This is Jesse Pujji, and today we’re breaking down Peloton. Peloton was founded over ten years ago with the idea of making the best in-person gym classes available at home. By delivering eye-catching hardware and compelling content, it has since become the largest interactive fitness platform in the world with over 6 million members. Peloton’s rise has not been without challenges, however, and the business’s economic model is under debate as we speak.   To break down Peloton, I’m joined by my brother Vinny Pujji, partner at Left Lane Capital, a growth-stage investment firm focused on consumer businesses. We discuss Peloton’s success in creating a new fitness category, the impact of the pandemic on its financials, and why it may make sense for Peloton to build its own music label. Please enjoy this breakdown of Peloton.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:03:37] - [First question] - What Peloton is and what they do [00:04:59] - How most consumers experience their brand [00:05:40] - Their customer base and the size of their business today [00:06:22] - The founding story and what lead to Peloton  [00:10:10] - What business they started with and how they’ve expanded their offerings [00:12:03] - Complexities of direct to consumer hardware distribution [00:13:01] - Scope of the global fitness and wellness market writ large [00:14:42] - Unit economics of Peloton’s business [00:19:03] - Contributing factors that draw on their cash and working capital  [00:22:46] - What would solve their current liquidity problem [00:25:11] - Their latest treadmill product and their subscription product [00:26:22] - Thoughts on why management has struggled with their forecasts [00:29:44] - The competitive landscape as it exists today and how they compete [00:33:16] - Whether or not Peloton will experience a boom and bust cycle [00:35:18] - What Peloton does very well that separates them from their competitors [00:36:52] - Gamifying fitness and incorporating a live feature [00:38:59] - How music plays into their business and its role in their future  [00:41:45] - Whether they are a subscription or hardware business [00:43:59] - What has to go right in order to scale their market cap in the next decade [00:45:08] - Their approach to marketing and what drives their engine [00:47:17] - What will have gone wrong if Peloton doesn’t survive the coming decade [00:50:28] - What can we learn from Peloton

Today’s episode is part business breakdown and part biology breakdown as we explore Finch Therapeutics and their novel work on the microbiome, which plays a crucial role in regulating our immune system.   To help break down these topics, I’m joined by Mark Smith, co-founder and CEO of Finch Therapeutics. Mark is a leader in the microbiome field and the perfect person to cross the bridge between business and science.   As Mark outlines, we’ve made a lot of progress in living longer, but we are yet to make significant steps to living better. In our discussion, we explore what the microbiome is, why it’s so important, and the role that Finch plays in helping patients transform their lives. We then turn to the business side of developing therapeutics drugs and what Mark has learned there. Please enjoy this breakdown of Finch Therapeutics.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----     Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:02:55] - [First question] - What is the microbiome? [00:04:56] - Where the microbiome is inside the body [00:06:42] - Overview of what bacteria is in general terms and what they do for us [00:10:44] - What would happen to a human that didn’t have any bacteria [00:13:29] - Inflammatory auto-immune diseases and widespread antibiotics [00:14:32] - How seasonal allergies and gut bacteria are related [00:16:32] - Key contributors that have led to our current understanding of the microbiome [00:18:48] - Whether an absence or dominance of bacteria is more concerning [00:20:47] - The state of stool sample diagnostics today [00:22:52] - Tools available today for widespread microbial treatment and repair [00:24:48] - The science behind probiotics and whether or not they’re worth it [00:27:00] - Fecal transplants and supporting empirical evidence of their efficacy [00:31:39] - Addressable conditions that Finch Therapeutics seeks to solve [00:35:27] - What the end game looks like and the timeline to achieve it [00:40:05] - Is there a future where we use these therapeutics preventatively? [00:41:22] - Key risks that could threaten the growth of Finch in the coming decade [00:43:10] - What it’s been like running a company that is so different than its competitors [00:45:51] - Whether or not the regulatory and iterative pace of therapeutics will increase [00:48:19] - How much his lifestyle has changed given what he knows now in this field [00:50:50] - Other innovations taking place in the microbiome and related therapeutics [00:52:28] - What most has his attention outside of his field in health science today [00:53:24] - Learn more about the microbiome; I Contain Multitudes (book) [00:53:42] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him