Soulcycle：它的IPO乘坐声誉

When a company goes public, my usual response is an editorial one: assigning stories, lining up a social media campaign and thinking of different ways to report on a topic that will be getting heavy coverage. When SoulCycle, the luxury boutique fitness phenomenon, filed July 30 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, however, I didn’t just take note. I got out of my seat — and into several occasionally uncomfortable ones.

尽管我们的企业重量观察者在2013年期间失去了近40磅，但足以说明去年夏天，我已经扭转了许多损失。我已经在八年级赛道前20年摧毁了我的正确骶髂关节，而30岁 - 与想要我的少年富有信件相比，我的态度为30岁，不会伸出刺穿腰痛。然而，随着这些事情倾向于工作，30件事我没有少女的新陈代谢。跑步，我的长期进入有氧运动，正在成为一个不太有吸引力的选择。

必要性是重新感应的母亲。这是时候重新开始锻炼制度了。作为Soulcycle，昨天庆祝第十岁生日，通过在少数60多个地点提供一套免费的游乐设施，正在加强公众，我建成了为什么。在几个星期的过程中，我在纽约的自治市镇周围的几个一室公寓出去了，以及新泽西州的短山，以获得良好的措施。

由于它的第一个位置在西部开放，因此该链条开发了大量的风扇和批评者。本月在休斯顿地区开业新的位置，该公司在九个州和哥伦比亚地区运营，即使它的乘坐的97％是纽约市，洛杉矶和旧金山。根据其IPO申请，2014年，超过20万台独特的车手夹在其专有锻炼混合的纺纱，自由重量的光调和所有舞蹈中的所有练习中，以及保件者可以在旋转自行车的同时融入旋转自行车时剪影。骑手可以在45分钟的课程中燃烧500-700卡路里，并在2014年，为隶属于灵魂循环品牌的特权花费了约1.12亿美元。

Herein lies the rub: SoulCycle has transcended from exercise phenomenon into a brand name associated with an affluent, urbane lifestyle inasmuch as a workout itself. Write-ups of sample sales of its branded athleisure wear, festooned with its signature yellow spin wheel, are featured alongside those of fashion houses sold in Fifth Avenue department stores. Can’t get to Manhattan’s Garment District for a sample sale over your lunch break? No problem: SoulCycle has struck a deal with Target to feature a diffusion line of its exercise gear at the discount retailer. The company wrote in its IPO filing that clothing and bike sales accounted for roughly 16 percent of revenues in 2014; the remainder came from studio fees. SoulCycle also touts its roster of celebrity clientele. Michelle Obama has taken bespoke SoulCycle classes; a2012年虚荣博览会文章counts Katie Holmes, Chelsea Clinton, Lena Dunham and Kelly Ripa among its fans.

SoulCycle mentioned the word “brand” in its IPO filing 99 times. The filing also touts its celebrity exposure as an asset and a potential business risk: “If in the future we lose such celebrity ridership, this could have a negative effect on our business.”

所以有多少SoulCycle is riding on hype? There is a definite snob factor at play: Beyond the celebrity and social media appeal on which SoulCycle banks its business, the workout doesn’t come cheap. In New York, individual classes cost $34 each. In some markets such as San Francisco, the classes are cheaper, whereas in the Hamptons a ride will set you back $40. There’s a discount for buying in bulk, but nevertheless, the savings leave it far from being a budget fitness option.

事实上，Soulcycle的流行形象是品牌Lycra中吹干Sylphs的避风港可能会像绘图一样争取。我也持怀疑态度，期待成为健美操课程的赞助人：在不匹配的螺纹中终于偏离，我刚从街上的体育商店的间隙架上拿起。虽然Soulcycle的精英主义 - 无论是未说出口的 - 让它宣传，势利派将送羞涩，更尴尬的人包装。这是链条的个人触摸缴付的地方。在我签署必要的摇摆并拿起我的骑自行车的鞋子后，那里的接待员在一个街区的位置和一半亚博赞助欧冠’s offices detected a hint of nervousness. “Oh, honey,” he said, waving off my concerns. “It’s a sh*tshow on everyone’s first ride.”

然而，它结果是我曾经拍过的最不尴尬的运动课 - 甚至是令人愉快的。锻炼播放列表如此无缝地放在一起，它似乎被一个专门挑选的市场研究小组挑选，专门试图瞄准Snarky 30的作家。老师特别高兴我来到我的第一堂课。它在其首次公开募股招股章程中介绍了短语的转变：“这种经验是部落的。这是原始的。而且很有趣。“而且，该课程展示了年轻的纽约人的横截面，所有人都在那里获得锻炼，以至于他们可能无法使用健身自行车和一个孤独地脱离Fitbit。几乎所有我参加的课程 - 每周六，周六会议在短山上 - 被包装。我的课程威廉斯堡还包括美国服装队员与POM-POMS的啦啦队队员，而在上东侧和西村地区，我的同伴在他们的竞选日2014年T恤让我感觉像是恐龙。

There is something to be said for not wanting to dog a workout that costs nearly as much as a monthly electric bill. In comparison with that at a gym, SoulCycle’s pay-per-class model holds appeal for people with unpredictable schedules. Case in point: the person who dragged me to an early class in suburban New Jersey, my boyfriend’s sister. A part-time school nurse and a mother of a toddler with another on the way, she lamented her pricey monthly membership at Equinox as often going to waste. (Equinox Fitness’s parent, real estate developer Related Cos., owns 97 percent of SoulCycle.) Rather than a must-do, some riders with whom I chatted see SoulCycle as an occasional treat and expenditure, like a manicure or pedicure. It’s also a 45-minute break from mobile devices.

同时,SoulCycle不是唯一一博tique spin class out there. Flywheel, SWERVE and Peloton have developed followings in their own right — and unlike SoulCycle, they offer free water and shoe rental. Although I haven’t tried Peloton, in the course of my thorough workout research, I did sample the first two. Both offer points-based competition depending on speed and resistance used; SWERVE offers a team-based approach, whereas Flywheel lets individuals have their stats posted onscreen under a chosen pseudonym. Notably, the cycling instructor who introduced the two founders of SoulCycle left said partnership to launch Flywheel. Overall, the workout is essentially the same: warm-up, sprint, slow ride with heavy resistance, lightened resistance, weights, spin some more and cool down. Obviously, this formula isn’t hard to crack. SoulCycle, in its IPO, pointed to its awareness of this issue: “Additionally, while we devote considerable efforts and resources to protecting our intellectual property, if these efforts are not successful, the value of our brand may be harmed.”

对于公司继续扩大，它还必须扩大其乘客基地，灵魂循环中的一个人在其首次公开募股中的目标。然而，虽然汉普顿的人们令人愉快的是，在海滩野餐之间每课超过40美元，但大多数国家都没有相同的旋转课程口袋。该公司在其IPO提交中暗示它有计划推出数字在家服务，尽管这将需要愿望的用户来拥有自行车 - 更不用说可能打开健身课程，更具模仿，完整的博客帖子沿着“您需要的5个灵魂循环黑客”的线条标题。

Unsurprisingly, the company maintains that it has plenty more room to grow. In SoulCycle-speak, that means “ANYONE can be an Athlete, a Legend, a Warrior, a Renegade or a Rockstar.” In the words of Equinox CEO Harvey Spevak, the SoulCycle “brand is in [such] great demand that we can’t satisfy that demand,” he said on Bloomberg Television Canada. During the same interview, he maintained that market conditions weren’t exactly ripe for an initial public offering. Fair play. Roughly a month after that interview, however, SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice cashed out of the company, with each founder coming away with $90 million, much of the windfall coming by way of Equinox upping its stake in the spin chain last year. SoulCycle CEO Melanie Whelan, who was formerly the founders’ chief operating officer, remains at the helm, and the two founders remain on the board. The IPO is still pending.

In the meantime, SoulCycle’s stock among its patrons remains up. The free tenth-birthday class I took yesterday evening filled up in roughly one minute. It’s a fair bet that the others went nearly as quickly. Although the price per class might come across as a bit steep to some, the demand is clearly there in their core markets. And since last summer, I’m back down about 30 pounds.

That’s some cost-price effectiveness right there.

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Follow Anne Szustek on Twitter at@the59thStBridge。