This piece covers Brett Maloley's Ladder, a platform aiming to fix the fitness industry with a hybrid online/offline coaching model. He argues traditional gyms rely on members not showing up (e.g., $10/month with tanning and daycare), which is unsustainable. Ladder pairs users with coaches who assign 5-day 'promises' (e.g., better sleep) via an app. Key mentions: Planet Fitness ($10/month, makes money selling purple equipment), CrossFit (license model leads to too many gyms, risky), and Equinox (high-end, $200/month, as a reference).
At a Glance This episode of Invest Like the Best features a conversation with Brett Maloley, founder of Ladder, exploring the platform business model in the fitness industry. The core thesis: Ladder is reshaping the traditional commercial fitness industry by combining digital tools with in-person co
Brett Maloley is a veteran of the fitness industry, whose predecessors helped build the modern commercial fitness sector. His venture Ladder aims to reshape the personal training industry through a platform-based business model. Core thesis: The commercial fitness industry is currently in a state of "value deficit" — consumers pay $10 per month for a membership but receive unlimited tanning and childcare services, a model that is unsustainable. Ladder's "digital + offline" hybrid coaching model can simultaneously lower the barrier for consumers and increase trainer income.
Brett Maloley argues that the core issue in the current commercial fitness industry is a "value gap"—a disconnect between what consumers pay and the actual utility they receive.
Industry data supports this assessment: There are approximately 35,000 commercial fitness centers in the U.S. (about 55,000 if including non-profit facilities like YMCAs), with an average of 2,500 members per center. However, only 10% of members work with a coach. The average monthly membership fee has dropped from $40–60 to the $20–30 range, with Planet Fitness even offering a $10/month plan that includes unlimited tanning and childcare. "This doesn't make sense," Maloley points out, "yet the industry still grows by relying on a 60% inactivity rate and a 50% annual churn rate."
The industry's history explains this dilemma: Modern gyms originated in the 1970s–80s, and the electronic funds transfer (EFT) model shifted them from "pay-per-visit" to "continuous subscription," enabling financing capabilities. However, the business model has remained largely unchanged for nearly 50 years. Maloley believes: "An industry cannot rely forever on consumer inactivity to grow."
The platform model is the solution: Ladder positions itself as a platform connecting coaches (producers) with users (consumers), with the core logic of "reducing friction between effort and results." Similar to Uber and Airbnb, Ladder does not own fitness facilities but instead "productizes the existing ecosystem"—monetizing coaches' idle time (averaging 4 hours per day) while lowering the barrier for consumers to access professional guidance.
Maloley argues that an effective coaching relationship requires a "digital + offline" hybrid model, with the ratio dynamically shifting as the relationship deepens.
The specific mechanism: Ladder uses a 60–90 second assessment questionnaire (including questions on needs, preferences, and cognitive behavioral therapy orientation) to perform "commoditized matching" — users do not select a coach; instead, the system recommends the best candidate based on data. After matching, the coach drives interaction through in-app messages, creates a monthly fitness plan, and assigns a "Promise" — a five-day key behavioral change task (typically targeting nutrition, sleep, or stress management, rather than exercise itself).
The "Promise" is the core mechanism: Maloley compares it to Twitter's character limit or Instagram's early inability to zoom photos — these seemingly restrictive features ultimately defined the product. The "Promise" inserts the coach's intervention before the user's willpower runs out, accelerating relationship building. As the relationship strengthens, the frequency of offline contact can decrease; but if the user hits a low point, offline engagement can resume at any time.
Data support: There are approximately 350,000 health and fitness professionals in the U.S., with an hourly wage of only $11.57, working over 11 hours per day, of which about 4 hours are idle time. Under Ladder's model, one coach can serve 40–60 users per month, with each user requiring only about 60 minutes per month (all non-focused time). Moreover, as the coach accumulates templates, the time cost will decline exponentially.
Maloley believes Ladder’s unique advantage lies in partnering with existing gyms rather than building supply and demand from scratch.
Partnership Logic: Ladder partners with large gym chains to secure "exclusive usage rights" for their coaches, and jointly markets to non-training members (90% of the base) and former members. A gym with 3,000 members operating for 10 years theoretically holds 175,000–200,000 data points from paying users, yet monetizes only 3,000 of them. Ladder offers revenue sharing to partner gyms, estimated to generate an additional $5/month per member for a gym charging $20/month — a significant boost for gyms operating on razor-thin margins.
Coach Quality Control: Maloley acknowledges that "personal training certifications do not guarantee a good coach, let alone a good digital coach." The initial strategy includes:
Comparison with CrossFit: CrossFit operates under a license model rather than a franchise model, with extremely low barriers to entry. Maloley observes that "box (location) growth has far outpaced member growth" — among 200 members at an early-stage location, 50 become enthusiasts, and 3–4 of them open their own nearby boxes, diluting the original community. Under the license model, operators "essentially buy themselves a job while taking on more risk."
Maloley believes the core value of data lies in enhancing the interpersonal relationship between coaches and users, not replacing it.
Data Application Priorities:
1. Empowering coaches: Trigger proactive communication by analyzing user behavior patterns (e.g., "a mid-week nutritional trend decline on Wednesday mornings")
2. Optimizing matching: Accumulate personality trait data of "good digital coaches" to improve matching accuracy
3. Future scenarios: Provide coach qualification data for referral sources such as healthcare institutions and corporations (e.g., "a coach with a proven track record with pre-diabetic populations")
Brand Positioning: Maloley defines a brand as "how people identify who you are, what you do, and why you do it." In the fitness industry, many brands market through bodybuilders and bikini models, which he views as "low-hanging fruit" leading to brand scarcity. Ladder positions itself between Equinox (high-end) and Planet Fitness (low-cost), emphasizing its core value of "serving health and fitness professionals."
Competitive Landscape: Maloley believes the biggest current competitor "has not yet been born." Existing competitors like TrainerEyes charge coaches, which he considers unscalable—"coaches are not the best salespeople." Noom and Vita focus on the nutrition space, using registered dietitians rather than fitness coaches. He judges that gyms themselves may attempt to build similar platforms, but "no single gym or chain is large enough for network effects to truly take hold."
| Position | Analyst Stance | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| Planet Fitness | Neutral (Smart business model but industry impact questionable) | Monthly fee $10; 43% of total revenue from purple equipment resale; Purple elliptical priced at $34.99 vs. regular $29.99 |
| CrossFit | Risk Warning (Licensing model unsustainable) | Approximately 1.5 million users globally (equivalent to gym memberships in Massachusetts); Store growth far outpaces member growth |
| Equinox | Neutral (As a high-end benchmark) | Monthly fee approximately $200 |
| TrainerEyes | Risk Warning (Charging trainers model not scalable) | No specific data provided |
| Noom / Vita | Neutral (Different track) | Uses registered dietitians/nutritionists, not fitness trainers |
1. "The value gap in the commercial fitness industry is unsustainable" (Brett Maloley): Consumers pay $10 per month for unlimited tanning and childcare, yet the industry still relies on a 60% inactivity rate for growth—"You can't rely on consumer inactivity forever."
2. "Promise is Ladder's Twitter character limit" (Brett Maloley): The 5-day behavior change task appears limiting, but in reality, it inserts coach intervention before users' willpower runs out, accelerating relationship building. This is a product-defining feature.
3. "The traits of a good digital coach are not yet known, but we will find them" (Brett Maloley): Personal training certification does not guarantee being a good coach, let alone a good digital coach. Ladder identifies this by tracking specific metrics such as response time and program ratings, rather than general scores.
4. "CrossFit's licensing model has led to store growth far outpacing membership growth" (Brett Maloley): Among 200 members at an early-stage store, 50 become enthusiasts, and 3-4 of them will open new stores nearby, diluting the original group. Operators are "just buying themselves a job."
5. "Platforms need scale for network effects to work, and no single gym is large enough to achieve that" (Brett Maloley): In response to the question "Why don't gyms do it themselves?"—the analogy of Instacart and Whole Foods shows that platforms need cross-brand scale to create value.
6. "The best use of data is to enhance human relationships, not replace them" (Brett Maloley): In the health and fitness field, the best use case for machine learning and AI is "enhancing human-to-human interaction," rather than replacing coaches' empathy.
7. "Gyms have 175,000–200,000 data points from users they've paid to acquire, but only monetized 3,000 of them" (Brett Maloley): A gym operating for 10 years with 3,000 current members theoretically holds a vast amount of data from users it has paid to acquire, but cannot monetize them a second time—this is Ladder's entry point.
8. "Coaches have 4 hours of idle time per day, with an hourly wage of only $11.57" (Brett Maloley): The 350,000 health professionals in the U.S. work over 11 hours a day, but idle time accounts for 4 hours. Ladder's model allows one coach to serve 40–60 users per month, with each user requiring only 60 minutes.