75. Robin Thurston, CEO of Outside

Today I’m joined by Robin Thurston, CEO of Outside. 


 


Outside, or Pocket Outdoor Media, as it was formerly known, is a
platform for active lifestyle content and experiences. 


 


In this episode, we talk about the acquisitions, rebrand, and
$150M funding round that helped turn Pocket into Outside. Robin
shares his vision for a recurring revenue bundle across all
aspects of an active lifestyle. And we discuss the challenges and
opportunities brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. 


 


More from Robin


 


Robin Thurston is the CEO of Outside, the world’s leading creator
of active lifestyle content and experiences. Formerly known as
Pocket Outdoor Media, Robin acquired Outside along with other
companies such as OutsideTV, Gaia GPS, AthleteReg and Peloton
Magazine in February of 2021. Across web, print, podcast, social,
video, and TV, the brand engages with over 70 million of the most
active and influential consumers in the world every month. Under
his leadership, Outside is reinventing how athletes consume
content, participate and engage, increase knowledge, find gear,
and ultimately perform in their sport.


 


Before joining Outside, he ran a consumer genetics company called
Helix in Silicon Valley before returning to his home state of
Colorado.  Prior to Helix, Robin co-founded and built
MapMyFitness into one of the world’s largest open fitness
tracking platforms. Following the acquisition of MapMyFitness by
Under Armour, he joined the innovative sports apparel
organization and served as Chief Digital Officer, where he led
the overall strategic direction of the company’s Connected
Fitness and eCommerce business.  


 


Robin spent the first ten years of his career building a mutual
fund classification and ratings platform at Lipper (a Thomson
Reuters Company), as well as a risk and compensation platform at
both American Century Investments and Wellington Management. He
graduated with a MS in Finance from University of Colorado at
Denver and lives with his wife and three children in Boulder, Co.
He is a lifelong cyclist who started riding and racing in the
early 1980’s.