Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO • Hacker News Board

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#161

Post by bstar77 » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 2:24 AM UTC

spyspy wrote: post #122

bstar77 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made a pretty inflammatory comment: "the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do the first half of the work". He's just explaining that there is a market. It's probably an enthusiast market as well as wealthy people that can make this an impulse buy, but the opportunity for growth is to convince a much more general market to finance the bike and justify the monthly costs like they do their cable/…

Sorry it wasn't meant to be inflammatory, brevity is hard. But has any fitness fad ever threatened the cable industry? I don't see anyone cancelling their netflix subscription in order to afford this thing. But based on all the responses claiming there's "tons" of market I'm still inclined to disagree. The market seems to just be people already really into cycling (either outdoors or spin classes) and are currently p…

I wasn't suggesting that people cancel netflix or cable, I was just saying that this expense could fall into a similar category. I personally am willing to spend a certain amount of money towards my health each month if it's effective.

"The market seems to just be people already really into cycling" This is not true, I see tons of people that are just getting into spin/cycling for the first time. I think the primary customers are people that don't mind using a bike, need to be motivated and have busy lives.

We'll see what happens, but I think there's a lot of growth to be had, especially if they try and compete with Tonal.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#162

Post by subpixel » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 2:24 AM UTC

crispwafer wrote: post #58

subpixel wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not buy a bike, but for a while I used the app on a spin bike at the gym. I can attest to the experience being pretty great. I wound up recording a dozen or so of the workouts so I can watch them on my phone without a subscription. The bells and whistles of heart rate and pace are meaningless to me.

I love this comment for showing me exactly why there's such a big split in reaction to the Peloton bike and similar products. To me, heart rate and pace are the whole point and the music and instructor are the meaningless bells and whistles.

I don’t think it’s a split so much as Peleton appealing to different users with the same product. There are quite a few ways to get hooked: a teacher you really like (I only found one I could stand but he is great), a class you really like (I’m sure the country music classes have their devotees), live interaction with the instructor, and performance tracking (aiming for calories or watts or whatever).

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#163

Post by bstar77 » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 2:28 AM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #83

bstar77 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bike is for people that don't want to go to a gym and/or don't have lots of time to leave the house on a daily basis. You can also finance the bike so the hit isn't so bad. Additionally, there's no extra charge for multiple accounts (up to 10), so if everyone in the house uses it, the cost makes more sense. I work out of home and this is the only way I get consistent exercise. My fitness has gone up tremendously…

Not leaving the house regularly is a serious quality of life issue. That is most certainly not going to be addressed by the purchase of a stationary bike.

I was just referring to the fact that I work from home and put in about 10 hours per day behind a computer. Sedentary life is hard to avoid for programmers even though I'm into athletic activities. The bike allows me to get in a class during lunch, after work or late into the evening. The rest of my free time is spent with my family- driving to the gym 30 minutes away to take their classes would take away an hour of my free time just in driving.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#164

Post by subpixel » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 2:35 AM UTC

joshgachnang wrote: post #74

KFC_Manager wrote: post #3

They've executed so we'll on selling a $2000 exercise bike that locks you into their subscription content. Anyone who has bought one can comment on what the alternatives we're when you purchased? The way they position the financing makes it feel like a monthly membership fee to a gym or something.

I'm using the Peloton iPad app without their bike and loving it so far. All you need is any decent spin bike ($200-$600)[0], a bluetooth cadence [1] and heart rate sensor ($90)[2], plus their cheaper $20/mo app and you get most of the experience at a reasonable cost. You don't get the output number and can't compete on the leaderboard, but that's fine for me. [0] I went with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FCJH…

I use a high-quality spin bike at the gym with my iPhone clipped on. I kick my own ass quite fine without cadence or heart rate info. And I don’t pay Peloton b/c I recorded a dozen or so classes when I had a subscription and stream them from my own server.

I’m not their target customer but I do really enjoy the product.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#165

Post by bstar77 » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 2:35 AM UTC

rorykoehler wrote: post #157

bstar77 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bike is for people that don't want to go to a gym and/or don't have lots of time to leave the house on a daily basis. You can also finance the bike so the hit isn't so bad. Additionally, there's no extra charge for multiple accounts (up to 10), so if everyone in the house uses it, the cost makes more sense. I work out of home and this is the only way I get consistent exercise. My fitness has gone up tremendously…

Why not buy a real bike and a direct drive smart turbo trainer? At least you could ride the bike outside too.

Because they are not as good. The Peloton bike uses earth magnets for the resistance so changing levels is seamless. Your bike is directly communicating with the class HUD and you can see how you are performing against your own stats and against others in the class, real time or historically. It's a completely different experience than messing with a trainer.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#166

Post by rorykoehler » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 4:33 AM UTC

bstar77 wrote: post #165

rorykoehler wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not buy a real bike and a direct drive smart turbo trainer? At least you could ride the bike outside too.

Because they are not as good. The Peloton bike uses earth magnets for the resistance so changing levels is seamless. Your bike is directly communicating with the class HUD and you can see how you are performing against your own stats and against others in the class, real time or historically. It's a completely different experience than messing with a trainer.

I've never used peloton but I would be very surprised if any of the mid-top end direct drive smart trainers weren't vastly better than an exercise bike. They also use magnetic resistance up to 2000w in some cases with seamless transitioning. There is nothing apart from greed that stops peloton from offering their classes to anyone with a smart trainer. You get all those stats on an ipad/laptop/phone with other smart trainers and according to reviews the power readings are not very accurate on a peloton bike. Really seems like a win for marketing over reality.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#167

Post by brewdad » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 6:09 AM UTC

drugme wrote: post #109

spyspy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sides. I have friends working there that have tried getting me to apply. Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult and I have little faith in their business model. How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Let alone one that requires a $40/month subscription? It feels the same as Blue Apron - the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do…

Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult Difficult for you, maybe. How else do you expect them to find the top 0.01 percent of the candidate pool they're looking for?

I think OP is saying the interview asked for a much greater skill level than is actually necessary to do the job. The equivalent of requiring a PhD for a job doing Bachelor's level grunt work.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#168

Post by notyourday » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 12:53 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #155

notyourday wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a long tail. The ones who go to classes all the time buy packages that are $200-$300/mo unlimited or use ClassPass.

$200/mo to get yelled at an unlimited number of times sounds equally insane.

Not if you don't want to spend your late thirties on dealing with the health problems.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#169

Post by fhbdukfrh » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

TomVDB wrote: post #76

spyspy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sides. I have friends working there that have tried getting me to apply. Glassdoor reviews indicated their backend interview is unnecessarily difficult and I have little faith in their business model. How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Let alone one that requires a $40/month subscription? It feels the same as Blue Apron - the market is people rich and lazy enough that don't want do…

> How many people are willing to spend thousands on an exercise bike? Tons of them. I've had a bunch of setups where you could plug in your road bike into a stationary setup, with virtual screen and everything, but the hassle of setting it up was always just a little too much friction. It'd be the logical N+1 addition to my stable of more expensive road, cross and mountain bikes. You have no idea how much people are…

This is definitely not the common path for hard core cycling aficionados... They're far more likely to buy a decent trainer for their expensive road bike than a clunky exercise bike, then compete online not attend a virtual spin class. The people i know use a semi permanent setup for the off season so it's not really a hassle and far more realistic.

I agree with an earlier comment that their target market is the same as meal services, and the value proposition is debatable.

Re: Peloton Confidentially Files Statement for Proposed IPO

#170

Post by fhbdukfrh » Thu, Jun 06, 2019, 1:09 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #121

spyspy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say there was zero market. Obviously people are buying the things. But this is an IPO we're talking about. I'm questioning the long term growth of what I see as an expensive niche product.

It's cheaper than a normal road bike... This past weekend I witnessed hundreds of people compete in a triathlon, each of them riding a bike that probably had tires more expensive than my bike. The top men and women were riding $10,000+ bikes. And they all own multiple $$$ bikes, specialized to the particulars of the course they're racing. A $2000 Peloton that you can train in for recovery or when the weather is bad?…

And yet the global market for high end bikes is pretty tiny. There's been huge consolidation of big name brands under private equity as they try to build full range lifestyle portfolios, none of which are big enough to go public independently, yet somehow this niche combining fitness, stationary biking and home subscription has a big enough market for an IPO? Maybe, but I'm skeptical.