Aviron CEO Andy Hoang discusses how the connected fitness brand pivoted from B2B wholesale to DTC during the pandemic, emphasizing sustainable growth over rapid expansion. The episode offers valuable lessons on navigating a cooling economic climate in the fitness industry, the strategic advantages of bootstrapping followed by accelerator involvement, and how to avoid layoffs through controlled growth. This is a must-listen for DTC founders seeking resilient growth strategies.
Aviron, which makes a connected rowing machine that starts at about $1,800, is taking a more sustainable growth approach than counterparts like Peloton. The company launched a couple of years before the pandemic hit. The focus was on bootstrapping and slowly building a business via B-to-B sales from wholesalers that would sell to hotels and other large businesses. But then the pandemic hit and the company had to switch its business model. While it did lose money during the first half of 2020, Aviron was able to completely transform itself into a DTC fitness brand -- and has been seeing growth ever since. Founder and CEO Andy Hoang joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about Aviron's transformation as a fitness brand. One of the ways Aviron was really able to hit its stride was by joining Y Combinator in 2021. Up until then, the company had been mostly bootstrapped. That wasn't by choice, but because Hoang had yet to find an investor to take the leap. But, according to Hoang, the industry cachet the accelerator program provides really paves the way for future investments. "As soon as we got into Y Combinator, a lot of those same investors who said no to us and didn't give us more than five or 10 minutes of their time were asking us: Hey, can we really participate in this round?" Hoang said. Thanks to this funding the company has been able to grow. It now has about 60 employees. And while demand for fitness has cooled of late, the company has not had to make any big cuts or layoffs. Hoang credits this to his focus on making sure sustainability was in front of growth. This is in contrast to some other players he's been watching. "I love Peloton as a brand, I think they've done great things," Hoang said. "I don't understand how they hired so many people in such a short period of time." But even with the industry cooldown, Hoang is still very bullish on the future. "There's going to be a lot of consolidation, and there's going to be a lot of companies that