Digital Transformation at Beachbody

Beachbody is a fascinating company. I started in 2014, almost exactly 3 years ago, as a consultant. My charter was to help my friend and colleague Bill Bradford (the newly minted Chief Digital Officer) come up with a 90-day strategic plan. The task was to lay out, in simple chunks, how he was going to help a well-known fitness company update its distribution method from DVDs to digital. Turns out that the project was significantly bigger than that. Our real challenge was to jump into the heart of the Innovator’s Dilemma and help transform a very successful marketing company into a leader in the digital fitness space.

After a few weeks I fell in love with the company and the challenge. So at the end of the 90-day engagement I decided to shut down my growing consulting company and join full-time to help build what is now known as Beachbody On Demand. I had worked my entire career to build my own company and establish my independence, so this seemed like a curious move to some. But to me it made perfect sense. The challenge excited me, and the path couldn’t be more clear.

I had set off on my own in 2008 after an intense ~15 years of ever-changing companies, jobs and cities. From 2008 through 2011, I had the opportunity to take some time to focus on my family and raising my kids. I also got to take a step back and look at my professional life. The question I wanted to answer was this: “How do I want to spend the next 10-15 years of my life?”

After much deliberation I decided I wanted to work on what I came to know as “100% problems.” And by that, I mean problems that 100% of the people on the earth have. You may as well start with the biggest total addressable market possible, right?

Everyone on earth needs water. Everyone on earth can benefit from education. Everyone on earth needs to have a planet that can sustain them, and so on…

And everyone on the planet has a body. When that body is fit, and when it is exercised, it functions better. When your body functions better, you live longer, are happier and require less health care. I found my 100% problem.

This started one of the most exciting chapters of my life. Beachbody, with its programs like P90X, Insanity, 21 Day Fix and dozens of others, has created the ability to get people to do what many resist doing: working out. Even though we all know it’s good for us, most people struggle to find the motivation to get moving. Through the combination of great trainers, real no-gimmick exercise and effective marketing, co-founders Carl Daikeler and Jon Congdon figured out how to help people get off the couch, out of their chairs and start the path to self-improvement.

But in 2014 there was a big problem. The company still relied on DVDs to distribute its video programs, and that was our job to fix. Under Bill’s direction we set out to build an online digital video experience that could transform Beachbody into a technology company capable of creating and offering content in the style and at the scale of Netflix and Hulu.

And last week, 3 years after the first scribbles on a whiteboard, we passed one million paid subscribers and are reaching more and more people every day.

This is where the story gets really interesting.

What was once a company comprised of a direct marketing channel and a network marketing channel (with a streaming video service tacked on) is becoming a full-fledged technology company, delivering its value through its digital channel as a primary business model. While the previous business, marketing, and distribution channels remain, they are now backed up by a comprehensive subscription streaming service with a digital library with hundreds of workouts and nutrition videos.

The company that relied solely on DVDs has responded to the market and we are now in the enviable position of being on the other side – the post-disruption side – of the innovator’s dilemma. From the inside, we’ve created the business that cannibalizes our traditional revenue streams and now get to lead the company forward in a new, subscription-driven form.

Things have changed for me too. In April, I moved from my role here in strategy/business operations and took on the role of CTO. My challenge now is to take this innovation project and scale it – redefining how technology can further serve our customers.

And the transition has only just started. We recently completed a reorganization that tore down the previous channel-focused teams and replaced them with an updated, more effective organizational structure. Organizational silos have been replaced by functional alignment. Technologies are being rationalized into digital and enterprise focus. Program management is transforming to handle the matrix of people and projects at scale. And over time there will be one cohesive, streamlined Beachbody experience.

The goal is clear: Give 100% of the people on this planet the opportunity, tools, and motivation to live healthy, fulfilling lives. But there is a huge amount of work to do, and I’d be lying if I said we knew exactly how all of the details will play out.

It’s a challenge I want to share as I go along. So if you’re interested in how this goes, follow me. I‘ll share with as much transparency and candor as I can. And we will need help. So please pull close if you have a similar mission.

(Reposted from Gerry’s feed on LinkedIn)