316. Todd Meleney, Co-Founder & CEO of While on Earth

Today, I'm joined by Todd Meleney, co-founder & CEO of While on Earth. An athletic footwear and apparel brand for the modern wellness consumer, While on Earth prioritizes versatile "performance wellness" over single-sport specialization. In this episode, we discuss creating an underdog brand in a competitive market.  We also cover: Christian McCaffrey's role as co-founder  Defining "performance wellness" as a category Investing in grassroots community over paid marketing    Subscribe to the podcast → insider.fitt.co/podcast   Subscribe to our newsletter → insider.fitt.co/subscribe   Follow us on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/fittinsider    While On Earth's Website: www.whileonearth.co  While On Earth's IG: https://www.instagram.com/whileonearth/  - The Fitt Insider Podcast is brought to you by EGYM. Visit EGYM.com to learn more about its smart fitness ecosystem for fitness and health facilities. Fitt Talent: https://talent.fitt.co/  Consulting: https://consulting.fitt.co/  Investments: https://capital.fitt.co/   Chapters:  (00:00) Introduction (01:40) Todd's background and While on Earth overview  (02:40) White space opportunity in performance footwear  (04:25) Lessons from building NOBULL  (05:15) Shifting consumer behavior toward holistic wellness  (07:15) Defining "performance wellness" as a category  (09:30) Product philosophy (12:00) Building vs. buying brand awareness  (14:30) Grassroots community strategy over paid marketing  (17:00) Retail strategy (19:30) Athlete partnerships (22:00) Christian McCaffrey as co-founder and investor  (24:30) Product roadmap and innovation focus  (27:00) Staying authentic while scaling (29:05) Running category launch in 2026 (30:15) CMC signature product line coming 2026  (32:45) Role of athletes in brand building (34:50) Conclusion