I need to find a new podcast that doesn’t harp on habits of consistency. I get it that people are busy and this is the cheap but effective coach, but we basically get the same message wrapped up and delivered over and over.
Chad commanded the room well in a way the other hosts don’t. I’ll miss his presence and hope there’s an active effort to include deep dives into emerging science topics related to cycling.
Hot takes should be once a quarter. It should be a fun episode where the hosts don’t see the takes ahead of time but the current frequency just feels lazy.
My impression is that Nate’s statement was vetted by a lawyer to avoid liability. The statement was simple, clear and precisely worded. I don’t want to mention all the possibilities that have shot through my head, because it wouldn’t be fair to anyone. But whatever happened must have been serious.
Maybe because that would have made TR legally liable?
Unless he was let go for a legal issue in which his “crimes” would be a matter of public record, they can’t go into anymore detail…it sucks, i know we want to know but in all likelihood we may never know the details. It sucks, i would not be surprised if he starts his own pod and/or coaching biz pending/following any NDA/Non-compete clauses expire. This forum is a good to get our opinions, thoughts out to Chad (i’m sure he’ll get wind of these responses) and vent but, things change and business is business.
Because he was one of the earlier employees/founder (not sure) I’m sure Nate made it a soft landing (he’s not a total di#$) with some sort of equity payout or at minimum a golden-parachute of sorts. Not to say its not hard on both. Chad has a small celebrity status as evidence by the response and care for his well-being here. If he’s smart as soon as he can he could probably start a healthy coaching biz or consultancy and do alright.
For me this all feels pretty stupid. It had been a long time since I listened to or watch the podcast. I stopped because I got sick of Jon or Jonathon or whatever interrupting Chad constantly when he was explaining the research he had done on a topic. Unless it was about sleep or something in which Nate had done a bunch of research Chad was the only one who had informed his opinions rather than just spouting off “well I think n=1 bla bla bla.”
As far as their handling of this it was a complete wiff. I really don’t care about business this or legal exposure that since even if the silence would be deafening they could eventually fill that silence with a proper explanation. They easily could have canceled this week’s podcast with some “someone’s sick” excuse, came together and discussed a proper way to inform the public that a prominent and formerly important founding member of the team had been asked to leave. Wouldn’t even need to be a full week, just until they could get their message straight. Instead we get a terse face shot of Nate saying “I fired Coach Chad[sic].”
And if it sounds like I’m taking sides, I am. As made clear above he was my only reason for listening to the podcast and I felt it was as much his experience and training plans that made trainerroad more than the app. Software whatever he was the actual brains of the operation. Who would have stuck with the software this long if the plans had been ineffective? His training plans were the core of trainerroad and have more or less been pushed to the side for the AI takeover. At this point I doubt we’ll notice much change from his departure as I think they were barely using him anymore anyway.
Other than the skynet bit I think the only other bit of comedy to be derived from this I like was that Chad was a victim of the “all work from home employees must return to the office or else you’re fired.” And he came back with a “I guess I’m fired.”
Absolutely, that’s exactly my point though. I’m not sure how “carefully chosen” or “legally vetted” the wording was, it strikes me as it was not. I would have expected “TR parted ways” and nothing more than that, including part about it being involuntary.
There’s a lot of strange speculation here about the applicable law here. Very generally speaking, in an absence of an agreement otherwise, there are no restrictions on what your employer can say about you. (Exception: lies can get you into trouble with defamation.)
Yep, as mentioned by others above using that simple “involuntary” statement, puts them in a little of legal jeopardy (i’m not an attorney so feel free to shut me up), and I hope it was vetted by council.
For those that claim they don’t care about the legal-schmegal of it and feel there should be full transparency, because we “deserve” to know the full story…think again.
Our beloved software platform and podcast could get sued into oblivion and cease to exist. Remember TR is a small company that has claimed to not have investor coffers, rich-uncle-partners or even a huge back-office council to back them up (probably one guy). TR and any small business needs to tread-softly in these cases and nate needs to think about he longevity of the company and the 100+ employee/family’s that depend on the TR machine to keep going.
For those that wanted a separate thread for discussion, one got created and I’m not merging it like I did previously. Again, I’m sorry for my mistake above and any confusion or frustration it caused.
Just watched the Chad announcement clip myself - wow. Chad deserves much better, regardless of how it got to this point. Chad is a co-founder of TR with Nate. TR would not exist as it currently does without him. Would it exist at all? Maybe, probably in some form. But Nate and Chad built this company together. The “not voluntary” bit seemed spiteful. My opinion of Nate and TrainerRoad is greatly diminished at this point.
Why? Business is business, this is why you shouldn’t start a business with friends or family. I think it’s unfair to place blame on someone when none of us know the whole story.
I’d hold off on statements like this. We have no idea what Chad did or didn’t do to be terminated. This is a reminder that we really do no know these people. How they appear in the podcast may not be reality. Many beloved individuals have done shocking things. Not saying it’s what’s happened, but we have no information either way. I’m not going to be defending anyone here until we know what happened, which honestly I doubt we’ll ever know.
I strongly disagree with the ‘business is business’ notion. Chad was not just an employee of TR. Chad built it with Nate. The amount of work, the decisions made, the uncertainty, the stress needed to do that is monumental. So much more than just working somewhere and following someone else’s lead. Nate owes his current success to both his own drive and effort but also to the effort and support of Chad.
It doesn’t matter to me what Chad (or TR) did to reach this point. Nate should have the decency, maybe it’s loyalty, to acknowledge where they came from and not put this announcement out this way.
Exactly why people shouldn’t start businesses with friends or family. When something happens that breaches trust or a contract. Someone has to put the big boy pants on a stand on the beliefs of the company. Since we don’t know anything, it’s hard for me to see it other than a business decision. I mentioned what I thought it was above and deleted the comment because people were upset. Certain things deserve discipline and that’s where and why in the end business is business. If what happens comes out then we can debate whether or not it was a personal issue.
I am grateful for what Chad has done, I’m not trying to bash him. I’m upset he’s gone but we don’t know much about anything.
I had my Chef fired one day, the same day we had a golf tournament of 350 people 3 course plated dinner. Did the ownership care about my feelings when I was now in charge of a major tournament for that club.
No they cared about the integrity of the company.
IMO, what he did or didn’t do is irrelevant. I’m not arguing that he should or should not have been terminated. But the public “not voluntary” piece is/was unnecessary and distasteful.
A lot of people seem to be hung up on the fact that TR said the departure was not voluntary. Forgetting about this situation about which we know nothing, there are times when an organization needs to clearly distance themselves from a situation.
Second point - to the same degree - in contentious situations employers cannot, or should not, give any details about such matters. No matter what happens, it is not up to a company to make public the acts of their employees. In some cases a company has no choice, but even if facts about an employee are true, it can still be a Tort to reveal personal information publicly. It’s silly to think TR owes us a duty to give us details about this situation.
Yes, exactly. It shouldn’t have been said this way. They could have simply just said that Chad was moving on to new adventures.
Here’s what I fear (for Chad’s sake):
He moved out of state away from the home office. Out of sight, out of mind. It may have been a professional mistake but I seem to recall that he had to leave for family reasons.
TR needed to save money and they started questioning whether they even needed a coach. Let’s face it, there’s nothing new in exercise phys for decades. Training progressions are not rocket science and now they have AI.
I liked Chad. He was my favorite podcast hosts. The deeper the dive the better. Coach Chad, I wish the you best. I hope you leave this place with some equity.
(Has Chad’s forum login been removed? I can’t find it.)
…ok then