This video features a fascinating conversation with Eric Min, CEO and co-founder of Zwift. He shares the journey of growing Zwift into the most successful fitness and metaverse platform, covering everything from early fundraising to the importance of community and his future vision. It delves deep into Zwift's impact on the fitness industry, the role of partnerships, and the ambitious goal of making Zwift an Olympic sport. Experience the world of Zwift, where technology, gaming, and fitness combine to revolutionize how we exercise!

1. First Encounter with Cycling

Eric Min says he started cycling at age 14 after seeing a friend go on a bike trip. At a time when he didn't have a driver's license, the bicycle was a compelling way to explore new places. Initially, he insisted on getting the same oversized bike as his friend, but over time he found the right bike for himself.

Going beyond just riding around, he joined the Sleepy Hollow Cycling Club near New York and began cultivating a deep passion for cycling. There, three brothers taught him about racing, training, and the world of European racing, introducing him to legendary riders like Greg LeMond. From 1981, in the pre-internet era when he would eagerly await magazines to analyze races, he became completely hooked on cycling racing.

He performed well in junior races and even dreamed of becoming a professional cyclist. But after testing at the Olympic Training Center, he realized he wasn't talented enough to become a serious pro.

"Wow, I'm not good enough to be a serious professional."

From that point, he decided to find another career to ease his parents' worries about his future. But the deep passion and experience with cycling built from childhood would become the crucial foundation for creating Zwift later on.

2. Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit

After setting aside his dream of being a cycling athlete, Eric Min began his career at JP Morgan. He spent 8 years in financial technology, gaining extensive training and experience, and was particularly captivated by technology during the internet boom era. Observing his boss's role, he realized it wasn't the path he wanted and decided to start a business at the young age of 28.

"Did I want to be like my boss? I didn't want to take on his responsibilities."

He assessed it as a time when he had "nothing to lose" -- no children, no mortgage -- and founded his first company, Sakana Technology, with a colleague from JP Morgan. The company built trading systems for hedge funds, banks, and insurance companies. Through this experience, he learned everything needed as an entrepreneur: business planning, fundraising, and team building.

Sakana Technology raised $2.5-3 million in total, starting with $600,000 from friends and family, and grew into a successful business. Eric earned credibility as an entrepreneur by succeeding in the business and returning profits to investors, which became the springboard for starting a new venture.

"Taking money from investors, showing execution, and turning it into a revenue-generating business -- that's how you earn credibility as an entrepreneur."

3. The Birth of the Zwift Idea

After successfully leading Sakana Technology, Eric began contemplating his next business idea. Having run his own business for over 10 years, he was accustomed to being his own boss and thought he could never go back to being employed. While exploring various industries, he found the idea for Zwift through a personal problem he experienced after moving to London.

When living in Manhattan, New York, he could easily train in Central Park and socialize with people. But in London, even the nearest park was 30 minutes away, the weather was bad, and he was too busy. He thought that if he could recreate even 80% of the convenience, social interaction, competition, and training experience he enjoyed in New York in a virtual space, millions of people would want this service.

Since social networks and games already existed at the time, he believed it was possible to deliver these experiences in a virtual world. He proposed the idea to his partner Alaric, who, despite having no interest in fitness, was attracted by the potential to inspire people to lead active and healthy lives and joined in founding Zwift. Thus, the idea for Zwift was born, with social experience and community in the virtual world at its core.

4. Zwift's Early Fundraising and Launch Strategy

Zwift had a massive vision from the start and needed significant capital, people, and content. Fortunately, one of the co-founders, Jon Mayfield, was already building an indoor training game to solve his own personal problem. Eric saw the potential for something far more sophisticated in this game, but believed that the social experience was the key above all.

Eric and his partner self-funded the initial capital with money earned from their previous business. This allowed them to develop a product and assemble a small team (fewer than 10 people), then after 6-7 months, they had something to show potential investors. Had they started fundraising with just a concept, they would have lost far more equity.

In the summer of 2014, Eric gathered investors at a party celebrating his previous business's success and pitched his new idea: Zwift. Having earned 7-8x returns on their previous investment, they were willing to invest in Zwift again. Eric believed in the scale of the business and set the pre-money valuation at $20 million. Most of his colleagues thought he was crazy, but he ultimately raised $7 million, far exceeding the target of $3 million.

"I told my partners, 'We're going to set the pre-money valuation at $20 million because I think it's a huge idea.' They all thought I was on something."

Zwift launched at the end of September 2014 with simultaneous launch parties in London, New York, and San Francisco, alongside famous brands like Rapha, Team Sky, Pinarello, Wahoo, and Elite. It was a massive event where all media attendees rode together from one place. From the start, they hired a PR firm to secure extensive media coverage, which attracted 30,000 closed beta sign-ups.

5. Early Growth Strategy and Product Evolution

Zwift's early growth involved several smart strategies. One was the Strava integration. The first map, "Jarvis Island," was a small airstrip in the South Pacific last used during the World Cup. They chose this location because Strava had no segments there. When people started uploading their Zwift rides to Strava, friends began asking "Why are you in the South Pacific?" and grew curious about Zwift. This served as a word-of-mouth effect and an effective early growth hack.

"How did people learn about Zwift? Because questions like 'Why are you in the South Pacific?' started appearing on their Strava feeds. That was the word of mouth. It was a bit of growth hacking early on."

Eric also recalls that limiting the map size to 3 miles (5km) was a wise decision. With a small initial user base, a map that was too large would prevent people from seeing each other, making it difficult to form a sense of community. Meeting diverse people from around the world on a small map added to Zwift's appeal.

Early Zwift had very limited features. It offered only three jerseys -- King of the Mountain (KOM), fastest sprint, and fastest lap time -- which were held for only one hour. People competed enthusiastically for these jerseys. Events, racing, training, and other features we see today didn't exist at all, but the jersey chase alone was enough to motivate people. Eric was so moved by seeing 100 people riding simultaneously that he threw a celebration party in New York.

Zwift launched in sync with the winter season, coinciding with the explosive growth of the indoor cycling market. This was thanks to the complementary relationship with hardware companies like Wahoo and Tacx. Additionally, the standardization of connectivity protocols between software and hardware made it the optimal time for platforms like Zwift to grow.

Many people thought Zwift would remain a niche market, but Eric was confident that the cycling market itself was very large and would continue to grow. Zwift focused on leveraging partnerships to create mutual benefits and integrating with other platforms like Strava and Garmin Connect to deliver value to customers.

6. Product Evolution and Customer Experience Optimization

During the product evolution process, Zwift was overflowing with ideas, but Eric confesses they tried to do too much in the early days. Now they are focusing on fewer, bigger things. He considers simplifying the onboarding process so customers can easily get started with Zwift as the top priority.

In particular, the early hassle of researching and purchasing hardware to use Zwift was a factor that slowed growth and ultimately led Zwift to enter the hardware business directly. The goal was to help customers start Zwift more easily and affordably and have the best possible experience on their first ride.

"Consumers are very lazy. If they have to click three times, they might not buy. You have to eliminate those clicks."

For example, he emphasizes the importance of removing "friction" such as needing to visit a bike shop because the bicycle cassette isn't compatible with a smart trainer. While this isn't an issue for competitive athletes, it can be an entry barrier for the general public.

Zwift sees enabling customers to create their own content as the next growth driver. Like how club features allow creating events or custom kits, they aim to strengthen Zwift's role as a platform where customers can shape it to their liking. Many brands also want to collaborate with Zwift, but Zwift's resources are currently limited. Therefore, providing tools for brands to utilize the Zwift platform on a self-service basis is also an important goal.

7. Attracting Famous Athletes and Team Building

Zwift's word of mouth grew even more as many famous athletes joined. Eric says pro athletes enjoy training on Zwift without getting rained on or using it during injury recovery. During the COVID-19 lockdowns in particular, Zwift was spotlighted as a highly effective training tool, attracting many pro athletes.

"Pro athletes really enjoy riding on Zwift without getting rained on."

Zwift provides free accounts to pro athletes, but Eric emphasizes that the real reason they participate is for training and the social experience of being with others. In a lonely training environment, Zwift provided a great opportunity to be with other people. Beyond cycling, athletes from Formula 1, MotoGP, and various other sports use Zwift.

Regarding team building, Eric says that because startups are incredibly tough, you should work with people you want to be with. He particularly stresses the importance of clear role division and shared vision among co-founders. As the company grows, he advises hiring talent with different skills suited for each stage. For example, early stages need people who do everything themselves, while later stages need leaders with large-scale operational experience.

"Accept that your journey and each stage of business growth requires different teams. And mix them."

He also emphasizes not being afraid to hire people better than yourself. This is essential for growing the business and raising the bar on talent, culture, and execution.

8. Super League Triathlon and the Olympic Dream

Eric Min has very high expectations for the partnership with Super League Triathlon. As of 2025, the Arena Games held a few years ago were a huge success with 2,000 tickets sold out. Triathlon is inherently difficult for spectators to watch in person, but the Arena Games innovated by allowing all three disciplines to be viewed within a swimming pool.

This new format has attracted significant interest from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Eric is convinced it could become an Olympic sport. The major advantage is that all athletes can be gathered in one place for virtual swimming, cycling, and running while fans can cheer on-site. While broadcast quality has room for improvement, providing viewers with rich real-time data on athletes' power output, speed, and heart rate is very exciting. Eric also suggests adding meta-data like fuel tanks to further enhance viewer engagement.

Athletes can virtually see their position and other athletes' performance data in real time, giving them far more information than in actual competition. This has the potential to change the nature of competition itself. Currently, Super League Triathlon's Arena Games and Cycling Esports World Championship are already recognized as official world championships.

Eric believes the Paris Olympics (2024) was too soon, but there's a possibility of it being added as a new sport at the 2028 LA Olympics. Zwift envisions contributing to the Olympics in the hybrid sports category that combines digital and real athletes. The IOC appears more favorable toward digital sports like Zwift that require actual physical effort than traditional esports like shooting games.

9. Zwift's Future Vision

Eric Min says Zwift will continue to focus on customer experience optimization going forward. They plan to add more gamification elements within the game, provide tools for users to create their own content, and support community building.

He emphasizes that Zwift has been realizing the metaverse since its launch. People log into the Zwift metaverse for an hour every day for fitness activities, maintaining their identity and socializing with friends there. Then they return to the real world when the activity is done.

"We've been living in the metaverse since we started. Every day or almost every day, people spend an hour entering the Zwift metaverse to do fitness."

Eric envisions that the metaverse of the future will also be a place where people pop in and out for various experiences. Zwift is actively embracing these concepts of virtual worlds and the metaverse, and as a category leader, its goal is to inspire non-cyclists and non-runners to join the Zwift community and enjoy new sports.

Conclusion

Eric Min's story demonstrates how personal passion can lead to an innovative business idea and grow into a global platform through solid entrepreneurship, strategic partnerships, and relentless customer experience improvement. Zwift has expanded the horizons of the fitness industry by going beyond a mere exercise space to provide the joy of social interaction and competition in the virtual world. As we look ahead to see how fitness and technology will combine to change our lives in the metaverse era, Zwift's next move is highly anticipated