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Technogym | Fit Tech promotion
Technogym | Fit Tech promotion
Technogym | Fit Tech promotion
features

Research: Fit Tech Leadership Report

Fit tech is a growing, competitive sector. Executive search firm, Stronger Talent, recently analysed the backgrounds of more than 300 fit tech executives to provide insights into recruiting strategies, as Pete Leibman explains

Published in Fit Tech 2021 issue 1

For the Fitness Tech Leadership Report we analysed the backgrounds of fit tech CEOs, other C-suite executives (i.e. CFO, COO, CTO, CMO, CHRO, etc.), senior vice presidents, vice presidents, senior directors and directors. The leaders in our study represent a variety of functions, including sales, marketing, strategy, business development, product management, technology, finance, operations and human resources.

Our study focused exclusively on executives based in the US, although a small percentage of the executives in our study work for companies that are headquartered outside the US.

At the time of our study, the executives that we analysed were employed by more than 50 of the world’s top fit tech companies, across the fit tech sub-categories of fitness wearables, connected fitness, streaming fitness and fitness apps. This group of companies includes:

• Fit tech start-ups of various sizes and stages

• Fit tech companies that are more mature and/or publicly-traded

• Fit tech business units inside of larger organisations

• The top four fit tech hubs in the US

Our research indicates that there are four primary hubs in the US where the large majority of fit tech companies and executives are based. Over 75 per cent of the executives in our study were based in one of these four areas. In addition, over 68 per cent of the companies in our study have their global headquarters or US headquarters in one of these areas:

1. New York Metro Area

2. San Francisco Bay Area

3. Greater Los Angeles Area

4. Greater Boston Area

Fewer than 25 per cent of executives analysed (in total) were based in all other US cities combined.

Men greatly outnumber women in fit tech
Our research indicates that men greatly outnumber women in fit tech, especially as you move up in many companies. Over 68 per cent of all executives identified in our study were men.

Women only made up about 40 per cent of the directors, senior directors and vice presidents. In addition, less than 25 per cent of C-Suite and SVP positions were occupied by women, and less than 16 per cent of CEO positions were occupied by women.

Our findings on gender diversity are pretty consistent with McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2019, the most comprehensive, annual study of the state of women in corporate America.

Most fit tech executives don’t come from fitness or sports
Our research indicates that the large majority of fit tech executives had no prior full-time work experience in the fitness or sports industries before joining their current fit tech company. Over 88 per cent of the CEOs in our study (most of whom are also founders) had no prior full-time work experience in fitness or sports. As for the other (non-CEO) executives in our study, over 80 per cent had no prior full-time work experience in fitness or sports.

Where do executives usually work before fitness tech?
We analysed which companies and industries the executives in our study had worked in during the last ten years (including their current employer).

Our study found that fit tech executives come from a wide variety of industries. However, two industries definitely stand out as the most common:

1. Consumer internet: This includes e-commerce businesses, mobile apps (including fitness apps), and social media platforms.

2. Consumer electronics: This includes companies that make devices used for communications, recreation, and entertainment. Companies that make fitness hardware (i.e. fitness trackers and connected fitness products) also fit into the broader category of consumer electronics.

There was a significant drop-off in the frequency of industry experience after these two industries. The next five most common industries were media and entertainment, healthcare, enterprise software, consulting and advisory services, and financial services and private equity.

Only about five per cent of executives had recent full-time work experience in health clubs or boutique fitness and only about five per cent had recent full-time work experience in sporting goods or fitness equipment. Other industries that showed up but were not common include retail and apparel, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and hospitality and leisure (HL).

Recommendations
Fit tech is poised for significant growth and competition in the years to come, especially as tech giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon increase their participation in the market. Companies that are able to attract and retain the best people will be well-positioned for future success, while companies that fail to do so will struggle to survive.

While our full report provides much more extensive recommendations, here are three quick tips, based on our research and experience:

1. Make diversity a bigger priority
Diversity is not only a social and moral cause. Research has shown that a more diverse workforce is also correlated with higher employee engagement scores, along with greater profitability.

2. Expand your recruiting geography
The shutdown has made many people more comfortable with remote work. In addition to local recruiting, target top performers in regions where your company does not have any physical office locations. If your company presents a compelling value proposition, you might attract some great people.

3. Pursue candidates from new talent pools
Many fitness tech companies recruit primarily from talent pools that are fairly narrow. However, there is tremendous value in expanding your efforts. Identify some additional industries, categories and companies where your company will begin searching for talent as well.

Download the report

You can download the full 30-page Fitness Tech Leadership Report for free here

Pete Leibman is the founder of Stronger Talent, a boutique executive search firm that serves innovative companies in the fitness, sports and wellness industries.

Sign up here to get Fit Tech's weekly ezine and every issue of Fit Tech magazine free on digital.
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Check your form

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New reality

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Going hybrid

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Physical activity monitors boost activity levels

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have conducted a meta analysis of all relevant research and found that the body of evidence shows an impact
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Two-way coaching

Content providers have been hugely active in the fit tech market since the start of the pandemic. We expect the industry to move on from delivering these services on a ‘broadcast-only’ basis as two-way coaching becomes the new USP
Fit Tech People

Laurent Petit

Co-founder, Active Giving
The future of sports and fitness are dependent on the climate. Our goal is to positively influence the future of our planet by instilling a global vision of wellbeing and a sense of collective action
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Adam Zeitsiff

CEO, Intelivideo
We don’t just create the technology and bail – we support our clients’ ongoing hybridisation efforts
Fit Tech People

Anantharaman Pattabiraman

CEO and co-founder, Auro
When you’re undertaking fitness activities, unless you’re on a stationary bike, in most cases it’s not safe or necessary to be tied to a screen, especially a small screen
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Mike Hansen

Managing partner, Endorphinz
We noticed a big gap in the market – customers needed better insights but also recommendations on what to do, whether that be customer acquisition, content creation, marketing and more
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features

Research: Fit Tech Leadership Report

Fit tech is a growing, competitive sector. Executive search firm, Stronger Talent, recently analysed the backgrounds of more than 300 fit tech executives to provide insights into recruiting strategies, as Pete Leibman explains

Published in Fit Tech 2021 issue 1

For the Fitness Tech Leadership Report we analysed the backgrounds of fit tech CEOs, other C-suite executives (i.e. CFO, COO, CTO, CMO, CHRO, etc.), senior vice presidents, vice presidents, senior directors and directors. The leaders in our study represent a variety of functions, including sales, marketing, strategy, business development, product management, technology, finance, operations and human resources.

Our study focused exclusively on executives based in the US, although a small percentage of the executives in our study work for companies that are headquartered outside the US.

At the time of our study, the executives that we analysed were employed by more than 50 of the world’s top fit tech companies, across the fit tech sub-categories of fitness wearables, connected fitness, streaming fitness and fitness apps. This group of companies includes:

• Fit tech start-ups of various sizes and stages

• Fit tech companies that are more mature and/or publicly-traded

• Fit tech business units inside of larger organisations

• The top four fit tech hubs in the US

Our research indicates that there are four primary hubs in the US where the large majority of fit tech companies and executives are based. Over 75 per cent of the executives in our study were based in one of these four areas. In addition, over 68 per cent of the companies in our study have their global headquarters or US headquarters in one of these areas:

1. New York Metro Area

2. San Francisco Bay Area

3. Greater Los Angeles Area

4. Greater Boston Area

Fewer than 25 per cent of executives analysed (in total) were based in all other US cities combined.

Men greatly outnumber women in fit tech
Our research indicates that men greatly outnumber women in fit tech, especially as you move up in many companies. Over 68 per cent of all executives identified in our study were men.

Women only made up about 40 per cent of the directors, senior directors and vice presidents. In addition, less than 25 per cent of C-Suite and SVP positions were occupied by women, and less than 16 per cent of CEO positions were occupied by women.

Our findings on gender diversity are pretty consistent with McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2019, the most comprehensive, annual study of the state of women in corporate America.

Most fit tech executives don’t come from fitness or sports
Our research indicates that the large majority of fit tech executives had no prior full-time work experience in the fitness or sports industries before joining their current fit tech company. Over 88 per cent of the CEOs in our study (most of whom are also founders) had no prior full-time work experience in fitness or sports. As for the other (non-CEO) executives in our study, over 80 per cent had no prior full-time work experience in fitness or sports.

Where do executives usually work before fitness tech?
We analysed which companies and industries the executives in our study had worked in during the last ten years (including their current employer).

Our study found that fit tech executives come from a wide variety of industries. However, two industries definitely stand out as the most common:

1. Consumer internet: This includes e-commerce businesses, mobile apps (including fitness apps), and social media platforms.

2. Consumer electronics: This includes companies that make devices used for communications, recreation, and entertainment. Companies that make fitness hardware (i.e. fitness trackers and connected fitness products) also fit into the broader category of consumer electronics.

There was a significant drop-off in the frequency of industry experience after these two industries. The next five most common industries were media and entertainment, healthcare, enterprise software, consulting and advisory services, and financial services and private equity.

Only about five per cent of executives had recent full-time work experience in health clubs or boutique fitness and only about five per cent had recent full-time work experience in sporting goods or fitness equipment. Other industries that showed up but were not common include retail and apparel, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and hospitality and leisure (HL).

Recommendations
Fit tech is poised for significant growth and competition in the years to come, especially as tech giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon increase their participation in the market. Companies that are able to attract and retain the best people will be well-positioned for future success, while companies that fail to do so will struggle to survive.

While our full report provides much more extensive recommendations, here are three quick tips, based on our research and experience:

1. Make diversity a bigger priority
Diversity is not only a social and moral cause. Research has shown that a more diverse workforce is also correlated with higher employee engagement scores, along with greater profitability.

2. Expand your recruiting geography
The shutdown has made many people more comfortable with remote work. In addition to local recruiting, target top performers in regions where your company does not have any physical office locations. If your company presents a compelling value proposition, you might attract some great people.

3. Pursue candidates from new talent pools
Many fitness tech companies recruit primarily from talent pools that are fairly narrow. However, there is tremendous value in expanding your efforts. Identify some additional industries, categories and companies where your company will begin searching for talent as well.

Download the report

You can download the full 30-page Fitness Tech Leadership Report for free here

Pete Leibman is the founder of Stronger Talent, a boutique executive search firm that serves innovative companies in the fitness, sports and wellness industries.

Sign up here to get Fit Tech's weekly ezine and every issue of Fit Tech magazine free on digital.
Gallery
More features
Editor's letter

Into the fitaverse

Fitness is already among the top three markets in the metaverse, with new technology and partnerships driving real growth and consumer engagement that looks likely to spill over into health clubs, gyms and studios
Fit Tech people

Ali Jawad

Paralympic powerlifter and founder, Accessercise
Users can easily identify which facilities in the UK are accessible to the disabled community
Fit Tech people

Hannes Sjöblad

MD, DSruptive
We want to give our users an implantable tool that allows them to collect their health data at any time and in any setting
Fit Tech people

Jamie Buck

Co-founder, Active in Time
We created a solution called AiT Voice, which turns digital data into a spoken audio timetable that connects to phone systems
Profile

Fahad Alhagbani: reinventing fitness

Let’s live in the future to improve today
Opinion

Building on the blockchain

For small sports teams looking to compete with giants, blockchain can be a secret weapon explains Lars Rensing, CEO of Protokol
Innovation

Bold move

Our results showed a greater than 60 per cent reduction in falls for individuals who actively participated in Bold’s programme
App analysis

Check your form

Sency’s motion analysis technology is allowing users to check their technique as they exercise. Co-founder and CEO Gal Rotman explains how
Profile

New reality

Sam Cole, CEO of FitXR, talks to Fit Tech about taking digital workouts to the next level, with an immersive, virtual reality fitness club
Profile

Sohail Rashid

The app is free and it’s $40 to participate in one of our virtual events
Ageing

Reverse Ageing

Many apps help people track their health, but Humanity founders Peter Ward and Michael Geer have put the focus on ageing, to help users to see the direct repercussions of their habits. They talk to Steph Eaves
App analysis

Going hybrid

Workout Anytime created its app in partnership with Virtuagym. Workout Anytime’s Greg Maurer and Virtuagym’s Hugo Braam explain the process behind its creation
Research

Physical activity monitors boost activity levels

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have conducted a meta analysis of all relevant research and found that the body of evidence shows an impact
Editor's letter

Two-way coaching

Content providers have been hugely active in the fit tech market since the start of the pandemic. We expect the industry to move on from delivering these services on a ‘broadcast-only’ basis as two-way coaching becomes the new USP
Fit Tech People

Laurent Petit

Co-founder, Active Giving
The future of sports and fitness are dependent on the climate. Our goal is to positively influence the future of our planet by instilling a global vision of wellbeing and a sense of collective action
Fit Tech People

Adam Zeitsiff

CEO, Intelivideo
We don’t just create the technology and bail – we support our clients’ ongoing hybridisation efforts
Fit Tech People

Anantharaman Pattabiraman

CEO and co-founder, Auro
When you’re undertaking fitness activities, unless you’re on a stationary bike, in most cases it’s not safe or necessary to be tied to a screen, especially a small screen
Fit Tech People

Mike Hansen

Managing partner, Endorphinz
We noticed a big gap in the market – customers needed better insights but also recommendations on what to do, whether that be customer acquisition, content creation, marketing and more
More features