Before the pandemic, the fitness industry was booming. Then coronavirus forced the closure of gyms and boutique studios, and Struct Club took advantage of the moment to allow instructors to reach consumers directly.
<p>In this installment of<em> </em><em>dot.LA Dives In</em>, Kelly talks to Amira Polack, founder and CEO of Struct Club, a mobile app that provides instructors with software that simplifies planning and coaching a class.</p><p>Side gigging as a spin instructor while she received her MBA, Amira found herself spending hours prepping for her classes, where she was not only expected to play the role of instructor, but also DJ, choreographer, exercise scientist and motivational speaker. Struct Club was born. </p><p>Built on the idea that music helps improve fitness class attendees' performance and enjoyment, Struct Club not only allows fitness choreographers — or "pack leaders" — to create unique classes, but ensures attendees are maximizing their workouts. </p><p>In this conversation, Kelly and Amira dive into how Struct Club pivoted its business model during the pandemic, the challenges of raising money as a female and minority founder, and what trends are impacting the fitness industry. </p><p>Watch the full interview here:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d1f2af2642df36a6236ae58425fd9643"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mbxOESquAyU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">dot.LA Dives In: Fitness App Founder & CEO Amira Polack</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxOESquAyU" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a></small>
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<em>Kelly O'Grady runs video and serves as the chief host & correspondent for dot.LA. Find her on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kfogrady" target="_blank">@kfogrady</a> and email her at <a href="mailto:mailto:kelly@dot.LA">kelly@dot.LA</a>.</em></p>
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Outer, the direct-to-consumer outdoor furniture brand that uses backyards as showrooms, raised $4.3 million in a seed round led by Mucker Capital. The two-year-old Santa Monica based company has seen business boom during the pandemic as retail stores shut down and online orders surged. Suburbanites looking for a stay-cation plucked up their eco-friendly sectionals as consumers spent more time at home.
"We went from tens of thousands of dollars in monthly revenue to millions of dollars in monthly revenue," said co-founder Jiake Liu. "In April we hit profitability."
<p>The closure of retail has given the company an opening and the rise of Airbnb has made consumers more comfortable going into strangers' homes.</p><p><a href="https://liveouter.com/" target="_blank">Outer</a> has tapped into the shared economy with a network of 120 showrooms in customers' backyards. The company pays its partners $50 a visit and says it has a waiting list of 6,000 applicants.</p><p>"We are catering to this new consumer who is so used to online shopping, but that doesn't take away the fact that people still need to touch see and feel a lot of products and specifically around furniture," he said. "People just want to sit in a sofa before investing $1,000."</p><p>The pandemic has brought in new opportunities. </p><p>Outer's low-slung sectionals range from $2,000 to $8,000, and are supposed to appeal to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn shoppers. Liu and co-founder Terry Lin, a former designer at Pottery Barn describe the design as timeless. </p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwMDE5OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDc4NzQ3NX0.OJaT801Ph_DihQTOV5Nvp-GRu8WKXD7dvZyWU47epSg/image.png?width=980" id="077db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="047b9ed2c197fa9845b43b50f293e84a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
</p><p><br/></p><p>The products are manufactured in Liu's family-owned factory outside of Shanghai. The family, which has built furniture for retailers for years, shifted their production to source recycled materials. The new round of funding will help Outer develop better products and build a line of rugs, tables and other outdoor products. Liu also said he's focused on expanding content around outdoor living. </p><p>If working remotely catches on permanently, he said, it could help his business as people seek to work outside of urban cores to roomier homes with wider outdoor spaces.</p><p>The funding round pulled in some big names in Los Angeles consumer tech, including Honey co-founder George Ruan, GOAT co-founder Eddy Lu and Thrive Market co-founder Nick Green. </p><p>"It's truly an L.A. story and I am really glad about that," Liu said. </p>
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Bilingual Publisher Encantos Raises $2 Million to Launch Subscription Box, Expand Spanish Content
Feb 10 2020
A then-tech executive at Oracle in 2015, Steven Wolfe Pereira was a new father and wanted to do some more meaningful work. So with his wife, who had run Twitter's multicultural market strategy, and their two good friends, they began pitching an idea of a bilingual children's book series to publishers.
"I was aghast at the responses I was getting," he said. "They were like, 'Latinos really don't read'. It was really insulting."
<p>So, the four — all with Latin immigrant roots — came up with their own brand, Encantos, that loosely translates in Spanish to "charming." It started with a board book, app and YouTube channel that had traditional Latino children's songs in Spanish and English like <em>Los Pollitos Dicen </em>or a different take on Happy Birthday, <em>Las Mañanitas. </em>They called it Canticos.</p><p>Two years after launching, Encantos picked up a deal with Nickelodeon to license Canticos. And the company has been expanding their edu-tainment brand since. Pereira, whose family is from the Dominican Republic and who took over as chief executive last year, said the public-benefit company aims to be a culturally authentic direct-to-consumer brand for preschoolers. </p><p>Last month, the company raised $2 million in an oversubscribed seed round Oakland-based Kapor Capital with Boston Meridian Partners, Chingona Ventures, Human Ventures, and MathCapital. </p><p>Encantos plans on using the funds to launch a subscription box service tied to their TinyTravelers series, books exploring cultures around the world. It also is looking to grow their brands. Chef and television personality Aliya LeeKong announced last week she is launching "Issa's Edible Adventures" in partnership with Encantos. The book, app, and animated series is centered around a "feisty, funny, and resourceful" 7-year-old, half-black and half-Indian girl. </p><p>Wolfe Pereira, who helped bootstrap the company, said Encantos wants to tell stories that aren't being told elsewhere and will be using a diverse cadre of writers.<br/></p><p>"Part of the issue is we don't have enough diverse voices in 'the room where it happens' so we can have culturally authentic voices sharing their everyday lived experiences," he said. </p><p>About 41 million Americans speak Spanish, but options for Spanish children's books have been slim, he noted. </p><p>Many blame this on the lack of diversity in the publishing, which recently came under fire over "American Dirt," a novel by Jeanine Cummins about a woman who fled Mexico to escape cartels. Latinx writers challenged the portrayal of the immigrant experience as a cheap stereotype that sailed through the largely white literary world because there are few people of color in the upper ranks of the industry.</p><p>"Lots of people talk about diversity, equality and inclusion — but year after year it's just that: talk," <strong></strong>Wolfe Pereira said. "This is impacting every industry, not just the publishing industry. But for some reason, it's really pronounced in publishing. 'American Dirt' is just one of many, many examples where folks miss the mark. It's 2020, and over half of all kids in America are multicultural. Diversity is a business imperative today."</p>
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