SoulCycle and the Secret to Entrepreneurial Success

In 2006 three entrepreneurial women — Julie Rice, Elizabeth Cutler and Ruth Zukerman — sat down over lunch to discuss the one thing so many people despise about going to the gym: their self-consciousness. After a lengthy discussion, they concluded that working out should be something that inspires; not something that leaves you ill at ease. Yet, how do you go about removing that bad feeling that comes with going to the gym, and making exercising in a public space something enjoyable? The answer: You have to change the way you think about exercise.

Thus, SoulCycle was born. What started as an underground movement in the back of a warehouse grew to a cult-like phenomenon. Who knew that by shutting off the lights, lighting some scented candles and turning up the volume would lead to the next big trend in working out?

By looking at exercise as a way to feed not only the body, but the mind and spirit; these three entrepreneurs were able to develop a way to meet the needs of clients who had previously felt underrepresented and uncomfortable with the options available to them at so many NYC gyms. And in creating a new approach to the work-out, they enabled people to focus on the rush of endorphins, and check their insecurities at the door.

I love reading and sharing stories about other entrepreneurs: their unique perspectives and successes; roads taken and roads not taken.

Learning about their journey has often inspired me in the way I view my own business, and has helped encourage me to do what so many successful entrepreneurs do: think differently.

What SoulCycle and nearly every successful entrepreneur have in common is the inclination for innovation and the ability bring a unique perspective to an already existing space; and I believe there is a lot we can all learn from the SoulCycle model.

Rather than focusing on meeting one very specific need their client may have, the women behind SoulCycle resolved to think holistically. They chose to view the individual client as having a collection of unique needs, and thus created a model that aimed to satisfy client desires that had previously been ignored by their competitors. This is a notion that is becoming more and more popular across different industries: consumers are increasingly looking for products and services capable of meeting many of their needs, not just one. In order for entrepreneurs to keep up with this demand, we have to start by broadening our perspectives and thinking differently about the client or consumer. How can we make them happy not in just one way, but in an array of different ways?

I launched LexION Capital thanks to a dream I had of building a company that believed clients deserved better advice from financial institutions and advisors. So when I read stories about companies like SoulCycle — who are clearly revolutionizing their industry — I’m reminded of how much change we as individuals can create in our own space, and I am inspired to keep moving forward, and you should too.