Bootstrapping a Virtual Company to 5 Million Plus: Nick Shaw, CEO of Renaissance Periodization (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Do you feel comfortable talking a bit about what it cost to get this kind of endorsement? How do you evaluate which influencer relationships should you take on versus not?

Nick Shaw: Something really important is making sure it’s a good match in terms of our brand. We’ve done some experiments. We’ve worked with some influencers that have a ton of followers. We just don’t get much in return. What we found was maybe their followers don’t match up with our brand. We have a lot of Ph.D.’s and registered dieticians.

A lot of times, some of these influencers’ followers demographics just don’t match up with that. We’ve seen that there’s not a lot of return in cases like that. Cases where we get the best returns are athletes in the spaces that we are currently in and people that are already serious about fitness. We get really good returns working with influencers in that space. It’s a good match. We experimented out of our niches. The returns haven’t been great. It’s a valuable lesson to learn. There has to be that brand match.

Sramana Mitra: What else is interesting in your strategy and worth discussing?

Nick Shaw: The way our team works. We don’t have a headquarters. All of our coaches and support staff work remotely all over the US. What’s unique about that is, we don’t have high overheads and costs. We don’t have an office. Everyone works from home. They get to set their own hours.

Sramana Mitra: It’s a virtual company.

Nick Shaw: Yes, absolutely. We are able to keep costs low, which gives us a lot more leverage in terms of being able to put more into marketing.

Sramana Mitra: We love virtual companies. We run a virtual company as well.

Nick Shaw: I can’t imagine doing it any other way. We have a couple of strategic partnerships. It’s just so much different. They have a huge warehouse. They have to ship. We don’t have any of that. It’s really great. That’s really appealing to folks whether it’s coaches or support staff.

Sramana Mitra: How many people are on the team right now?

Nick Shaw: Over 30.

Sramana Mitra: How many of those are coaches?

Nick Shaw: The current number is about 26 coaches and about seven support staff.

Sramana Mitra: How many customers are you servicing with this pool?

Nick Shaw: The diet template has been able to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

Sramana Mitra: How many paying subscribers are using the service?

Nick Shaw: We do have a membership platform. The diet templates are not a subscription-based. It’s a one-time fee. We have some cool stuff coming in 2019 which is a bit more membership focused. Everyone wants monthly recurring revenue. That’s going to be our focus going forward.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Bootstrapping a Virtual Company to 5 Million Plus: Nick Shaw, CEO of Renaissance Periodization
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