Vor founder Max Cotton on selling to gyms, building an exercise engine without LLMs, and bringing PureGym founder Peter Roberts onto his board.
In this episode
- Why gyms struggle to trust LLM-generated workouts
- The $40,000 token bill and repetitive workout plans
- How Peter Roberts joined Vor’s board and helped fill its funding round
- The move from online coaching to B2B software
- Max’s views on fitness trends, hiring and company building
Timestamps
- 0:00 Cold open
- 0:48 A new format: the people building the future of health
- 1:34 What Vor is, and the one thing it does
- 3:08 Another Round to Vor: two pivots and a cost of living crisis
- 7:06 Why ChatGPT workouts are hard to trust (the lawyer test)
- 8:52 The $40,000 tokens story
- 10:48 Enjoyable, effective, safe: the Venn diagram
- 11:29 A superior product doesn't win by itself
- 16:02 How PureGym founder Peter Roberts joined the board
- 21:24 Anchor names: how one investor filled the round
- 25:21 Going big from day one
- 26:53 The problem with gym apps
- 30:46 Selling to three audiences at once
- 33:40 The team: the PT who became Head of Product, and the CTO behind the engine
- 38:16 Quickfire: what health startups are getting wrong
- 40:39 Underrated: education and discovery
- 41:54 Best move, biggest regret
- 45:05 The MMA years: losses, ultramarathons and 87.1 miles
- 50:01 Wrap-up
About Max Cotton
Max Cotton founded Vor, an exercise programming engine for fitness businesses. He previously founded online coaching company Another Round and competed professionally in MMA.
Links
- Vor, AI exercise programming for fitness and healthcare
- Listen on Apple Podcasts
- Another Round, Max's online coaching company, where Vor began
- Find Will on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wread
Disclaimers
- AI-generated exercise programming should complement, not replace, qualified coaching advice, especially for beginners or anyone with injuries or medical conditions.