Here’s the pitch deck fitness startup Perform used to convince an Olympic legend to back its idea of bringing elite coaching to average runners — and raised $1.2 million from investors


Perform co-foundersChristian Mathiesen, Eric Brownrout, and Leonard Adler

  • Virtual coaching startup Perform just raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from defy.vc.
  • The startup is banking on the pandemic running boom to bring affordable coaching to all.
  • Olympic legend Meb Keflezighi and his brother are also partnering with the startup.

One fitness startup is working to bring personalized coaching to the large and dedicated running community — and just convinced VCs to back its idea and a marathoning legend to join its team.

Perform, which offers online running coaching using human coaches and AI, has launched with a $1.2 million pre-seed round, Insider has learned. Defy.vc led the round, with Techstars, the chief product officer of Calm, the former CPO of and Uber, and the cofounder of fitness startup Fitbod, also investing.

Additionally, Perform is launching in partnership with Mebrahtom “Meb” Keflezighi, the legendary US distance runner who won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic marathon, in addition to taking gold at both the Boston and New York Marathons. His brother Merhawi, who manages professional distance runners and track and field athletes, is also joining the startup as an advisor.

Thanks in part to the pandemic, the number of runners in the US ballooned to more than 75 million in 2021, according to a report from Nielsen Sports.

As someone at the elite end of the sport, Keflezighi said that the specialized support he received throughout his career is an experience that every athlete should have access to in order to meet their goals.

“The people and technology behind Perform encourage people to get the best out of themselves, have fun, and find success,” he told Insider in an interview.

But Traditional coaching is hard to come by and expensive for the average runner, with coaching packages usually clocking in at hundreds of dollars per month, Perform cofounder and CEO Eric Brownrout told Insider in an interview. Instead, many joggers opt to pick a random training plan from the internet and hope for the best.

Perform is looking to disrupt this model by offering access to qualified coaches at an affordable price point. For $39 per month, users are paired with a coach who takes their fitness goals into account, writes a personalized training plan, and makes adjustments. More expensive membership models offer daily and on-demand video communication with coaches, while the basic model offers a weekly check-in.

The startup will also counsel users on fitness, recovery, racing strategies, feeling, and other aspects of the sport beyond just daily exercise, Keflezighi, who will be mentoring Perform coaches, noted.

“The majority of our customers have never had a coach before, but the pricing and technology at Perform finally make it accessible,” Brownrout said, noting that users range from those looking to complete their first 5K to elite athletes eyeing world records.

Perform is hoping to capitalize on the fitness craze that has overtaken Silicon Valley in recent years with companies like Fitbit, which makes fitness trackers, and Peloton, an exercise equipment maker that offers on-demand fitness classes. 

Other health startups marketed more specifically to runners include Strava, a social media platform to share exercises with friends, and Whoop, a wearable that tracks heart rate data and calculates how recovered users are. The two unicorns have raised $151.9 million and $404.8 million, respectively, according to Crunchbase.

Perform is hoping to one-up the existing competition by adding more personalization to the mix: an actual human coach with a fitness certification that works with the app’s AI to help people adjust their training plans and achieve their fitness goals. While the startup is “laser-focused” on the running space right now, the co-founders noted that its model could be scaled to other sports in the future to further expand its user base.

“The small number of coaching services out there today are doing great things, but they only reach a very small portion of runners,” Brownrout said. “Combining human coaches with technology is helping us bridge the gap and create a solution that didn’t previously exist.”



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