332. Fritz Lanman, CEO of Playlist

Today, I'm joined by Fritz Lanman, CEO of Playlist.

 

Operator of ClassPass and Mindbody, Playlist's recent merger with EGYM forms a $7.5B company spanning AI, hardware, and software, with a mission to modernize booking, corporate wellness, and membership management.

 

In this episode, we discuss building the wellness industry's full-stack operating system.

 

We also cover:

 

• Raising $785M from Vista, Temasek, and L Catterton
• Setting the platform's boundaries and roadmap
• The anti-tech tech company philosophy

 

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Website: www.playlist.com 

ClassPass: www.classpass.com 

Mindbody: www.mindbody.io 

EGYM: www.egym.com 

The Fitt Insider Podcast is brought to you by EGYM. Visit EGYM.com to learn more about its smart fitness ecosystem for fitness and health facilities.

 

Fitt Talent: https://talent.fitt.co/ 

Consulting: https://consulting.fitt.co/ 

Investments: https://capital.fitt.co/ 

 

Chapters:

 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:36) EGYM merger announcement

(02:41) Industry validation moment

(03:20) Tech outsider perspective advantage

(05:52) Communication challenges with industry

(07:05) AI adoption hesitation and diffusion

(09:56) AI throughout platform history

(11:41) Operating system vs. co-pilot

(13:24) AI investment surprise and acceleration

(15:50) Transformer paradigm capabilities

(17:35) 175K lines of code in eight weeks

(18:40) Anti-tech tech company philosophy

(20:58) Platform boundaries and roadmap

(23:29) Speed of change impact on planning

(26:10) Agent-driven onboarding and configurations

(28:13) Long-term societal impacts

(29:40) UBI and wealth concentration questions

(31:03) Industry macro optimism

(32:20) Experience economy and human connection

(33:40) Conclusion