The lesson of three companies

[Ellsworth]

I was selling a piece of gym equipment in a parking lot, when a seemingly random guy walked up and butted in by saying, "Hey, I work for the company that made that!"

Precor fitness.

We enjoyed a conversation about the piece of equipment I was selling and about Precor in general.

I enjoyed the chance to explain my idea of a truck rack / squat rack system, with a bunch of interchangeable accessories (U-channel based).

They key is making two products of similar size and weight, that shares the same metal stock (raw steel product), so that the production line is mono until the very end where it might split in two for final assembly of product A and product B. Imagine a quick attach/detach cut station off either side of the truck, depending upon parking conditions. Where the arms of the cut station match the safety arms of the squat rack. Add a bunch more accessories, most that can go on the squat rack frame at home, or the truck mounted lumber rack.

It is a Dimensionally Stable System (pun intended).

The other key is 5-6% projected growth in both markets: fitness and truck racks (sources do vary on those statistics, but all seem to project growth in both markets that are above inflation.
Neither are in the tech sector, so that isn't considered horrible growth. Add a screen, OS, and bluetooth to both racks and see the sales skyrocket! #2024 #futureisnow #lol

I also explained the military sales potential, especially since Precor is already familiar with the procurement process.
Tons of custom storage could instant clip in to any full size truck.

I did not mention commercial marketing concepts, i.e. "The Hulk Package" or "The Bulk Package" (depending on budget and availability).

I had the chance to ask about the history of their Icarian line of equipment.
He explained that it was a company Precor purchased long ago, and that they had maintained it as a line.
He didn't know much more than that about it.

Ironically, this was a few weeks after I did a deep dive into Peloton's purchase of Precor.

One press release had stood out, the one where Peloton announced their failed sale of Precor (not long after buying it) and basically said something like, "Well, we sure don't know what we're doing now."

I found it to be a worth while learning journey: Peloton, Precor, Icarian line... Covid and modern American style capitalism.