42. Rishi Mandal | Future (1-on-1 remote personal training) Artwork

The Founder

The Founder is a show that features world-class entrepreneurs and their early stories of ingenuity, struggle and perseverance to get their companies off the ground. Kallaway goes in-depth with founders in straight talk, uncensored conversations to understand their thoughts, feelings and actions behind the big decisions that influenced the direction of their startup. At the end of each episode, founders share their 1-2 favorite ideas for other businesses they wish existed and we riff on how they'd bring them to market.Think My First Million meets Joe Rogan meets How I Built This.

All Episodes

The Founder

42. Rishi Mandal | Future (1-on-1 remote personal training)

February 09, 2021 • Kallaway / Rishi Mandal

Rishi Mandal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Future.
Rishi is a second-time founder, having previously launched Sosh, a recommendation engine that curated the must-do activities in a given city. Sosh was beloved by millions as a concierge on the cutting edge of culture and sold to Postmates in 2015.
Future is revolutionizing fitness by enabling remote 1-on-1 personal training. New members are carefully matched with a world-class trainer who creates personalized workouts each week. While trainers aren't physically with users in person, Future’s app enables continuous dialogue through text and voice notes pre-recorded in workouts. Future’s retention and Net Promoter Scores are off the charts, signaling low churn and high customer loyalty.
Future raised a $24M Series B in October 2020 led by Trustbridge Partners.
Tune in to hear Rishi’s story!
EPISODE TOPICS

Sections
- (18:04) – The Origin Story
- (27:53) – The Build
- (55:04) – The Founder
- (1:00:41) – The Brainstorm
Topics
- (2:40) Rishi’s background
- (4:34) The power of working with the smartest people you can find
- (6:22) Knowing when you’re ready to start a venture
- (8:42) Analyzing the opportunity for Sosh, the recommendation engine for culture
- (15:14) Entrepreneur in Residence at Khosla Ventures
- (18:04) Why was Future compelling enough to chase it?
- (27:53) Why start with fitness?
- (31:42) Why is Future more effective than other fitness solutions?
- (39:20) Biggest bets that haven’t panned out?
- (47:17) Rishi’s Startup Manifesto
- (55:04) Words of advice to 18 year old
- (1:00:41) The Brainstorm – Cameo for business, future of retail, expert vision/AR in sports broadcasting