"People ask me, how do you network to find engineers?" Kim says.
"CrossFit's one of the best ways to meet engineers because it attracts a
certain type of person. Tim Dymmel, the founder of CrossFit Palo Alto,
has seen more than one startup founded by sweaty, chalk-dusted techies
at his gym, and pitched to investors using the same set of barbells.
"Limited partners, VCs, founders, engineers who work for those guys, and
people who work for the larger companies. That's who come to my gym."
One wealthy venture capitalist switched from CrossFit Palo Alto's 7am
class to the 5am class, to weed out entrepreneurial fitness buffs who
weren't willing to get up early. "If they want to find me at 5am,"
Dymmel recalls him saying, "they know where to find me."
"CrossFit's a filter," Dymmel says of the connections forged under the pull-up bar. "It's the ability to suffer. Are they mailing it in on the workouts? Or are they really working hard?"
There is a ruthless logic to this. It's a war for talent, sure. But why stop at talent, when you could be recruiting talent with a tolerance, even an appetite, for grueling group suck-fests? Sure, that Stanford computer science major can code. But will he take leisurely water breaks when the clock is ticking? Will that mobile e-commerce ninja stop to stare at the barbell between rounds of "Fran?" Or will she power through it, high-five everyone afterwards and describe the ordeal as awesome?
- More Here from J.C. Herz's based on her new book Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
"CrossFit's a filter," Dymmel says of the connections forged under the pull-up bar. "It's the ability to suffer. Are they mailing it in on the workouts? Or are they really working hard?"
There is a ruthless logic to this. It's a war for talent, sure. But why stop at talent, when you could be recruiting talent with a tolerance, even an appetite, for grueling group suck-fests? Sure, that Stanford computer science major can code. But will he take leisurely water breaks when the clock is ticking? Will that mobile e-commerce ninja stop to stare at the barbell between rounds of "Fran?" Or will she power through it, high-five everyone afterwards and describe the ordeal as awesome?
- More Here from J.C. Herz's based on her new book Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
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