In late October 2020, Peloton chief executive John Foley sat down in front of his bookshelves, popped in his AirPods and logged on to a video conference with a top Goldman Sachs investment banker. Goldman had taken his connected fitness company public the year before and was hosting a virtual event so clients could learn from “builders and innovators”.
Foley, a clean-cut fiftysomething who looks like he could have been born in a Patagonia gilet, retold the tale of what inspired him a decade ago to bring static bicycles and high-energy spin classes into people’s homes. He recounted the story of turning Peloton into a cultural phenomenon and himself into a billionaire in measured, practised tones.
