Saladcore

Ann Malume discovered Pilates in LA and became obsessed. After just 30 days, she was amazed by her body transformation and the intensity of the workouts. She started recruiting friends and began doing the math on the studio's business model: 10 Reformer machines, $30 per class, 10 people per class, completely full every session. That math was simple and stunning: $3,000 per class × 10 classes per day × 30 days = roughly $900k per month from a single studio. She realized no one was doing this at scale.

At 31 years old, Ann had saved $150-175k from five years running the Back on My Feet nonprofit. She put nearly all of it into her first DC location: $25k licensing fee, $150k buildout, and ~$70k for Reformer machines (which she financed). Rent was $7k/month. She negotiated aggressively with her contractor, offering net-60 terms, and pushed back on security deposits—a strategy that would become core to her real estate expansion playbook. Her first customer was a pregnant woman named Amy who bought $2,500 in private sessions sight unseen, which Ann honored by training her daily at 5am before opening classes.

Ann leveraged her media contacts from Back on My Feet to secure press coverage in The Washington Post. She also personally distributed pamphlets and flyers constantly, but the real driver was the product itself. Everyone who took a class experienced severe soreness and wanted to tell their friends—creating natural viral word-of-mouth. The first month generated over $100k in revenue.

What worked: (1) The workout itself was genuinely unlike anything else—high intensity, focused, results-driven. (2) Ann's branding instincts were sharp; "Saladcore" with bracket logos conveyed strength and community. The "It's Not For Everyone" campaign mirrored Nike's approach and attracted driven, ambitious people. (3) Rapid expansion: Instead of perfecting one location, Ann opened 2, 3, 4, 5 in year one, creating a perception of momentum and ubiquity (inspired by the Subway playbook). (4) Ruthless capital allocation: she reinvested all profits into new locations and negotiated creatively on rent, security deposits, and machine financing.

What didn't work: The initial relationship with LaGrie, the machine licensor, was expensive and limiting. They charged a $25k licensing fee and prohibited Ann from modifying workouts or machines. Within a couple years, Ann hired a former MMA trainer to redesign the routine, broke from LaGrie, and had to go through a lawsuit to buyback machines—but won. Then she invested "probably a couple hundred grand or more" into manufacturing her own Reformers, with multiple failed prototypes. It was messy but necessary to control the business.

By 2017 (year 4), Saladcore had 27 locations, each doing ~$700k in annual revenue ($19M+ annualized total). Ann did a minority deal that valued the company at ~$60M, negotiating not just on valuation but on terms: she needed $12M in capital to reach 100 studios and structured the deal with a healthy preferred return for investors rather than accepting their lowball secondary offers. She continued to grow and operate the business through 2023. In April 2023 (9.5 years after launch), she sold all her shares, exiting for approximately $350M. By that point, Saladcore had become the dominant player in the boutique Pilates space, known for operational excellence, exceptional brand positioning, and a workout that genuinely delivered results. Ann credits success to three factors: an incredible workout, speed to market dominance, and full brand cohesion—knowing exactly who Saladcore is and who it attracts.