In the next episode of Tech in 26.2 Podcast on Traxamo, I sit down with Tom Fowler, Entrepreneur, Advisory board member and former President of Polar North America. Tom’s impressive track record includes revitalizing endurance sports businesses like Polar North America, Recon Instruments, Cervelo Cycles or Nike European Operations, granting him with unique insights and thought leadership into the wearables sector of the endurance sports industry. As an advisory board member for several endurance tech companies, including Summa Labs, Nix Biosensors, Hanu Health, Stryd, and Form, Tom offers invaluable perspectives for founders navigating resource constraints, particularly financial limitations. His extensive experience in the sports technology sector, coupled with his background as a former professional triathlete, provides him with a distinctive understanding of both the business and athletic aspects of the industry. Here are some key focus areas of our conversation:
⛳ Turnaround story of Polar North America by focusing on core product strengths, streamlining distribution channels and expanding foot print on DTC (e.g Amazon) channels
⛳ Tom’s take on smart watch industry on how its evolving to be a life coach from sport coach
⛳ Approach & strategies on selecting the right wearable technology products for amateur athletes
⛳ Evolution of health centers/gyms to become life performance management centers
⛳ Handling data privacy in connected world
⛳ Finding minimum viable audience (MVA) to build minimum viable product (MVP) to iterate fast
⛳ Run towards challenges - Tom's reflections on his career journey and advice to those aspiring to follow a similar path
