The people who gave us TTS4 (remember that?) would be quite offended.
We donât know what motivated the saleâŚWahoo was on a buying spree and was looking for ways to expand their business. It may simply have been âyou want to give us how much? Yeah, sureâŚweâll sell!!!â
Breaking news just in: we have video of @Jonathan paying a visit to the thread!
Fair, but will point out that Sufferfest has gone from being fairly stagnant with few and far between updates, to being employing more staff (according to the press release with they were bought) and developers to push forward
Hiring more people and bringing forward existing plans theyâve talked about
(From the DC rainmaker article about the accuisition)
So my wording about cult following not paying the bills may have been to strong, there werenât enough of them to âHire more people and bringing forward existing plans theyâve talked aboutâ, something Wahoo were happy to do, to gain more users, even if it hurt the cult following, so it was either not âpaying the billsâ because there werenât enough of them, or there is a bigger market out there ⌠which was my original point
Does the merger end any chance of Beers With Chad ever returning? Maybe one final big beer episode before we have to listen to OJ on the Zwift YouTube channel.
IMO, it would seem that what spurred the sale of Sufferfest are probably the same forces spurring the potential acquisition of TR by ZwiftâŚat some point, self-funded companies are ripe for acquisition. It often just becomes a question of how much and when.
Sometimes it is financial challenges that are the breaking point, sometimes it is people just looking to get out and sometimes it âHOW MUCH?!?!?!ââŚ
Most small self funded companies owners goal are either acquisition OR going public.
Thats usually the ultimate goal⌠its not usual that self-founded companies last a very long time as they were founded.
I think this is what eventually be the driver for TR to sell to Z. It will be an offer only a dummy would decline.
It is nothing against the user base or the app, its just an business transactionâŚ
What is it that Nate (and Chad) could take at the time of the sale? Perhaps, if you are suggesting as such, they could siphon cash from TR. But that wouldnât be a good move from many perspectives. And if you are talking about him selling a portion of his equity to a private party, there are likely restrictions already in place as condition of the acquisition restricting him from such. Curiously, what form do you think this decent chunk would take and how would they accomplish it?
Just finished my workout (using Zwift) and recognized that clubs are available now. Is it even worthwhile to create a tr club 
and who would do that? Maybe someone like @mcneese.chad ?
Ha, I have not looked into the Clubs function much, but seems like connecting with the leaders in this thread would be appropriate for a start.
The club feature to me is a welcome feature itâll will be even better once they add the ability to add a workout for a club event.
Now we can spend all weekend analyzing why Jonathan used that specific emoji.
What is it that Nate (and Chad) could take at the time of the sale?
Er - the value of their shareholding?
Sure a new owner might incentivise them to stay on, or make a portion of the sale price depending on future earnings, but we are talking small percentages here⌠(a company sale I was involved with this ratio was around 85% up front, 15% future performance)
TR is a private company. By definition, there is no public market for any of their shareholdings. They would need to sell such ownership to a private party.
In public acquisitions of public companies (perhaps what you were involved in?), thereâs a lot more flexibility in what can be done. And perhaps if TR were a large private company generating lots of cash (today many of them go public via SPACs), there may be partial short term cash compensation options. But I donât think those scenarios make sense and are likely in a Z-TR scenario.
Itâs very doubtful that Zwift acquires TR without some significant $'s flowing to current TR owners. Not saying it couldnât happen if all TR owners would prefer some equity stake in Zwift (or future compensation) rather than cash, but thatâs doubtful. As painful as it is to to bring up, itâs very likely that Nateâs ex wife has (or is owed) an equal stake in TR as Nate. She probably has no interest in TR (or Zwift) other than making sure the value of TR is accurately established and she gets her share.
Is there a reason TR could not be sold 100% to Zwift under a âtrade saleâ like any other startup?
Gawd, I hope they donât take some deal hoping to cash out on an IPOâŚplease donât do that. Use what is happening with Peloton as a cautionary tale.
Exactly, if youâre a profitable, growing, and bootstrapped company (as I understand TR is) and youâve achieved some element of product-market fit, at some point a third party with some cash to invest will see that and think âwhat could that look like with $Xm extra investment?â (they will be looking for those opportunities).
FWIW I still think a licencing-based integration using APIs (i.e., TR supplying workouts to Zwift) is more likely in the short term, just because it will be easier to arrange. If that goes well, who knows.
I think a TrainNow plugin would be super popular on Zwift - I know a lot of people who just log in and pick a workout to doâŚ
I like that idea.