On a Mission, Writing a New Chapter

I have had the great fortune in my career to see business from all sides. Startups and corporations. Acquirer and target. Investor and entrepreneur. Manager grunt and board chair. My passion for experiencing all sides of business has been matched with an impatience to do it all. As I moved from company to company, rising through the ranks, launching products and building businesses, I was unknowingly moving with a sort of purpose that is only visible now in retrospect.

So what do I see in retrospect now? My passion is not really for business. It’s for working with great teams of people to solve tough problems that make a positive impact in the world. My most memorable experiences are not about hitting P&L targets, although that’s a critical part of success. What I remember about each situation is the new product launches, the “oh-sh#t-the-site-is-down” crises, the times we celebrated a customer review and the cameraderie when teams went above and beyond to deliver. These are the things that stick with me and these are the supporting events that enable exceptional companies to deliver exceptional results.

When I shut down Frequency Group in 2014 to co-found Beachbody On Demand I saw the “great people – tough problems – help others” opportunity in spades. It was worth putting my company on hold. And over ~3 years we transformed one of the world’s leading fitness companies from being wholly dependent on the declining DVD, into a digital powerhouse with a top-ten streaming video platform and over a million subscribers.

Now the transformation is complete. Beachbody’s video business has a new lease on life and millions of people have been helped by what we’ve done. It’s up to the core business to operate the new digital machine.

And with renewed passion and productive impatience, I refocus my desire to work with great people, to solve tough problems that help others, back onto Frequency Group.

But it’s different this time. In 2012 when we founded Frequency Group, there was a hope that we could help the world by working with companies to create better products. But we struggled to articulate it. Since then the methods have been pressure tested. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been generated based on the simple ideas and refined methods that Frequency Group produced. This firm represents the synthesis of my entire career and I want to make this experience available to anyone who wants it.

So now, in 2018, the idealistic hope has been replaced by confidence. And I know what I do. And I know how to talk about it.

Understanding your customer needs, and the products that will serve them, is the source of truth and success in business. When you understand your customer, you can then align your teams – across all functions – to deliver efficiently and effectively. When your company is delivering efficiently and effectively, you can innovate, transform and adapt to whatever opportunities the market throws at you. This is how companies serve others and build growing, durable businesses.