161. Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit

Today, I'm joined by Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit, a functional fitness program with licensed affiliates across the world.

Founded in 2001, the high-intensity strength and mobility regimen has expanded rapidly through affiliate gyms, global fitness competitions, and merchandise. Serving 5M athletes through 14K locations, CrossFit's tight-knit community encourages better health and peak physical fitness. 

In this episode, we discuss how Don's experience in the military, Big Tech, and startups led to his role with CrossFit and how introducing more people to the CrossFit lifestyle is central to the business.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Don's path to CEO of CrossFit
• How the brand is changing its perception to reach more people
• Its strategy to grow and improve the CrossFit ecosystem 

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:17 Don's Background
03:15 Becoming the CEO of CrossFit
05:24 New strategy for the company
8:03 Key initiatives for the coming years
13:06 Changing brand perception to reach more people
15:04 The value of doing hard things
16:47 How the CrossFit Games affects perception 
20:50 Affiliate ecosystem and partners
24:29 How Don plans to grow the brand
30:16 Focusing long term vs. short term
32:31 Conclusion