212. Tom Dowd, CEO of F45 Training

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/


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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