The New Yorker Who’s Reinventing the Wheel

As spin studios spring up in cities across the nation, Peloton’s CEO and software guru John Foley has set out to democratize boutique fitness.

Words: Kiera Aaron
Images: David Urbanke

If you were to call Peloton a New York City-based cycling studio, you’d only be describing a small part of the picture. Yes, Peloton’s downtown gym has everything you’d expect from a place that offers $30 spin classes: motivating instructors, riders pedaling in unison, Beyoncé on the playlist. But one thing sets Peloton apart from every other cycling center in America (and there are a lot of them these days): the ability to live-stream their workouts from anywhere in the world.

But let’s back up to 2012. Flywheel and SoulCycle were already established, and John Foley had two small children and zero time to exercise. “Between the commute to and from class and waiting in line for the showers, spinning is a two-hour commitment.” Plus, in order to reserve the best teachers at the most convenient times, you need to sign up a week in advance.

“We’re developing ways for people to never feel they’re riding alone.” — John Foley

That’s when Foley — who previously held leadership positions at sites such as Evite and e-commerce giants like Barnes & Noble — channeled his software background. First, he considered creating an app allowing people to stream classes on their own bikes and tablets. “But we realized that there weren’t any great bikes or, frankly, tablets,” he says. The solution? “Make the best bike ever built and the best tablet ever built and combine them.”

That’s no small order, but “we had a fun thing called second-mover advantage,” says Foley. “It’s when you study the best of the existing products, then do better.” And since the company is based on a subscription model (riders pay $39 a month for unlimited instructions from their $1,995 Peloton bikes), Foley wasn’t worried about the margins on the bike itself, making it easier to invest in quality hardware. “We don’t care about the cost of the bike; we want it to last 20 years,” says Foley.

No, those aren’t the endorphins talking. If the bike lasts decades, you’ll stream classes off the cloud for decades. Plus, Peloton’s tablet is integrated with the bike, so you not only view live workouts, you track your metrics and race other riders. (Don’t let the competitive aspect throw you. The online community is important to Foley; a “peloton” is the term for a group of cyclists.)

At its core, the company is about bringing cosmopolitan classes to home gyms in quiet hamlets and frenetic cities alike. And with the launch of its iPhone app, which lets riders join courses from any bike, Foley plans to roll out even more features to bring riders together — all 150,000 of them.

(That’s a lot for opening their first studio’s doors in 2014.) “We’re developing easy ways for people to cheer each other on,” says Foley, “so no one ever feels like they’re riding alone.”

Continue the ride at Compass.com.