Table of Contents
- Return to Maverick Community update 🏡
- Return to Traction + Updates page to read previous months' updates
👍 Highlights
- Our website is live – www.maverick.community - and will continue to go through changes as we grow. Expect different photos, content, etc.
- Purchased www.maverickcommunity.com but will continue to use www.maverick.community as the URL
- Our new branding (logos, font, and colors) is done and live. Check it out here (and on the website). Our goal was to create something that gave a feeling of fun and inclusivity. We wanted to be very different from the typical rigid gym vibe.
- We added another wellness professional advisor, Magnus Lygdback, to the team. Magnus focuses on personal training and nutrition and has enjoyed excellent success training many celebrities training for movie roles.
- We have a growing list of 50+ trainers and other wellness professionals ready and waiting to use our studio space. The waiting list is all individuals via word of mouth (ex: trainers recommending their friends speak with us) - no prospecting yet (can't wait to prospect once we get our location).
- Michael had an opportunity to pitch Village Global VC through the OnDeck program. Anne Dwane, Co-Founder and Principal, gave valuable feedback. Watch the pitch and feedback here.
- We have published the first draft of our company values.
📚 Learnings
- The Casita Hollywood landlord pulled out two days before our scheduled buildout date. In addition to the wood ordered and the labor scheduled, we also had fitness equipment and silent disco equipment en route. We had to cancel as much as we could, but some things were too late to cancel (ex: spin bikes and some of the wood), and now we will have to warehouse the equipment until we find a new location.
- The landlord pulled out citing the downward curve of COVID-19 and their hope to use the space for events. Extremely disappointing as we also had a lot of trainers lined up and excited to use the site. Where is the sense of honoring one's word?
🏃 Next Moves
- Working on social media design - inspired by the recent Humans of New York Instagram post about Atoms. We love the idea of eventually doing similar stories about wellness professionals.
- Hats and sweatshirts are on order, and samples are on the way. Let us know if you want one :)
- Looking at potential ex-gym/ex-fitness boutique locations in NYC in addition to LA.
- Looking at a potential strategy to build container gyms on open plots of land waiting to be developed. This could be especially useful in underserved communities where there is plenty of available, unused plots of land.
- There may be an opportunity for a buildout at an open lot in Venice.
- Met with a great design and architect firm, Canoa, composed of ex-WeWork employees and understands the studio, flexible concept very well.
- Michael is taking a real estate course (Real Innovation Academy) focused on rethinking workplaces. The course is taught by Dror Poleg, the author of Rethinking Real Estate. There is an excess of vacant office and retail space, and we want to make sure to take advantage of it. Also, it will be a great way to network with successful individuals in the real estate world.
- Meeting with seed funders to underwrite the Executive Director position for our non-profit, Maverick Forward, and are hopeful to post a job announcement by the end of summer.
🙌 Asks
- Looking for potential partnership opportunities with fitness certification companies.
- Introductions to personal trainers, physical therapists, and other wellness professionals in Los Angeles. We would love to speak with anyone and everyone.
- Introductions to non-profit leaders doing impactful work in South LA related to entrepreneurship and/or fitness.
- Looking for potential CTO candidates to join the team. Please let us know if you know anyone!
🙏 Gratitude
- Pixie, Mariana, and Magnus for help thinking through the Casita Hollywood space, and for providing optimistic and positive thoughts once the deal fell through.
- Brett Greenstein for his design and space management expertise.
- Adidas for sending free spin shoes in support of Christian and because they believe in what we are doing!
- Katie Morris at Foundation Fitness for agreeing to store our spin bikes until we find a new location.
- Dante Iniguez for the thoughtful and aspirational branding design work.
- Alex Modell for making excellent connections in the real estate world.
- Alex de Aranzeta for helping craft the Village Global pitch. You are amazing!
- All of the wellness professionals who let me interview them: Leslie, Susie, Cornelius, Jeremy, Emmery, Eszylfie, Rachel, Lacey, Brynn, Geena, Kerry, Scott, Alexis, Sara, Hassan.
Thanks for your support. Please reach out if you'd like to learn more or talk further.
Michael@bemav.co
323.417.9300 (text/call)