Helaine Knapp is not an athlete, fitness instructor, or a professional rower. Yet she sits at the helm of CITYROW, a rowing empire that she started just five years ago following a serious back injury that left her seeking a solution for a smart and safe workout experience.
Fast-forward five years, CITYROW has built a cult-following, and has Knapp driving major growth for the brand with a mission to make rowing accessible to consumers across the country. CITYROW now has three studio locations: two in Manhattan and one in Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of Knapp’s alma mater, University of Michigan), with 30+ franchise locations set to open in 2019.
Today, the brand is launching CITYROW GO, an on-demand rowing experience that uses a custom machine and immersive app to deliver an elevated at-home workout experience.
Dan Reich: You don’t have a background in fitness, yet you’ve built an innovative fitness brand. How did this all start?
Helaine Knapp: I started my career in publishing and then moved on to the tech world, working for Buddy Media (sold to Salesforce.com for $800MM in 2012) and Olapic (sold to Monotype for $120MM in 2016). While I was working in tech, the boutique fitness studio trend really started to boom - and of course, I got hooked. I would go to classes almost daily for my workout and as a way to socialize with my friends or entertain clients. But, years of spinning and bootcamp classes left me with some serious lower back pain - and to top it off, I really wasn’t seeing major results from all the time and money I was spending in these classes. I was sidelined with a serious injury and my doctors pushed me to find a low-impact workout. I saw nothing in the boutique fitness space that was low impact yet high intensity, so I set out on a mission to find a way to get a low-impact workout that was smart AND effective.
While researching the best low impact workouts, I kept uncovering rowing - and though it had all these proven benefits, I ignored it because it felt “old school” or “crossfit-y”. But it kept coming up and I couldn’t get over how good it was for you. There was nowhere specifically dedicated to rowing, so I decided to be the person to seize the opportunity and make rowing sexy and cool again. I paired it with strength training work off the machine and thus CITYROW was born, and our first studio opened in January 2014 in Manhattan.
Reich: So with a background in tech and no experience in fitness, how did you make CITYROW a reality?
Knapp: CITYROW came to life as a result of extreme persistence, research and aggressively tapping into the people and resources around me. It was my side-hustle while I was still working in tech, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Though a lot of people thought I was crazy for pursuing this, there were more that supported and encouraged me to push this dream into reality. I had to educate myself and do it quickly - and bring in people with complementary skill sets to drive the business forward. So, I brought in our now COO, Ashley Davis Keith, a fellow tech startup coworker and friend, to drive marketing and operations and Annie Mulgrew, our Master Trainer and Program Director, who I knew from college and who was one of the top NYC fitness instructors to build and deliver the perfect CITYROW class. When you bring together a mix of talents, some serious magic happens - and that’s how CITYROW came to life.
Reich: What is CITYROW all about? What is a CITYROW class like? What can you expect when you walk in to a CITYROW studio?
Knapp: I knew day 1 that we had to create a unique experience - and we had to make rowing chic and mainstream. I also knew the rower could be a little intimidating, so the vision was to create a warm and welcoming community at CITYROW where anyone of any fitness level could come in - challenge themselves to their own limits and do so within the contagious energy of a group fitness experience. We paired beautiful WaterRower rowing machines with complimentary strength training work off the machine. Our class is a meticulously structured 50-minute workout combined with killer playlists to help create a dynamic fitness experience that delivers a safe, fun workout that actually delivers results.
We have a number of class formats. Our signature class combines pushes on the rower and high-intensity intervals off the rower to deliver a full body burn. We also have classes that are rowing only - high intensity rowing intervals are there to challenge your body - and classes that are focused on cardio and core work.
I’m surely biased, but I’m proud of the crew we’ve built and know we have some of the best instructors in the fitness industry training our clients, pushing them to be the best they can be, and ensuring that each client leaves our studio(s) feeling empowered and proud of the work they put in.
Reich: When you started CITYROW, what was your vision for the brand?
Knapp: When I started CITYROW, I was focused on getting one studio open and making it a success. Our first studio quickly grew a cult-following, which led us to opening studio #2 in Manhattan on the Upper East Side. It was then that I knew we had something really special on our hands, and I knew we had to think about what was next. In my mind, there was only one option: go big and bring the magic of CITYROW to consumers nationwide. That meant moving at high speed to expand our physical studios and offer an at-home solution.
Reich: So what have you been doing with CITYROW over the last year?
Knapp: Earlier this year we announced plans to franchise the brand. We’ve partnered with Franworth, the premiere franchise growth equity firm, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to help us open CITYROW studios nationwide. We’ve now sold 30+ franchises (Denver, Portland, San Francisco, Dallas, New Jersey - to name a few!), with plans for these locations to open in the near future and more franchise units coming down the pike.
The other exciting piece of news is the launch of CITYROW GO - a digital, on-demand rowing experience pairing our new, custom CITYROW GO Machine by WaterRower with an immersive app enabling anyone, anywhere to experience CITYROW.
Reich: Tell me more about CITYROW GO? How does it work?
Knapp: First, we created a custom piece of equipment with our partner, WaterRower the new, CITYROW GO Machine by WaterRower, and our CITYROW GO iOS app, allow consumers nationwide to get a signature CITYROW workout from the comfort of their own home whenever they want. Open the app, choose a class and enjoy Annie, Bakari, Hollis or any our other instructors taking you through a class of whatever duration you want. The rowing machine and app are paired wirelessly so that the streaming video is overlaid with live workout data. The app also stores your workout data so you can track progress, hit goals and measure performance over time.
We have a variety of CITYROW class formats with new content uploaded weekly. Perhaps one of my favorite elements of the app is that we can choose the length of time and content. I’m ALWAYS pressed for time, so I’m drawn to a quick 20 minute CITYROW Signature, but we also have standard 50 minutes, rowing only, or Cardio & Core - we even have classes without the rowing machine if you’re on the go or need a quick fix!
Reich: What’s next for CITYROW?
Knapp: It’s been a crazy 5 years - the past year specifically with the launch of franchising & CITYROW GO. For me, it’s the same vision - how to make this “better” workout accessible to people nationwide. If someone can’t get to a physical CITYROW studio for whatever reason, there’s a great option to get it digitally in your home, local gym, or workplace. We have always led with “product first” - I began with the notion that we could create a smart, effective and fun workout that delivers results today but keeps our body safe. That was the plan Day 1, and still the plan today. Now I guess it’s time to deliver some CITYROW GO machines and open some franchise units!
Disclosure: I am an early investor in CITYROW from when it was just an idea on paper.
