Page 37 - Entrepreneur-November 2018

P H C O U R T E S Y O F W E I G H T WAT C H E R S ( G R O S S M A N ) Jen Horonjeff I a $4.15 billion company by sell-

John Foley
Cofounder and CEO/ Savvy
Cofounder and CEO/ Peloton
Cooperative
Bold move/ Doubling down
Bold move/ Looking beyond
and doubling the price
loyal customers
n just six years, John Foley built
edical industry conferences
M often have a “patient repre-
sentative” sitting on panels, voic-
streaming boutique fitness classes
ing the needs of the patient. And
to living rooms. In early 2018, just
for a long time, that person very
as copycats were jumping on the
often was Jen Horonjeff. She was ing a $2,000 stationary bike and
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F S AV V Y ( H O R O N J E F F ) ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F P E L O T O N ( F O L E Y ) ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F S P O T I F Y ( E K ) ; P H O T O G R A
indoor-cycling-at-home band-
a patient-centered outcomes
wagon that Foley built, he picked
researcher at Columbia University
up the pace. Peloton announced
Medical Center, and has had juve-
Tread, an at-home treadmill that
nile arthritis since infancy. “I was
streams running-based, full-body
happy to help, but I also wanted
workout classes (similar to Barry’s
more diverse voices than just mine
Bootcamp). It costs $4,000, a price
represented,” she says. When she
tag that doubters scoffed at, but
suggested that panel organizers
presales skyrocketed anyway. Foley
broaden their reach, many said they
wasn’t surprised. “The treadmill
didn’t know where to look. That’s
market is five times bigger than the
when Horonjeff realized: The medi- Mindy Grossman
bike market, and customers were
cal industry may treat patients, but
asking for it,” he says. President and CEO/ Weight Watchers
it doesn’t do a good job of hearing Bold move/ Looking beyond loyal customers
from them.
Horonjeff figured she could fix his isn’t your mother’s Weight Watchers.
this problem. First she reached out When Mindy Grossman took the helm of the 55-year-
to her own networks and found a old company in July 2017, she knew the brand needed a
flood of patients eager to have their healthy makeover of its own. It felt dusty, like the product of
voices heard. Then she partnered a bygone era. So to start, the CEO set about upending com-
with Ronnie Sharpe (who grew up T mon misconceptions about the program. No, you don’t have
with cystic fibrosis and founded a to buy the food. You don’t have to attend the meetings. And
social network for others with the very critically: Weight Watchers is not only for female clien-
disease), and in 2017 the two offi- tele of a certain age.
cially launched Savvy Cooperative. “When you have a heritage brand, you have to myth-bust
The platform connects patients what you were versus what you are today,” says Grossman. “How
with healthcare companies, start- Daniel Ek do you get people to understand that this is a program for them?
ups, and researchers eager to CEO/ Spotify You have to partner with others who share the same goal—to inspire
reach them for focus groups, user Bold move/ Going public— people to lead healthier, better lives.”
testing, surveys, and one-on-one without investment banks That goal has led Grossman to make decisions that, even just a few
interviews. In the first year, patient years ago, nobody would have imagined from Weight Watchers (includ-
“gigs” (as the engagements are hen the music-streaming ing a just-announced name change to WW). For example, through an
called) ranged from testing a wear- W giant went public earlier this acquaintance with Roc Nation president Michael Yormark, Grossman
able device prototype to participat- year—a year that, to be kind, has had an unexpected meeting with someone who was newly focused
ing in a market research panel on been mixed for tech stocks—CEO on his health: rapper and producer DJ Khaled, who had recently wel-
metastatic breast cancer. Daniel Ek didn’t take the traditional comed a son. “He kind of had a revelation and really wanted to be
From the start, Horonjeff and route of working with investment healthier for his son and set a good example,” Grossman recalls.
Sharpe settled on a co-op model: banks to set an initial offering price. On New Year’s Day 2018, Weight Watchers announced its part-
Anyone can participate, but if peo- Instead, he bypassed Wall Street nership with Khaled. Utilizing his vast social reach—11 million
ple buy a share of the business (for completely and went public via direct Instagram followers and four million Twitter followers—the 43-year-
$34), they’re a member. The more listing, letting the market figure out a old DJ would document his progress on Weight Watchers’ just-
active members are—meaning fair price on its own. (Spotify didn’t launched WW Freestyle program. “It’s been so incredibly positive,”
the more gigs they complete—the need to raise money, so this ulti- Grossman says, “in people both supporting him and saying, ‘I want
larger their portion of the profits mately saved it unnecessary under- to do this, too.’ ”
at the end of the year. “We didn’t writing costs.) While many expected Weight Watchers has since added to its ranks of male brand
want to perpetuate the power the company’s shares to spike ambassadors with chef Eric Greenspan and actor-director Kevin
dynamic of a small number of peo- and crash repeatedly as a result, Smith, and Grossman has credited these new voices with helping
ple benefiting from a large number the offering was surprisingly calm: the company achieve a 29 percent subscriber increase year-over-
of people doing all this work,” she Shares opened at $165.90 and have year in the first quarter of 2018.
says. “Patients should have a voice since climbed consistently, a result “We’re seeing more men in the program, more diversity, [and] a
in what we do, and they should be that may inspire other startups to lot more conversation around the brand in the cultural vernacular,”
compensated for sharing their info.” ditch the big banks and go direct. says Grossman. “And that’s what’s important to us.”
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