Podcast: Scaling a Wellness Icon: Lessons from Merrithew®’s CEO

[00:00:02] Jim Heidenreich We’re seeing a lot of people getting into Pilates, new segments, because of everything we’ve been talking about. It works. It helps mobility, it helps relieve pain, it helps you do what you want to do better. It’s really a very exciting time. I’ve been in a lot of industries in my career. Some of the sectors I’ve been in—I’ve worked for some pretty global companies—I can say I’ve never seen a category grow globally with the intensity that is happening. So not only do we have new customers in new segments coming in, we also have geography that’s changing. We’re seeing growth around the world.

[00:00:38] Nate Pund Welcome to Capital Revolution, the podcast that brings you to the table for conversations you won’t hear anywhere else in alternative capital. Today I’m joined by Jim Heidenreich, CEO of Merrithew, the Toronto-based global leader in mindful movement, equipment, and education. Jim brings more than 30 years of senior leadership experience across consumer, health and wellness, and sporting goods, and has guided Merrithew through a period of meaningful transformation and international expansion. I’ve had the chance to follow this brand closely as part of my work in the active lifestyle sector, and I’m excited to dig into what makes Merrithew tick. Today, we’ll explore how the company became a global platform, how Jim thinks about the intersection of brand, innovation, and education, and what the future of the wellness equipment market looks like from the inside. Really appreciate your being here. I have to say, as a fellow Chicago-born resident, I’d love to understand—how did you end up in Toronto running a fitness company? Tell us your background.

[00:01:41] Jim Heidenreich Alright. Well, thanks, Nate. I’m glad to be here. I have to say this is my first podcast, so I’m really excited, and go Bears, right? We say that every year. So actually, maybe I’ll start just giving a quick few seconds on my background that'll lead into kind of why we’re here talking. From the Midwest, like you said, we’re both from the Chicago area, so that’s fantastic. I actually went to UWM, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, for undergrad, and then got my MBA at University of Oregon. And I’ve been lucky in my career that I’ve worked in health and wellness quite a bit. I’ve worked in both durables and consumable products. I’ve been in fitness products, sporting goods, bicycles, sleeping products, sports nutrition. I’ve really had a lucky career that I’ve been able to work in industries where we’ve been able to help people live healthier lives. I’ve also worked for private equity portfolio companies multiple times, and so have that experience of coming in, leading, growing, transforming companies. Most recently, I was actually in Indianapolis working for Certor Sports, and we did stuff—on-field protective equipment for NFL, NCAA, primarily football helmets and shoulder pads, which I absolutely loved. And I was CEO there, and I was living in Indianapolis. I’ve always been active. I have done multiple Ironmans, I’ve done triathlons, I’ve done marathons, half marathons. And so, at Certor, we were in Indianapolis, I was training for a half marathon, and my knees were hurting, my hips were hurting. It’s just, I’m getting old, and was like, I’ve got to figure out something how I can improve my running. And my wife and I tried yoga, and I didn’t really like that. And then we tried Pilates, and actually, really enjoyed that. And so did that a little bit, actually did the Indianapolis half marathon, which was very cool by the way. As a runner, I know, you enjoy this, but you actually—two and a half miles, you run on the Indianapolis Speedway, which is very cool, I have to say so.

[00:03:37] Nate Pund I had no idea about that. That must have been fantastic!

[00:03:39] Jim Heidenreich It was very cool. When you cross the bricks, and you see the iconic dark finish line. It was pretty cool. But anyway, so yeah, I had done Pilates, and that was completely separate from all of a sudden, I don’t know, it was like six, seven months later, a recruiter called me up and told me about a position with this company, which I had not heard of, but in the Pilates industry. And I was like, well, I know Pilates. And so anyway, so I did some research on Merrithew, and just absolutely loved everything about it. I loved the positioning. I loved the story. So, all three, I have three boys, they’re all in the States, so they are all out of school, so my wife and I kind of packed up and came up to Toronto, and here I am on a podcast talking to you. So, long story to a quick question, right?

[00:04:27] Nate Pund It’s a great story because I know your background in terms of being across the entire sports and fitness industry. And it’s funny, I didn’t realize that’s how you got into Pilates, because I had the same issue. I played in a men’s hockey league, and I never thought of Pilates as a path and my wife got me into it. I’ve never been so humbled in a workout. It was, it was stunning. I bet you had the same experience.

[00:04:47] Jim Heidenreich Well, I sure learned that my left and my right side are not equal.

[00:04:51] Nate Pund Yes.

[00:04:52] Jim Heidenreich And I overcompensate for a lot of stuff. I do that in life, but sure with my body, too.

[00:04:56] Nate Pund I’m sure that experience it really helped transform your view and some of your passion in terms of being the leader of Merrithew, because you really see firsthand how different that workout really is and how it really works with you in a very, very different level.

[00:05:13] Jim Heidenreich Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I mean, and that’s why I get so excited about not only where Pilates is, but where I think it’s going, is because it works. And that’s the reality of it. It does work and your alignment, your breath, your posture, your feet alignment, it’s just, if you do it right, it helps you do other things. It helps you run better, it helps you play golf better. And so, I think that’s why it’s going to continue to grow.

[00:05:38] Nate Pund Which is a great segue into you now being the CEO of Merrithew, and candidly the leader in the category, to talk a little bit about the business in terms of how it’s evolved, what it is, and then we’ve got a couple acquisitions we need to talk about as well, because you’ve been busy.

[00:05:53] Jim Heidenreich Oh, we’ve been busy. I think one thing I want to make sure is: Pilates is growing, and there’s a lot of excitement around it, around the world, and new companies are entering. But I think what’s important to remember, and one of the things I want to make sure people know, is Merrithew is probably one of, if not the only one, that actually has a company that has direct lineage to Joseph Pilates. I mean, if you look at the history of the company, Moira Stott—that was her maiden name, and then she married into Merrithew—was a professional dancer back in the eighties. She got injured, and then she found her way to New York and actually studied at Joseph Pilates’ original studio, not with Joseph Pilates, but his protégé, Romana Kryzanowska, I probably butchered that, but who had taken over his studio after his death. So, Moira, who was one removed from Joseph Pilates, and she stayed there and was kind of training under Romana for a few years. And then she moved back with her husband, Lindsay Merrithew, and they opened a studio in Toronto. And they were running that studio, and so she took everything she learned from her time in New York, her rehab experience, she did a lot of research in biomechanics, her client business, and really developed a contemporary approach to Pilates that emphasized some of the things we were just talking about: spinal alignment, posture, movement efficiency. And in essence, that became the Stott Pilates method, which is where we are today. So, the company, going back to the question, really started in education, and then the equipment followed and developed, and was formed to support the method. And then, if you fast-forward today, just a little bit about the company, we really operate in three segments. We have the equipment, we have the education, and we have content. On the equipment side, we do have the Merrithew brand. And as you mentioned, we purchased a brand called Align-Pilates not too long ago, which really gives us two unique brands: one at the premium and one at the value segments. On the education side, of course, we have Stott Pilates. That’s well known around the world, and the model really revolves around training the trainer. So, we train trainers, and then they provide instruction in studios across the world, which is fantastic. It’s a proprietary curriculum, unique to us, like I said, Moira developed it almost 40 years ago, and it’s still as strong as ever. And then the third segment is really content, and I’m actually sitting here in our production studio, and we provide industry-leading content to support the studios, and we do that through digital platforms that we have and recurring subscription revenue.

[00:08:39] Nate Pund Which is just really amazing when, particularly for both of us who have been around this, the sporting goods industry and the wellness market for so long, to have a company that not only makes the product, but educates you on the product, teaches you the product, grows with you and the product. I mean, that’s the equivalent of somebody handing me a baseball bat and telling me how to do it, or a pair of skis and how to go down the slopes. That’s really distinctive, I would say, in terms of anything I’ve seen in the marketplace.

[00:09:04] Jim Heidenreich Well, I think it’s that ecosystem. You’re exactly right. We’re really integrated across all three segments, and we keep them all in mind. And when we do one thing, if we do something in education, we think about how does it affect the equipment, or if we have an equipment idea, we want to make sure we have curriculum and education to go along with it. And then today, in today’s digital world, having access to great content—I mean, the company has always been in content. We have DVDs. We were doing content back in the eighties and, you know, on DVDs. And so, being able to provide that so that people could see how to do the exercise, how to use the equipment, how to do the education, not only in person but wherever they may be via digital assets, is very important.

[00:09:49] Nate Pund No, absolutely. And you’ve now added to your stable of brands there. Do you want to talk about your most recent acquisition? Because it’s an impressive one.

[00:09:57] Jim Heidenreich Our vision is to transform lives through mindful movement. And we really believe that’s important. And obviously, Pilates is part of that. And, but we’re a mindful movement company. And so, we just acquired a, it just closed last week, actually, after this, I’m jumping on a plane and taking an overnight flight to Germany to work with the founder, but we just acquired Gyrotonic, which is very exciting. It’s a modality that is in mindful movement, but it’s not Pilates. It does involve strength, mobility, spinal rotation. There is an element of education and trainers involved, and equipment, which we love. But it’s unique to Pilates, and where Pilates really focuses on kind of core strength, the Gyrotonic modality or method works on mobility and spinal rotation, so the two really work nicely together, but they have different education tracks, different equipment. Yeah, we’re really excited about it.

[00:10:56] Nate Pund That’s fantastic because it makes great sense as we continue to look at the body and all the different parts and all of the different attention they need. How do you see this playing into the Merrithew ecosystem, Jim? Do you think this is going to be the same machine in the same studio, a different studio? Somebody, like, cause to your point, they’re addressing different issues in the user’s body and different ways of strengthening that mindful and health connection.

[00:11:22] Jim Heidenreich I think it’s going to be a little bit of both. I think the Gyrotonic model is very strong in the rehab segment, which is exciting, although we on the Merrithew side do some rehab. This makes us a stronger player in rehab, which I love. I do know—and I’ve traveled the world and seen many of our training partners, we have 350 training partners around the world who help us with education on a local basis because of language, because of culture—and I do know some of our partners already do have Gyrotonic equipment, so there is some overlap. But I’ve also, since this announcement, had a lot of our partners reach out to us and say, I’d love to learn more and look to get involved. So, I think there is some overlap, but from a business standpoint, we’re going to keep the two modalities separate. I think there’s some exciting things we can do on the back end—efficiencies, shared services—but we really want to keep each modality, whether it’s Stott Pilates or whether it is Gyrotonic, unique and true to its DNA because they are different, although they play nicely together.

[00:12:25] Nate Pund That’s a good segue to understand the market a little bit more broadly. Now that you’ve talked about how you guys are addressing a consumer’s need. And part of what you’re talking about is rehabilitation. Look, I will confess, I’m one of those weekend warriors now who’s gotten a little older, I’ve gone through my own physical therapy for all the different sports I play, and have come to realize where something like Pilates and now Gyrotonic is not just a way of being fit, but a way of excelling and improving and rehabilitating. And you guys are really trying to capture that entire market, particularly with a population that is now, I would say, better educated. What my 15-year-old son knows now about being healthy is completely different than what you and I grew up on, Jim, the days of-

[00:13:08] Jim Heidenreich Rub some dirt on it!

[00:13:10] Nate Pund Yeah, exactly. Run a couple laps, do some pushups, and call it a day. But I’d love to understand how you see the market evolving. How two older guys now have gone through Pilates and found it so helpful, where Gyrotonic can be helpful. I mean, there’s a lot more to this market than just a boutique modality for sure.

[00:13:28] Jim Heidenreich Oh, without question. I think coming out of COVID, look at health and wellness has changed. And I think people are looking for solutions that support a lot of things. They support strength, mobility, longevity, obviously, is a buzzword now, mental well-being. They want something that’s sustainable, not just an intense workout. And we’re seeing that at all levels. We’re seeing Gen Z and Millennials are spending a lot more on fitness and wellness. We are seeing fitness, health, and wellness identity, you know, tying to people’s identity, their social engagement. Obviously, social media has played a big role in this. Really looking at long-term health and wellness habits. So, because of all that’s happening, what we’re seeing in the Pilates specifically is they’re really moving away from boutique niche to mainstream. And we’re seeing expansion. Pilates has been around almost 100 years. I think Joseph Pilates’ first studio they opened was in 1926. That was 100 years ago. But because people’s expectations of what they want now out of longevity and health and wellness, a chain, Pilates is moving from being that boutique kind of modality that’s been around for 100 years to fitness chains, hospitality, corporate wellness, universities, rehab, like I talked earlier, are really starting to get into it. So, we see different segments and verticals getting into Pilates, but we also see new customers coming in. We talked about us kind of old guys, but athletes, active aging, maybe we’ll put us in active aging.

[00:14:59] Nate Pund There we go. Thank you, thank you.

[00:15:01] Jim Heidenreich But, performance, pre- and post-natal. So, we’re seeing a lot of people getting into Pilates, new segments because of everything we’ve been talking about—it works. It helps mobility, it helps relieve pain, it helps you do what you want to do better. So, it’s really a very exciting time. I’ve been in a lot of industries in my career. I said some of the sectors I’ve been in, and I’ve worked for some from pretty global companies. I can say I’ve never seen a category grow globally with the intensity that is happening. So not only do we have new customers and new segments coming in, we also have geography that’s changing. We’re seeing growth around the world. Obviously, North America is a big market, but right now, probably our biggest growth market is Europe. APAC is very strong. Before the war, Middle East was very strong, and we are optimistic that’s going to come back because we have some great partners over there. I’ve been in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, and we have fantastic partners in that region. So, it’s changing on a lot of fronts.

[00:16:06] Nate Pund I agree with you. From my vantage point, as the global head of the active lifestyle group covering both fitness and then more broadly all the outdoor and sporting good products, I’ve certainly seen that transformation where workouts were once thought of just as a chore of something that you have to do and now it’s very much something that you want to do. And it’s very much about building community, fun, wellness, relationships, togetherness, and then also building for the broader activities in terms of all the sports that you pursue. It’s this interconnectiveness and this kind of this flywheel that I’ve just never seen in the decades covering. And look, it makes all sense. We’re great examples of that in terms of not only is it a good activity that we like to do, not only is it good for us, but it helps us do what we want to go do, and have more fun in life.

[00:16:52] Jim Heidenreich And you said a word that I just constantly come back to, and I do believe it’s unique in Pilates, is community. It really, I actually shouldn’t say it’s unique in Pilates, because I’m seeing in the Gyrotonic community and as I’m starting to get involved in, I’ve had some town halls with, there they have master trainers around the world, very similar to the way we have in Stott Pilates. Community is just so important and people want to belong. I mean, I guess that goes beyond Pilates and Gyrotonic. I know running clubs are becoming communities. And so, it’s just, there’s stuff happening in society that, again, mindful movement, Pilates, Gyrotonic, and we’re really able to take advantage of because we deliver on what customers want from that perspective.

[00:17:36] Nate Pund Oh, absolutely. And I agree with you. I don’t call up my buddies and rally around a tennis racket I just used to catch the latest craze that the pickleball paddle that I’m using. It just doesn’t have that same connectivity. It’s not that same experience. And that’s where I think it’s so unique, the ecosystem that you guys have built, not only in terms of the tailwinds that you have in terms of where people are going and how good it is in words, fulfilling, but what you do to support them, which leads to a good question—two questions that you kind of raised is: One, how do you continue to compete? Where do you see that product roadmap and that innovation? And then, as you rightly pointed out, this isn’t just about North America. This is very much a global marketplace at the end of the day. And you were one of the few people capable of serving that global marketplace. So, I would love to get your vision and how you guys are going about it.

[00:18:22] Jim Heidenreich When we look at product development, we really look at it holistically, and we don’t look at just the equipment. We really look at product development as it relates to education as well. So, one of the things as we’re thinking about where the industry is going, I should have mentioned this earlier, while we have education, content, and equipment, we also have a studio. And we have, in downtown Toronto, we have seven, well, we have one studio, but there’s seven different rooms for education only and three are for client business. So, we run client business and we’ll have a few thousand people go through our facility whether as a client taking a class or students coming from around the world from an education standpoint every year. So, we’re interacting with customers constantly and so-

[00:19:14] Nate Pund And from around the world, like you say. I mean, I’ve been to your studio. People are flying, and seeing that, it’s amazing. It’s like Easton Baseball Bats hosting their own ballpark at Yankee Stadium. It’s really remarkable what you guys have created there.

[00:19:24] Jim Heidenreich It’s exciting, isn’t it? I mean, the energy—I get so inspired every time I’m in the office. I travel quite a bit, but I love going into that facility because I mean, that’s our customer. That customer is in there every day. And so, we can see trends, we can see what’s happening, we can talk to them, we can try new curriculum, or if we have an idea for something, we have that kind of built-in test audience. But they’re also there to learn. They’re there to better their craft, and we do a lot of listening. And then we think about how do we want to make sure that we interact product development and programming. We think about the education and the instructor. How is it going to happen at the class level? Will it create a more engaged client? What are the biomechanics of it? So, from a product development standpoint, we look at it from a lot of different angles and keep all, kind of, the segments of our business in mind. Right now, we’re working on quite a few new, exciting products. We just launched, just recently, at the latest FIBO, a wood reformer. And that’s the first time—we have not been in the wood category before, so we’re very excited about that. And we’re looking at some connective products as well, and looking at how do we use technology, not again, just for technology’s sake, but how do we gather information that allows us to be better educators, better instructors, create better curriculum, and use data to not only have a great experience and engagement with the customer that may be using the product, but use that to better our education as well.

[00:20:57] Nate Pund How do you guys accomplish that globally? Because I remember you told me, I can’t remember offhand, but how many markets you’re in. It was stunning where your equipment is and what you guys are doing around the world. I mean, that’s a lot.

[00:21:09] Jim Heidenreich Yeah, I think we’re in over 100 countries. And it comes down, I’ll say, the one word is partnership. We have great partners around the world. We have, like I said, I think over 350 education partners. We have 250 ITs, which we call them—instructor trainers—and those are people who have had advanced training, years, in reality, it takes a year to two years to become an IT where they can go and travel the world to train the trainer. So, it’s very rigorous on the education side. And then we have partners, they will go to our partners around the world and train in those locations. Sometimes, a lot of times, with translators, because you’re talking about cultures and languages. And we also have, I bet, over 80 distributors. So, we have great distributor partners; in some areas, we sell direct, but we have distributors. Which is very important because that last mile, making sure that product set up in the studios or the fitness centers correctly, service, spare parts, so it’s very important to have, kind of those local expertise distributors. So, between 350 education partners, 80 distributors around the world, our ITs, yeah, we reach all the corners of the world.

[00:22:23] Nate Pund And that’s exactly right, Jim, because I don’t think a lot of people understand this. This isn’t just a product you send in the mail, and then you say goodbye to somebody. This is developing a long-term relationship in terms of a studio, individual fitness chain, whatever it is; using this takes some tender love and care. But then also ongoing is what I don’t think people understand, is the true flywheel that represents. Your instructor trainers are truly ones that are passionate about learning the system and then are really evangelists in terms of spreading the gospel and helping future sales in terms of what they do.

[00:22:56] Jim Heidenreich Without question. They’re the front line. What continues to amaze me, they work so hard, and they are so passionate about what they do. And passion is a word you can’t overemphasize with our people. They absolutely care about educating, they care about the client, they care about the experience that they’re creating, and they not only talk about the education, but they are trained on our equipment, so they understand the equipment. And a lot of those trainers will eventually become studio owners themselves. When they become a studio owner, then they know the quality of our equipment, and they buy our equipment, or they will work for someone at a fitness center, and they’ll be an influencer. They’re passionate about education, but then they also are kind of that, as you say, they are the influencers that frontline zealot of talking about the brand and what it can do. And again, we talk about competition, and there’s a lot of competition out there, but what we believe is if we produce results, people are going to come back. And that’s why we have such rigor in our education and such strong quality standards on our product. Because if people have a good experience, they get results, then we believe they’ll come back, and that just builds on itself.

[00:24:20] Nate Pund You’re absolutely right. I’ve never seen a category again, either in fitness or the broader active lifestyle, where people are so passionate about that. And I think to your point, it’s about understanding the system at its core, but really delivering the true differentiated experience and the benefits of what Pilates really does at the end of the day. Another great segue, given your global footprint and all that you’ve got going on, you’re clearly not doing this alone, managing this out of Toronto. How are you doing this? How are you leveraging the team? How are you leveraging your experience? How have you been able to manage, which is, it seems like lightning in a bottle to us in this perspective?

[00:24:59] Jim Heidenreich Well, it’s all about, I guess, making sure you get the right vision. You set expectations. We’re lucky we work in a category that people are passionate. And so, we have our culture, we have values, and we have our mission and vision, and we talk about that. And we make sure that we hire people that meet that. Because we want passionate people. We want people that want to work in the category and for a company that wants to do good and help people live healthier lives. So, I think it’s about culture, I think it’s setting expectations, and making sure that we get the people in who understand that. I’ll tell you, it’s not hard to attract people. People want to work for this company, and they want to work in this industry. And what I’m very excited about is, as we’ve been acquiring companies, we bought Align-Pilates back about 18, I think it's about 18 months ago. We now have an office in U.K., and with Gyrotonic, we actually will have a U.S. entity. We’re close to finalizing an entity in China. As we’re growing through bolt-on acquisitions, it’s also given us the ability to grow regionally with different offices and have people in other parts of the world, which I think is very exciting. But it all gets back to hiring the right person, and making sure you set expectations, they know what they’re getting into, they have that passion, and then it goes from there.

[00:26:28] Nate Pund You’re clearly leading by example, Jim, which is an important attribute that I really take. I can see that I’ve met some of your teammates in terms of, I’ve been to your studios, and I see what that means in terms of building that culture from the top and then making sure that extends consistently around the world. You’ve done a hell of a job, which leads me to our rapid-fire segment.

[00:26:51] And now it’s time for your quick-fire questions.

[00:26:56] Nate Pund I always love to understand somebody’s first job. Like what was your first job? First experience? We’ve got a lot of different listeners who are at different stages in their careers and can benefit from fantastic advice of someone who now really reaches the pinnacle in terms of where you are.

[00:27:10] Jim Heidenreich I did newspapers. I’m not going to count, kind of like, collecting-

[00:27:13] Nate Pund Been there, done that as well.

[00:27:15] Jim Heidenreich Cans and newspapers, I remember going to people’s basements and pulling out old newspapers when they used to tie the newspaper, with my wagon, and then I had the paper route, and I collect cans and bottles, but let’s not count that. I mean, the first job was really when I was kind of in school, and I worked in the mailroom of an ad agency. That’s literally what I did. I pushed the cart. This was old school. I had the mail cart, so I had the mailroom. I had to sort all the mail, and then I put it in the cart, and then I pushed the cart around. And I talked to people. And I met everybody, and quite honestly, my undergrad, I actually wanted to go into advertising. I wanted to be a graphic designer, but my career—I wouldn’t be here talking to you! I don’t know what I’d be doing if I went that route because I was not going to make a living at that. But no, I was in a mailroom of an ad agency pushing a cart.

[00:28:05] Nate Pund And you’ve clearly, as we talked about at the top, gone through a number of different positions and had tremendous success. Any career advice you have for me? Any good lessons learned? Things that you still reflect upon and draw on today?

[00:28:16] Jim Heidenreich Well, I know I’m a broken record, but I think it’s: Do something you’re passionate about. I love staying curious. I’m always looking to learn. I think once you, you think you know it all, you’re done. So, I’m always pushing myself. I’m always thinking, okay, you know what, is there a different way to look at it? Anticipate questions. But I think have passion and stay curious would be two things I’d say.

[00:28:38] Nate Pund Sure. Sure. And I also know you’re a big traveler, as we talked about. Any hacks you have there for the rest of us slogging through flights around the world?

[00:28:45] Jim Heidenreich Do not miss workouts. I tell you, that is the best. I do not get jet lag, and maybe I should be proud, maybe I shouldn’t be proud, I don’t know. But people will actually comment on it that I don’t get jet lag because I always get my workouts in. I will make sure that I plan it where I can either get in, get a run in after I land, or if I get in late, make sure I get a workout in the morning, and a lot of it is just getting on the treadmill and getting a few miles in, but I’ll tell you that is game-changing, I think. It gets the endorphins going, it gets the blood moving, and it knocks out jet lag. So, works for me!

[00:29:21] Nate Pund I’m right there with you, Jim. It’s critical to me. It’s critical in terms of managing stress, managing jet lag, and all of that. Well, Jim, you’ve been fantastic. Thanks for the time today. This has been fantastic to hear your story here about Merrithew, all the success you had, and again, thank you for being here. We wish you all the best.

[00:29:39] Jim Heidenreich Nate, thank you so much for inviting me. This was officially a lot of fun.

[00:29:45] Nate Pund What makes Merrithew a compelling story is a combination of a truly defensible market position, nearly 40 years of history, direct lineage to Joseph Pilates, and operations in over 100 countries with a business model where equipment, education, and content actively reinforce one another. Certified instructors become studio owners, driving equipment purchases, and subscribe to digital content, creating a loyalty loop that generates recurring revenue that’s rare in consumer wellness. And with recent acquisitions in Align-Pilates and Gyrotonic, plus new entities being established in the U.K., U.S. and China, this is a management team that is clearly playing offense. The takeaway for listeners is: The most durable businesses and consumer aren’t built on product alone. They’re built on ecosystem. And Jim and his team are a master class in exactly that. Thank you for listening to Capital Revolution. For more insights, visit HoulihanLokey.com. If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review on your podcast platform of choice.