Peloton’s John Foley – How to turn skeptics into fans

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management, Reid Hoffman, Mindset, Diversity & Inclusion, Jeff Berman, Bob Safian, Startups

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Casual fans come and go. But converts stick with you – and spread the word. The trick is knowing how – and WHEN – to convert skeptics into super-fans. No one knows this better than Peloton co-founder and CEO John Foley, who has one of the most epic “No-to-Yes” stories in startup history. When he founded the company in 2012, skeptics abounded – especially among investors. But John pushed forward, convincing co-founders, angel investors, and then riders, one at a time. As he converted those skeptical customers – in their flagship fitness studio, in their stores, and on their at-home bikes – the feedback loops kicked in. After pedaling in place for years, Peloton rocketed up the hill to its 2019 IPO. Cameo appearances: Melanie Curtis (professional skydiver).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now,
0:07.8	with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed.
0:17.0	We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time.
0:24.8	So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes.
0:31.2	I'll see you on the other side. I don't know Reed I don't know what I could
0:35.3	have done differently. I think I'm a pretty good salesman. I believe so passionately
0:39.8	in what we're doing and I still do and I was explaining it as best I could.
0:44.0	That's John Foley, co-founder and CEO of Peloton and he's taking me back to 2012 when he first
0:54.8	started pitching his idea to investors. I had a 10 out of 10 business on a
0:59.6	silver platter going to strategic, going to angels, going to venture capitalists.
1:05.0	John envisioned a connected stationary bike that would deliver live classes to the home.
1:11.0	He thought he would cruise to an easy victory with his 10 out of 10 idea, but it turned
1:18.1	into an epic uphill climb. Here I was, I have 15 years of tech leadership experience and I was sure that venture capitalists were going to throw money at me because because it was such a good idea and I was an experienced guy.
1:34.3	And what was your experience like because I was clearly the dramatic buildup for the but instead?
1:40.2	But instead three years, after pitching hundreds of venture capitalists and thousands of angels,
1:47.6	I hadn't raised a dime of money from an institution. couldn't see the top. Every investor was a skeptic,
2:03.8	and they all had different ways to say no.
2:08.5	There were 10 or 12 buckets of nose.
2:12.2	It was my age. Half of the VCs didn't like hardware at all.
2:19.2	Financial risk is far too great. Fitness was a dopey category plagued by bad teams and bad products and bad
2:29.1	marketing and gimmicks and fads.
2:32.0	There's no chance I'll ever back this. gimmicks and fads. A lot of people in the valley didn't understand boutique fitness.
	...

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