This week, the SphereCast speaks with Francois Casanova, Founder and CEO at Fitogram. Fitogram is a digital service that takes the pain out of administrative logistics for fitness professionals and business owners. Fitogram offers comprehensive online booking, payment processing, customer management, and accounting — all in an easy-to-use SaaS platform. In its own words, Fitogram believes that “nothing should stand between people and their passion for sports.”
In 2012, Fitogram began as a humble Germany-based startup. Since its inception, the company has grown its customer base to tens of thousands of fitness providers across more than 11 European countries. With the growth, Francois’s role has shifted from a fully hands-on CEO to more of a visionary, casting direction for the company and trusting his team to see the vision to reality. On the podcast, among many other things, Francois discusses entrepreneurship, leadership, and trusting your team to do what’s right.
Noteworthy Quotes:
"Now, my role in management is to serve the company. I don't see myself as a leader. I see myself as a servant of the business. The team is really doing the big chunk of the work at this point. And that has been a massive switch... That helped us unlock so much potential and growth."
"When you're the CEO, you feel that you need to help and need to be involved and need to know everything. But you can't. Definitely not... My role has to be as a [visionary]."
"A good leader is a good listener. It's about understanding and listening your team and your market. Really taking the time to do that is very important."
"I've been part of an entrepreneurial club for a long time now. And we organized an event called Leap and the Net Will Appear. And I think that's very true for every entrepreneurial journey. If you really work hard and go in the right direction, you make stuff happen."
"You cannot underestimate the value of a good customer journey."
Bullet List of Resources –
Francois Casanova
Fitogram