ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia describes the immediate impact of COVID-19 government lockdown mandates on the company's partner fitness studios in March 2020.
Disclosure
Kadakia: ClassPass Listed Fitness Studios Without Agreements to Prove Demand
“There were certain studios that we just put on the platform where we didn't have like full agreements with yet. Because we just wanted to test and, you know, we started sending them so much traffic that they would call us up and say, Hey, like, who are you guy…”
Insight
Payal Kadakia rejects work-life balance, favoring structured systems instead
“And look, I never believed in the word balance, and I don't think you can have it, but I knew I needed a system that the same way I was able to accomplish every dream I had professionally, I didn't understand why I didn't have that system. Personally.”
Insight
Kadakia: Fitness Booking Struggles Because Working Out Is Aspirational, Not Utility
“And so something with like airline tickets, like you already made the decision to go, or if you're going to go eat, you're going to eat. Eating is, is a utility. Like you're going to eat. Right. And that was the difference where working out and going to these …”
Insight
Kadakia: Aggregator CAC is More Efficient Due to Higher Lifetime Value
“The synergies, right, of a company like ClassPass being able to do customer acquisition for an entire industry, right, where a class is, you know, 25, 30 dollars is just obviously more efficient when we're selling a product that has a bigger lifetime, right? W…”
Opinion
Mindbody acquiring ClassPass was a matter of when, not if, says Kadakia
“So I do believe it was a matter of when, not if, these two companies would come together, and I think given everything that the industry had gone through through the pandemic, we kind of knew that this was the right time to join forces”
Insight
Founders should not start a company expecting a specific acquirer, says Kadakia
“And on the opposite of that, I would also say, don't start a company thinking it's going to be acquired by this company or that company, right? I think a lot of times people box themselves into that.”