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Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

blackwellscap.com

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Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#81

Post by mizzao »

rjtavares wrote: post #6

> Q: Is there anything about being CEO that you don’t like, that you like to delegate? > A: Finance. Our CFO does 99% of finance. I engage because I want to know how we’re doing. But to say I don’t add value to her operation is an understatement. You can also say the same with technology. Our CTO doesn’t get any help from me. I’ll go sometimes months without talking to our CTO, which as a CEO of a technology company,…

I can't tell if this is just humility / delegation coming off poorly or an actual disengaged CEO.

I also think it can be helpful to self-deprecate a bit as a leader but I'm not sure why all these statements got published in public.

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#83

Post by roland35 »

Peloton does have a lot going for it. From everyone I've heard, their physical products are well made (with the exception of the treadmill issue..). They have extremely low churn which is hard to do in fitness.

The main problem is that they grew too fast. All the pandemic sales were probably just pulled forward from future sales, not a sign of sustainable growth. They overcommitted and now need to trim back again.

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#84

Post by polote »

It is the same thing over and over. Founders are praised when the company is growing, and the same founder for the same reasons are criticized when the company is not growing anymore.

If the CEO is so bad, how did he manage to create such a valuable company while almost nobody on earth has been able to do it ?

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#85

Post by notahacker »

jahller wrote: post #34
fabian2k wrote: post #27

I get the impression they don't like the CEO very much. That was an impressively brutal attack on him, with probably the worst damage inflicted by the CEO's own statements. Blackwells is obviously not a neutral party here, there's a reason they created this thing. But on first glance it looks like a pretty solid argument that the management at Peleton is seriously flawed. I don't really buy the arguments on why Pelet…

they obviously want to get a good ROI on their stock holdings and try to convince potential buyers that the company is amazing and just held back by their CEO (which definitely is not the only problem that Peloton has)

Yeah. The problem is that the deck makes a more convincing case that the company is badly run than that Disney might get value from acquiring a loss making niche hardware company to distribute its content...

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#86

Post by nraynaud »

rjtavares wrote: post #33
onion2k wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's been a CTO at times in the past, I wish I'd worked with a CEO like that. There are few things worse than having a leadership team who don't trust you to deliver the tech that drives the company's ideas.

Of course overly managing the CTO is also bad, but would you really like to "go sometimes months" without talking to the CEO? Especially during a pandemic in which your product becomes the hot new thing?

yeah, on the surface it is a bit weird, Peloton has capital intensive hardware, there should be some interaction as to how much capital is allocated to the technology, product releases etc.

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#87

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

fabian2k wrote: post #27

I get the impression they don't like the CEO very much. That was an impressively brutal attack on him, with probably the worst damage inflicted by the CEO's own statements. Blackwells is obviously not a neutral party here, there's a reason they created this thing. But on first glance it looks like a pretty solid argument that the management at Peleton is seriously flawed. I don't really buy the arguments on why Pelet…

In my one of my MBA classes, we were discussing, whether Peloton's original super optimistic slides were reflective of reality ( most of the class agreed, it seemed more like a niche product rather than a gym replacement or even a $300 boutique training replacement as this presentation claims ) and were comparing it to AT&T Time Warner saga. We never touched on Peloton's management, but if we did, the quotes are pretty stunning.

You absolutely do have a point about streaming, but the presentation argues that Peloton's assets may be valuable to some streaming services ( they are dying and fighting for content now ).

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#88

Post by joekrill »

polote wrote: post #84

It is the same thing over and over. Founders are praised when the company is growing, and the same founder for the same reasons are criticized when the company is not growing anymore. If the CEO is so bad, how did he manage to create such a valuable company while almost nobody on earth has been able to do it ?

How? Luck, really. I think we give way too much credit to people for being "visionary" or talented when really the large part of their success is just luck (particularly around timing). For example, I think the situation with Peleton would look very different if it hadn't been for the pandemic.

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#89

Post by masklinn »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #52
skrebbel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marketing and sales

How can you do Marketing without looking at the curre t development to Merker the new features? How can you do sales without feeding customer feedback back into development? How can you do all that without looking at the numbers to see what you can afford?

> How can you do Marketing without looking at the curre t development to Merker the new features?

Marketing shit that’s not out is just barely better than marketing shit that’s not even planned.

> How can you do sales without feeding customer feedback back into development?

Surely you have normal channels for doing that and it doesn’t require the CEO to talk to the CTO?

Re: Peloton – A call for action [pdf]

#90

Post by AndrewOMartin »

roland35 wrote: post #83

Peloton does have a lot going for it. From everyone I've heard, their physical products are well made (with the exception of the treadmill issue..). They have extremely low churn which is hard to do in fitness. The main problem is that they grew too fast. All the pandemic sales were probably just pulled forward from future sales, not a sign of sustainable growth. They overcommitted and now need to trim back again.

Agreed, apart from the fact that their treadmill kills kids, their products are exemplary.
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