Balancing Business, Health, and Ultra-Endurance: Joao Andrade's Road to One Hundred Group

In this episode, Joao Andrade, co-founder of One Hundred Group, discusses his remarkable journey from biotech and health tech entrepreneurship to launching a global trail running series. Joao opens up about two life-changing incidents: a bout with dengue fever and a heart arrhythmia during a trail race in Italy, which led him to reevaluate his fast-paced lifestyle. These experiences, he explains, were pivotal in shifting his approach to business and life, emphasizing the importance of balance and intuition. Joao details the vision behind One Hundred Group—a global championship for ultra-endurance athletes, focusing on 100-mile, 200-mile, and 100K distances. He contrasts his top-down approach of launching an international series with the organic growth of other race organizations like UTMB. Joao also reflects on his experience pitching on Dragon’s Den, where he secured investment, and the challenges of securing venture capital in a post-pandemic world. The episode offers insight into balancing entrepreneurship and endurance sports, with Joao sharing lessons on resilience, overcoming challenges, and his plans to elevate trail running to a global stage. His passion for both business and running drives the conversation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaoandradeultraceo/ Timestamps: (00:47) Intro to Joao Andrade (02:03) Joao’s life changing events (09:50) From CEO to endurance athlete to One Hundred Group (19:30) Overcoming challenges in building a global event series (23:10) Using naivete to bring new ideas to trail running (25:30) The Dragon’s Den background story (31:00) Looking ahead to 2025 to the World Championships (35:20) How to measure success and goals for One Hundred Group (38:55) Dealing with competition like UTMB (41:15) Investing into technology to drive revenue growth (46:15) Commercialisation of trail running (51:50) Ned’s drop of poetry – Brought to you by Lecka Nutrition (www.getlecka.com) Follow Us On Twitter: @OneMoreK_  Follow Us On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onemorek_ Subscribe To Our Newsletter: www.onemorek.com Reach Out: [email protected] Watch On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OneMoreK_ Available on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and Spotify.  – Hit the review button, subscribe and be part of our community. Thanks, Ned & Markus