fitness
(12)
Dirk Buikema
Dirk Buikema is the founder and CEO of Hyperwear, an Austin-based functional fitness company he started in 2011. A former corporate attorney and semiconductor strategist turned inventor, he holds multiple US patents for training gear including the SandBell sandbag, the Hyper Vest adjustable weighted vest, and the SteelBell. Under his lean, research-driven, direct-to-consumer approach, Hyperwear grew 85% from 2022 to 2024 and landed on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies.
Michael Polk
Michael Polk is the President and CEO of Implus, the Durham, North Carolina maker of footcare, fitness and sporting goods brands like Sof Sole, Spenco, Yaktrax and TriggerPoint. A first-generation American and career consumer-goods operator, he spent decades climbing through Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and Unilever before running Newell Brands for eight years, where he led a transformation that roughly tripled enterprise value. Since 2020 he has paired the Implus job with an advisory role at private equity firm Berkshire Partners, trading the glare of a public-company quarter for the hands-on work of building brands shoulder-to-shoulder with a smaller team.
Adriene Mishler
Adriene Mishler is the Austin, Texas-based yoga instructor, actress, and entrepreneur behind Yoga With Adriene, the largest yoga channel on YouTube with over 13.4 million subscribers and 1.7 billion views. Since launching the channel in 2012 with business partner Chris Sharpe, she has democratized yoga through her philosophy of 'Find What Feels Good,' building a global community around accessible, authentic practice. In 2015 she co-founded the FWFG subscription platform, and in 2026 launched Veta, her own yoga gear brand.
Alex Hormozi
Alex Hormozi is an Iranian-American entrepreneur, investor, and author who built and exited seven companies without outside capital before founding Acquisition.com, a holding company with 16+ portfolio businesses generating $200M+ in annual revenue. His $100M book series has sold over 5 million copies, including $100M Money Models which broke the Guinness World Record for fastest-selling non-fiction book in August 2025. He co-runs Acquisition.com with his wife and CEO Leila Hormozi and is a co-owner of Skool.com.
Bill McBride
Bill McBride is the Co-Founder, President & CEO of Active Wellness, a San Francisco-based fitness center design and management company. With nearly four decades in the fitness industry - starting at age 18 selling health club memberships - he co-founded Active Wellness in 2013 after a decade-long run as President and COO of Club One. He also runs BMC3, his consulting and coaching firm, and has served as Chairman of the IHRSA Board of Directors. Named an ATN Power Player of 2024, McBride is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor shaping the future of fitness delivery through medical integration, digital hybridization, and community-centered wellness.
Matthew Stevens
Matthew Stevens is the President and CEO of The Bay Club Company, a San Francisco-based sports and active lifestyle operator running resort-inspired campuses across the U.S. West Coast. Since 2008 he has scaled the business under three private equity owners (KSL, York, KKR), growing revenues, EBITDA and footprint by more than 250%, and steering the company past 135,000 members and 4,000 associates.
Hamza Ahmed
Hamza Ahmed is a British YouTuber and online community operator who built a 2.2M+ subscriber audience by selling discipline, lifting, and self-respect to young men. He runs the Adonis School community on Skool and lives in Dubai.
Fred Helou
Fred Helou is the founder and CEO of Vagaro, a cloud-based business management platform used by over 75,000 beauty, fitness, and wellness businesses across four countries. Born in Beirut in 1969, he escaped the Lebanese Civil War at 18, arrived in the United States penniless after being pickpocketed in France, and worked his way up from a $5-an-hour pickup boy to director of software development before being laid off in the 2008 recession — the catalyst that led him to build what is now a billion-dollar company. Vagaro has processed over $15 billion in payments, booked over 600 million appointments, and achieved unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation following a 2021 reinvestment by FTV Capital.
Dick Costolo
Dick Costolo is a co-founder and General Partner at 01 Advisors, a $920M venture firm he built with former Twitter COO Adam Bain. Before that, he was the CEO of Twitter from 2010 to 2015 - the longest-tenured and most financially productive CEO in the company's history, growing revenue from zero to $1.5 billion and leading its 2013 IPO. He started his career as an improv comedian at Chicago's Second City (Steve Carell was in his cohort), built and sold three startups including FeedBurner to Google for ~$100M, and remains one of the most candid, self-deprecating, and operationally sharp executives in Silicon Valley.
Leila Hormozi
Leila Hormozi is a first-generation Iranian-American entrepreneur, executive, and business builder who co-founded Acquisition.com alongside her husband Alex Hormozi. After a turbulent childhood marked by a mother's addiction and six alcohol-related arrests in college, she transformed her life — lost 85 lbs, got certified as a personal trainer, then co-built Gym Launch from $0 to $50M in two years. She helped sell Gym Launch and Prestige Labs for $46.2M in 2021, then co-founded Acquisition.com, which now manages a $250M+ annual revenue portfolio. By 28, she reached a $100M combined net worth with Alex. In 2025, she transitioned from CEO to Executive Chairwoman to focus on long-term strategy, while hosting the 'Build with Leila Hormozi' podcast and publishing unfiltered leadership memos at leilahormozi.com.
Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom is a New York Times bestselling author, investor, and creator who left a Vice President seat at a $3.5B private equity firm to build one of the internet's most-followed newsletters. His Curiosity Chronicle reaches over 800,000 subscribers weekly with ideas on wealth, time, and purpose. His 2025 book 'The 5 Types of Wealth' became an instant bestseller, and in late 2025 he co-founded Wild Roman, a 100% natural men's skincare brand named after his son. A former Division I pitcher at Stanford, he runs sub-3-hour marathons and deadlifts 525 pounds in his spare time.
Dr. Kholod Shafi
Dr. Kholod Shafi is a Karachi-based MBBS doctor, practicing Family Physician, and elite fitness trainer who built AeroFitness - a health platform that fuses medical expertise with physical training. Holding three certifications from the International Sports Sciences Association, she manages clients across the full health spectrum, from managing chronic conditions like diabetes and autoimmune diseases to supporting pregnant women and aspiring athletes recovering from injury. Her mission: bridge the gap between the clinic and the gym.