is the co-founder of Barla, the nine-figure
1:07.0	wellness brand that revolutionized wearable weights and became a household name.
1:11.5	They started with just $5,000 shipping 75,000 units from their garage while working full-time
1:17.2	advertising jobs. Natalie and her husband Max turned a simple yoga class frustration into one of the
1:22.7	most recognizable fitness brands of the decade. But what most people don't know is the brutal reality behind
1:29.4	the Instagram worthy success story. So in this raw and honest conversation, you're going to learn
1:34.1	how to bootstrap a physical product business from $5,000 to nine figures while working full-time
1:39.7	jobs, the critical mistakes they made when scaling too fast and the frameworks for rebuilding a profitable
1:45.1	business after near bankruptcy.
1:50.2	Hear the stories. Learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through
1:56.4	entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan. Natalie, welcome to the founder
2:06.3	podcast. The first question that I wanted to ask you is what led you and Max to create
2:14.7	Bala after being burnt out from your previous career?
2:19.7	So Max and I, as you said, we were burnt out because we were working in advertising
2:26.4	in L.A. at an agency called 72 and Sunny.
	...

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