Active Overwatch 002

This week we’re hitting 3 different angles for ya. From corporate giants to the entrepreneurial ideas on my notepad. I’m talking a secret fitness portfolio company, a genius marketing strategy, and a business model I think tech sleeps on.

Here’s what we got:

🗂️ Fitlab - An integrated fitness platform & holding company you’ve never heard of

🛍️ Lululemon - The genius behind those reusable shopping bags

🍪 Crumbl Cookie - The secret sauce of a “drop” product model

Fitness Portfolio

Assault Fitness, Nike Studios, McGregor Fast, FitPlan, Electric, Racked, Ragnar, RPM Training, Sanctuary Fitness, XPT, and Yoga Vida.

What do these all have in common?

They are all apart of the integrated fitness platform, Fitlab.

A platform that aims to “connect every aspect of your fitness lifestyle, bringing immersive experiences to life, wherever, and however you train.

11 companies in total.

With some being horizontally integrated (similar line of business), like Nike Studios, Racked, and Sanctuary Fitness

And others being vertically integrated (not similar, and a different part of the supply chain), like Assault Fitness, FitPlan, and Yoga Vida.

Most builders and entrepreneurs try starting from the ground up. With a new idea, new business, and try to scale to profitability.

In a competitive and saturated space, the odds are stacked against you.

So Fitlab just decided to go buy up and/or partner with businesses that are already well established.

And yes, there is a big barrier to entry for this type of business - capital.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t love it (and strive to build something like this myself long term).

What this reminds me of:

Tiny

If you haven’t heard of Tiny, go down their rabbit hole and have fun. It’s worth it.

Short Story of it - Andrew Wilkinson and Jeremy Giffon, among others, ran a service based agency. They took about $5M in excess profits, and decided to go buy a business with it. Fast forward 8 years and they turned that $5M into $419M. By becoming majority owners in 40 companies, making minority investments in 90+ others, and also founding 11 of their own companies.

While what Fitlab is doing is not quite the same, I see some similarities.

And I have no clue what Fitlab’s long term plans are, but if I knew the folks running it, I’d tell them to at least look into the Tiny story…

Lululemon Shopping Bags

So you know those reusable bags that Lululemon has?

These ones ⬇️

I don’t get why people aren’t talking about these more or stealing this strategy (in their own unique way).

So these were introduced by Lululemon in the early to mid 2000’s.

And suddenly they were seen on everyone’s shoulders.

Almost replacing their purse.

Logically, it makes sense…

1. Lululemon is an expensive athletic apparel brand. So having this bag makes you seem wealthy and healthy. Humans care about public perception.
2. It’s actually a solid bag. People reuse them as cheap purses, lunch bags, gym bags, etc…

But the strategy and marketing of this play is not talked about enough and is genius.

1. The bags are now all over in public. Forcing people to look at the Lululemon logo whether they want to or not. Free advertising for Lululemon.
2. The perceived value of Lululemon is now higher because not only do you get the high quality apparel, you also get a high quality bag. Gaining more goodwill from their customer. Increasing the chance of repeat purchases.

Questions I pose to you:

1. Think about how you can create a marketing flywheel from your product. One that gives you “free marketing” in a way. Make your product work for you. Get creative.
2. Is there something in your product that is traditionally a “throwaway” piece? Like the traditional plastic shopping bag that Lululemon decided to make into a reusable bag. Well make that throwaway piece something of value. (Free idea - if you are a drink company that is popular among golfers, turn the tab on top of the can into a durable ball marker. Pop the can, and now you have a cool ball marker).

Drop Models

So I did a deep dive on Crumbl Cookies.

Aside from the recipe being perfected and the cookies being absolutely delicious.

I believe their secret sauce is in the “Weekly Menu” model they use.

Each week they have 6 cookie flavors available.

And those 6 cookies rotate eat week.

Creating the following emotions in users:

1. FOMO - My friend tried the Peanut Butter Munch cookie and said it’s their new favorite. I can’t miss out on trying it too this week or I’ll feel left out.
2. URGENCY - Well the Churro is my favorite, and it’s available this week, so I have to get it before it comes off the menu. (similar to FOMO)
3. REPEAT PURCHASE - I can’t wait for the new menu to come out Monday so I can try new flavors or get my OG favorites that haven’t been available for awhile.

This limited, drop style model is fairly popular with physical products.

Mostly in clothing, in the form of “collections” where once they sell out, they are gone.

And this selling strategy seems to be growing more and more in today’s business world.

However

I have yet to see this strategy be done with a tech product…

So here’s the idea I had:

Take Habit Tracking.

People face 2 big problems when trying to build new habits:

1. OVER COMMITTING - They put 10 new habits on their list at a time and end up burning out. That is just not sustainable for anybody.
2. ACCOUNTABILITY - Most people go at building habits by themselves. And it’s easy to quit when you do it alone. Nobody is there to hold you accountable or make you feel “guilty” if you quit.

So here’s the habit tracking tech product we’ll build to solve these problems, using the “drop” model in a creative way:

1. User’s on the platform vote for 1-2 habits for the month. Whichever 1-2 are the most voted, those are the only habits available to track for the month. You can’t create your own to track.
2. Each user can then choose to “opt-in” for the month if they want to track those habits. Pay $5-10 for each habit for the month. Some type of buy-in to bet on yourself. And you can “opt-out” if you aren’t interested in those habits and you don’t pay anything.
3. Then everyone who opted in tracks those habits for the month on the platform.
4. And there is a community component where you can see leaderboards, create groups to chat with others, post pictures of you doing the habit, and ultimately, hold each other accountable.

What do you think?

Whether this idea is good or not, I think there is a massive opportunity to create tech products using this drop / limited / collection business model.