Zelnick's Elite Fitness Network
Share
A story about how Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick created an exclusive morning workout club that combines fitness and networking.
"There's this guy named Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, which owns Grand Theft Auto and other major games - probably a $5-10 billion a year company. He's in his mid to late fifties and looks like a GI Joe - just a jacked dude who gets up at 5AM in New York to work out.
He created what I call 'The Breakfast Club' - an invitation-only morning workout club. He decided to treat fitness as important as board meetings in his schedule. To make it more interesting, he combined networking with fitness. The group meets at 5 or 6 in the morning in New York and does different fitness activities each day.
He covers all the costs for the group, so money isn't an obstacle. Everyone in the photos is jacked with six-packs. He loves it because he gets to hang out with motivated 20-30 year olds who push him to stay fit, while also connecting with talented, ambitious people who see the world differently than him.
The genius part is how they filter people - by making it at 6AM and making the workouts hard, it naturally selects for the type of person you want to be around. It's called 'The Program' and it's 100% fitness, 100% networking, and 100% friendship all at once."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.