Today Zwift announced the appointment of two new members to its board of directors. Below is the press release from ZwiftHQ in its entirety:
Zwift, the online fitness platform for cyclists, runners and triathletes worldwide, has confirmed the appointment of Patrick Pichette and Celeste Burgoyne to its board of directors. The appointments follow Zwift’s recent Series C funding round.
“We made a commitment to invest in the very best talent to support Zwift’s growth as a brand, so I’m delighted to be in a position to welcome Patrick Pichette and Celeste Burgoyne to our board of directors, says Eric Min, Zwift CEO and Co-Founder. “Both bring an enormous wealth of experience from their respective fields, covering finance, technology, brand & marketing, retail, eCommerce and fitness. Importantly for us, they are both passionate about our product and share our vision to help support millions of people enjoying an active lifestyle.”
Patrick Pichette brings over 30 years worth of financial and operating experience to Zwift, with a history of helping to scale companies of all sizes. Pichette served as CFO for Google from 2008 to 2015. While serving at Google, he took an active part in Google’s growth agenda and ultimately supported the creation of the Alphabet structure. Today, Patrick serves as Chair of both Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Lightspeed (NYSE:LSPD) Board of Directors, and is a partner at Inovia Capital, which has invested in Zwift for an undisclosed sum.
“As a Zwift user, and someone who has always enjoyed an active lifestyle, It’s easy to get behind a mission to make more people, more active, more often, while having fun! Who can argue with that? says Patrick Pichette, Partner at Inovia Capital. “I am excited to support Zwift’s world class team by sharing my experience and networks as we forge ahead and deliver on that mission.”
Also joining Zwift’s board of directors is Celeste Burgoyne, President, Americas and Global Guest Innovation at lululemon, who brings more than 25 years of experience within the retail industry. Burgoyne joined lululemon in 2006 prior to its IPO and has held a variety of roles with increased responsibility as the company has now grown its annual revenue to approximately $4B. In addition, Burgoyne brings experience from the at-home fitness industry after lululemon acquired MIRROR in 2020.
“It is an incredibly exciting time for me to join Zwift’s board of directors,” said Burgoyne. “Zwift is at the beginning of a new chapter as it develops the hardware to complement its software platform to provide a fully integrated at-home fitness experience. I look forward to helping the management team at Zwift identify opportunities to reach a broader audience.”
IPO prep 100%
Exactly my thoughts.
You mean going to the stock market ?
“Hardware.” Zwift bike to compete with Peloton bike, while the UI and game mechanics idle. Yawn.
Feels like there’s so many “low hanging fruits” that Zwift could do to make their existing platform so much better. Like better UI, more gamification (different type of competitions, more achievements, quests/missions, ghosts, etc.). Instead they are trying to compete with their own eco-system (Wahoo, Tacx) and spreading out in all kinds of more or less logical directions…
Do you think they will fix Zwift Power? 🤣
Are you still publishing that “balanced” piece about the Haute Route disaster?
Hi Alex, I got an even better story that is personally more fun than Haute, I gave up on that idea when Zwift wouldn’t talk with me and like everyone, I gave up waiting for the results and moved on with life (eventually finding the results a week later). It was disappointing the whole Haute results thing, but I have referenced in my next “View from the Back” article which involves a race up the Alpe Du Zwift, hopefully it will be published soon.
I’ve got some balance available for your Haute Route piece, Tim. I banged on that drum for two weeks so I guess it matters what you want to balance out…😄
If I was an investor (and I am but not in startup) in this field I would stay away from this company this is Zynga IPO all over again,
Zynga went back above their IPO $7bln valuation and has a market cap over $10bln for the first time in 7 or 8 years. Still not even close to a success story but Zwift could do significantly worse.
I see lots of white men on their board. Sorta makes their Black Celebration series laughable.