Will The Rower Surpass The Bike? // Bruce Smith, Founder & CEO of Hydrow

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

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Will The Rower Surpass The Bike? // Bruce Smith, Founder & CEO of Hydrow

The Consumer VC episode #290 with Bruce Smith, Founder & CEO of Hydrow

Mike Gelb

Apr 11, 2023

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Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Bruce Smith, CEO and Founder of Hydrow. Hydrow is a connected home rowing machine that offers live and pre-recorded fitness content on demand, where the instructors are outside rowing on the water. This was a special episode for me. I first tried the Hydrow at a hotel gym when I was in San Diego and I loved the experience. A week later, Hydrow’s team happened to reach out asking if I’d interview Bruce.

We discuss:

Why the world needed a rower connected-fitness product
Prototyping & finding the right manufacturer
Why it was important to have the instructors on the water rowing
The ratio between treadmills, bikes and rowers at gyms
How he met Kevin Hart & became Creative Director
The current headwinds in connected fitness & much more

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Discussion about this podcast

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place.

Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription.

Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch.

This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled.

For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.

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