Ep196 - Cam Falloon (Founder & CEO - BFT) on overcoming adversity and scaling to 700+ studios globally

The Startup Playbook Podcast

Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors

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Ep196 – Cam Falloon (Founder & CEO – BFT) on overcoming adversity and scaling to 700+ studios globally

• August 22, 2024
• rohitbhargava
• Podcast

My guest for Ep196 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Cam Falloon.

Every great story starts with overcoming adversity and Cam is no different.

Cam picked up a serious back injury which made it difficult for him to walk…to the point where it would take him 15mins to walk a 12m hallway and being told by doctors that he wouldn’t be able to workout again.

That life-altering injury sparked his passion for strength, conditioning, and training, not only to rehabilitate his own back but also to help others achieve peak physical health.

Cam’s expertise took him to the highest levels of personal training, including working with none other than Princess Diana and high-performance roles in the English Premier League with Derby County, as well as several AFL teams.

In 2015 he launched BFT, a group strength training studio that started with just four studios in Melbourne. Today, BFT has exploded into a global phenomenon with over 700 studios across 11 countries.

The growth and success of BFT hasn’t always been obvious with Cam having to navigate through the lockdown period during COVID and overcoming an aggressive $50M lawsuit from the largest competitor in the industry

In this episode, Cam shares lessons from his career so far and we cover topics such as:

• The back injury that changed Cam’s life and set him on a path to becoming a leader in the fitness industry.
• Cam’s experience working with Princess Diana and his role in high-performance training within the English Premier League and AFL.
• The founding and rapid global expansion of BFT, growing from 4 to 700+ studios in just under a decade.
• How BFT navigated the challenges of COVID-19 without shutting down any studios.
• The $50M legal battle with a major competitor and what it taught Cam about resilience and perseverance in business.

Timestamps

• 1:59 Cam’s background
• 6:31 Hurting his back, how that led to fitness
• 15:59 Training Princess Diana in London
• 19:20 Working with Derby County Football Club
• 27:14 Keeping things simple in business
• 30:51 Challenges working in sports
• 32:48 Applying lessons from sport and high performance to business
• 36:22 Overcoming health challenges his wife was having
• 40:24 Launching BFT
• 47:47 Avoiding 7 as a feedback score
• 50:21 Getting sued for $50M
• 1:01:51 Navigating COVID
• 1:07:49 Surrounding yourself with the right people in busi