So, if I hadnt been there, I guess that never would have happened. The rest, as they say, is history. I think people will always need this human connection that I just spoke about. That way, I didnt even have to push myself and could take the easy way out. flywheel ruth zukerman net worthhorse heaven hills road conditionshorse heaven hills road conditions Ruth Zukerman discovered spinning at a difficult crossroads in her life, and she was thrilled when it turned into her next entrepreneurial endeavor: opening her own spin studio. Flywheel is unlike any other indoor . And there really is no wrong decision. "Ruth Zukerman is an inspiration. Earlier this year, Flywheel lost a major legal battle to its competitor. Leibson: Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or blogs you would recommend? Ruth Zukerman - a co-founder of SoulCycle and Flywheel, Ruth Zukerman's rise to entrepreneurial stardom, began with the acceptance that her career as a dancer would never take off. I have to take a deep breath before this answer. the national park service is quizlet . That idea fell through. flywheel ruth zukerman net worth jeffrey dahmer museum milwaukee That was my introduction to group fitness which eventually turned into a career. Ruth Zukerman, Co-founder of indoor cycling businesses SoulCycle and Flywheel Sports and author of the book "Riding High: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel, and Built the Life I Always Wanted", joins Socialfly Co-founder Courtney Spritzer in the MouthMedia Network studios for a conversation about building her company and . on 25 August 2022, trading 915,000 units of FXLV stock currently worth $2,406,450. . Zukerman: This past weekend, I ran into an old friend of mine. I thought sure, Ill try that. And that really started my ball rolling in terms of not only leaving the marriage, but starting to really learn about who I am and who I was. [Laughs]. And the truth is, my two cofounders were similar to each other, but very different from me. And there were so many positive parts of it. Youve got another hour of these. At 51, she co-founded a new business, the highly successful Flywheel, and built the life she'd always dreamed of. So you get into spinning. And literally within the first class I knew that this was something beyond exercise. And the truth is I used a lot of qualities that are typically attached to women, and empathy is certainly one of them. Prior to becoming a certified indoor cycling instructor, she attended school at nearby Mount Holyoke College. Mike: Yeah. What was that process like of actually identifying a new market audience where there wasnt one already? And within the first session, I was asked to describe my marriage, and I did. Ruth and her allegedly lover, Cohn were spotted during outings. There are Flywheel folks in the audience. I was never exposed to business. You described some very key moments in your childhood as being pivotal to the successes and challenges and the obstacles you ultimately overcame both personally and professionally. We want to share them with everybody else. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. And I do feel that there will always be room for the group fitness part of the fitness industry. Ruth is a single mother of twins Kate & Rachel, 21. Ruth Zukerman: One of the cofounders approached me with the idea. Simultaneous to that I had twin girls, and my marriage from very early on wasnt working. I believe [unintelligible] as an instructor for Soul, which must have been weird. What are we going to do? Because we were in the back of a building. Ruth Zukerman: Wait. They so tied in to the spin class that I eventually helped to create. Mike: Plato? Mike: As the discussions got going, you write, and I quote, It had been a quarter century since I gave up on my dream to become a professional dancer This is on the brink of starting a brand at the time, a fledgling startup. According to NY Post-Page Six, ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas husband, Marc Cohn, had an affair with Zukerman while Vargas was in rehab for alcohol abuse. I was now a single mother, didnt have much on the financial front and had to figure out my life, again, having no idea how to even start. . You know, that question is often verbalized by saying, What would you tell your 16-year-old self? And thats how Im looking at it. At the end of the day, thats what we all want. When I left, I met my future partners that came up with this idea of adding metrics to the whole experience to make the experience that much more effectual and allow the rider to be more accountable. Ruth Zukerman is the co-founder of SoulCycle and Flywheel, both wildly successful companies that innovated the studio cycling movement. It was almost like a mini reinvention every time I took a class. At SoulCycle, people had to reach for their wallet and pull out some cash for a bottle of water and shoe rental. And what Ive learned is that I think of it as a muscle because it fortunately gets built every time we have a setback or every time we feel like weve failed at something. And so I went back to her, and I said, Okay, well I got this offer, and then sure enough, she topped the offer very generously, and I decided to do it. Flywheel offers an intense cardio workout with high calorie burn. Whats going through your mind the night before you start SoulCycle? But another phenomenon thats taken place is a lot of the kind of bigger businesses and corporations are now getting into this sector. She didnt know anything about teaching spin or what went into it. 1 Early life; 2 SoulCycle; 3 Flywheel Sports; 4 References; . They were pre-submitted. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Miller, Gerri (July 11, 2018). To me, thats the ultimate success for an entrepreneur. She pioneered the boutique fitness industry by creating a pay-per-class structure and offering a more dedicated genre of group fitness, emphasizing customer service and quality experiences. That was also a set of circumstances. Its 2019, and probably a year ago, I sat in a therapy session, and I said to my therapist, Is there something wrong with me? In her View From The Top conversation at Stanford GSB, Zukerman discussed all this and more with Michael Lewis, MBA 20. And they were two people that my kneejerk was to defer to them, to really let them overpower me and to not have a voice. Unlike SoulCycle, Flywheel makes it possible for members to track their performance by displaying their score on a. I was a fish out of water. And that wouldnt have happened if I didnt seek out a therapist. I was there until 2009. Ruth Zukerman: So, its a good question because its thinking about the future of all of this. How do you lead with empathy, build a business around empathy? We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. And I thought, that looks interesting. So when I look back and look back at my leadership style, I think, Well, what was my leadership style, and where did it come from? The truth is my biggest experience was being a mom. Ruth Zukerman: So I was, again, newly out of the marriage embarking on this entirely foreign new life. It just showed me the importance of confidence and believing in myself and believing in my ideas, that my mother really didnt know everything. At 48 years old, Zukerman followed her entrepreneurial spirit and co-founded spin studio chain SoulCycle. This is a BETA experience. Zukerman: I believe resilience and reinvention go hand-in-hand. Eventually, the partnership didnt work out. Ruth Zukerman's path to entrepreneurship was nothing if not unconventional. "Riders loved making a morning of it. Ruth Zukerman: Were on good terms. Thank you. I was at Flywheel through the acquisition in 2014, and I left in 2018. I think theres something to be said for putting off having a family to a certain degree, because its so important to go through your own evolution, building self confidence, and achieving some degree of success before you start a family. But they have built a huge community at Peloton. Mike: Thank you, Ruth. The health, wellness and fitness guru from New York City, has been a leading fitness instructor on the East Coast for the past 30 years. Mike: But I took the liberty to make a version two of that game just because youre here, and I thought it might be fun. During student-led interviews and before a live audience, leaders from around the world share insights on effective leadership, their personal core values, and lessons learned throughout their career. Its very interesting to me as to where this will go and where this will head. It was a scary moment and it was so depressing to me to give up this dream. Mike: Here you are taking people out of their basement stationary bike and bringing them to their neighborhood gym and giving them a sense of real in-person community. I went to Mount Holyoke College because they had a great dance department and it was a strong school academically. Ruth Zukerman is the co-founder of Soul Cycle and Flywheel, both wildly successful companies that innovated the studio cycling movement. Leibson: Can you speak to your experience with resilience, and how you recommend others develop this important 'muscle'? Lastly, it was the summer of 2009 where I was teaching a SoulCycle class, and it was then that I met my future cofounder of Flywheel. Presenter: Please join me in welcoming Ruth Zukerman to the GSB. The ish totally hit the fan when Marc and Ruth were spotted having dinner . You can find her LinkedIn profile here, twitter here. This week, I sit down with Ruth Zukerman, Creative Director of boutique cycling favorite FlyWheel Sports. Zukerman: I love hearing stories about female co-founders finding each other and starting businesses together. [Laughs] And it happened right away. That was the start of SoulCycle in 2006. And the applause is also for each other and for encouraging the community. Because I cant seem to get past this trauma. Mike: I appreciate the vulnerability because thats not often a takeaway that people would want to share. And so Im going to talk about the positive part first, which is, again, making everyone feel important, making our maintenance person feel as important as someone on the executive leadership team. Mike: That Peloton story just fascinates me. Im addicted to them. So I know everyone is trying to think in that direction right now, and I think its so important. "We decided to take a look at our national footprint and close studios that were under-performing," a Flywheel spokesperson previously told Bloomberg of its 2019 studio closures. Ruth Zukerman attends FLYWHEEL INAUGURAL RIDE at Sag Harbor on May 29, 2010 in New York City. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. We cant give up, and we have to move forward and go on. I was taking classes six days a week and eventually the people at the Reebok club on the Upper West Side where I took these classes said to me, Would you like to audition to be an instructor? And I thought, oh my god, that would be amazing. And the businesses have changed a lot because theyve gotten more corporate, and theyve gotten less personal. Mike: As a quick time out to that, I love how in business school we do cases and courses and six-month learning programs to try to have a light bulb moment that you got getting on a bike one day. We can see how this works. I wouldnt recommend that. And I remember probably a year ago the dissolution happened in 2007. I was insecure and didnt think I could make a life for myself financially. And Ive heard a lot of complaints about that from riders at both SoulCycle and Flywheel that the miss the way it used to be, and they miss the community and the attention that was given to the individual because its been lost. Why were those the right times to start companies and were there any learnings from timing in your life? As important as it is for our physical health to keep working out, whether its cardiovascular health or physical strength, we cant ignore the incredible importance of our mental health. Nothing beautiful without struggle. Plato or SoulCycle? I made this difficult decision to leave the marriage, 6-year-old twin girls in tow. What was it like even in a household in your relationship with your mother trying to fit into someone elses definition of success on such a personal context? Im curious about other elements you wanted to bring into both of these brands as you were thinking about the concepts and how you brought them to life in the brands that you did create. And the reality was it was still very early in the industry, and there were no other boutique businesses at that point. Student Question: My name is Laura, also an MBA-1. So in retrospect, when I look back, it made sense that I got so addicted to dancing because it became my way of expressing myself without words, without a voice. Mike: Walk us through that, because today, spinning is do we have any SoulCycle fans? You can find that, and thats amazing, or you can find the opposite. And so I looked at how I raised my children and what my style was in raising my children. And through dance classes, I learned so much about music and different genres of music.