First off, thanks for subscribing, either for free or, much better, for money. Free readers will be cut-off in a couple of paragraphs, I’m afraid. This note is really to say that I have some exciting interviews lined up for the next few weeks, which will go straight to paid subscribers (and possibly the rest of the world later on). So now is a good time to subscribe!
On Saturday I sat in a pub for two hours, with nothing to do but read the Financial Time weekend edition. I am a great believer in buying the weekend papers (I usually get an Observer on Sunday, but have brought the FT Weekend into my orbit in recent weeks) but often only get to spend 30 minutes with them. The principle is more about being willing to spend a few quid every once in a while to support print media. Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of saying that I read this piece about Peloton.
Peloton, if you’ve been living under a rock, is a static bike company. Well partially. It’s also a gym class company, and a remote workout company, and a lifestyle brand, and a retailer of overpriced apparel. But at its core is a relatively simple mission: to bring the arse-clenching, soul-crushing intensity of a spin class into your home.
As the FT piece points out, Peloton transformed from a hardware company into something more intangible. Its instructors became celebrities; the value of the hardware became, not the object itself, but its (exclusive) compatibility with the Peloton software, the Peloton experience. The bike, right now, costs £1,550 for the most basic model. On top of that you have to pay a £40 a month subscription fee to access Peloton classes (and the website also notes that ‘£39/mo Peloton All-Access Membership separate’, which means nothing to me but sounds ominous). It is a horrifically expensive product, that dumb, rich Americans bought in droves. But then, as the piece spells out, the pandemic came, swelled its numbers even further and they mistakenly thought they could be a mass market product. This mistake has ultimately seen the CEO ousted, the share price tank, and 2800 workers laid off (though they were offered a one-year Peloton membership as severance).
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Future Proof to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.