6 ms·

They had 2800 employees?! Why? Their product is a home bike with a screen. Plus some developers and their TV crews, I don't see how you can get to such a number

sigstoat 5y ago
they do (did?) also have showrooms. customer service staff. who knows if they did their own assembling or final product qa. they certainly weren't running your average SaaS service. i'm not _too_ surprised about 2800 people. i'm surprised there's anyone left afterwards.
nikanj 5y ago
Investors wanted to see the company grow, and butts-in-the-seats is one of the easier metrics to grow.
thebean11 5y ago
Look at how quickly they are (were?) growing. Lots of those employees were probably working on the "next" thing, whether that's another bike or a new device or software product. It's not like all they're doing is maintaining their current iteration of bike with TV screen..
onion2k 5y ago
All your comment really shows is how little you know about how many people it takes to run a large business, and that you don't really understand what Peleton do. Peleton design and manufacture their own equipment, they ship it globally, they have their own buyers and supply chains for that, They also build the tech that runs their business, from the customer portal to the video integration in the products. They make programs that include CGI and motion graphics. They do sales, and support, for nearly 6 million customers. On top of that there's payroll, and admin, and HR, and ... it's a very long list, that requires a lot of people. We're bad at estimating large numbers so our first impression is usually wrong. It's important to factor that into any reaction to a number that sounds way too high. It's always worth taking a step back and thinking about why it might actually be correct.
- varjag 5y ago
  Do they own factories and heavy assets? If they contract out the amount is still absolutely humongous for what they do.
- jimhi 5y ago
  Just to clarify they are in 4 countries. They also appeared to be doing the last mile delivery in these countries themselves (at least I could confirm in the USA) which probably helped with their premium brand. That said, I still agree with the above post. Fitbit has 1,600 employees and actually ships globally. This was excessive.
  - jmacd 5y ago
    They definitely were not doing last mile delivery themselves. They use an outsourced delivery company. Those vans you saw with their logos on them were just part of that deal.
    - jimhi 5y ago
      As I said, I could confirm they were. I was reselling their bikes to SE Asia in my last company. You can also google this: https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/peloton-in-housing-delivery-and-lastmile/ https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/peloton-in-housi...
      - jmacd 5y ago
        They use XPO Logistics.
  - r_klancer 5y ago
    Coincidentally, I was (also) going to jump in this thread to say that at Fitbit we never employed even near 2800 people. Of course, per the standard corporate model nowadays, Fitbit in its time as an independent company didn't directly employ the people who do the manufacturing, logistics, retail sales, or front line customer support (nor of course the people who do janitorial services, security, food service, etc for those folks.) So I don't think it was fair of GP to say: > All your comment really shows is how little you know about how many people it takes to run a large business Although perhaps it was more fair to say: > you don't really understand what Peleton do Personally, I concluded from the headline that there must be an interesting story there.
sowbug 5y ago
Five days ago, HN's front page linked to an article that answers your questions in a very general sense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30185229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30185229
aivisol 5y ago
The article says they lay off 2800. The total number is perhaps much higher?

sigstoat 5y ago

they do (did?) also have showrooms. customer service staff. who knows if they did their own assembling or final product qa. they certainly weren't running your average SaaS service. i'm not _too_ surprised about 2800 people. i'm surprised there's anyone left afterwards.

nikanj 5y ago

Investors wanted to see the company grow, and butts-in-the-seats is one of the easier metrics to grow.

thebean11 5y ago

Look at how quickly they are (were?) growing. Lots of those employees were probably working on the "next" thing, whether that's another bike or a new device or software product. It's not like all they're doing is maintaining their current iteration of bike with TV screen..

onion2k 5y ago

All your comment really shows is how little you know about how many people it takes to run a large business, and that you don't really understand what Peleton do. Peleton design and manufacture their own equipment, they ship it globally, they have their own buyers and supply chains for that, They also build the tech that runs their business, from the customer portal to the video integration in the products. They make programs that include CGI and motion graphics. They do sales, and support, for nearly 6 million customers. On top of that there's payroll, and admin, and HR, and ... it's a very long list, that requires a lot of people. We're bad at estimating large numbers so our first impression is usually wrong. It's important to factor that into any reaction to a number that sounds way too high. It's always worth taking a step back and thinking about why it might actually be correct.

varjag 5y ago
Do they own factories and heavy assets? If they contract out the amount is still absolutely humongous for what they do.
jimhi 5y ago
Just to clarify they are in 4 countries. They also appeared to be doing the last mile delivery in these countries themselves (at least I could confirm in the USA) which probably helped with their premium brand. That said, I still agree with the above post. Fitbit has 1,600 employees and actually ships globally. This was excessive.
- jmacd 5y ago
  They definitely were not doing last mile delivery themselves. They use an outsourced delivery company. Those vans you saw with their logos on them were just part of that deal.
  - jimhi 5y ago
    As I said, I could confirm they were. I was reselling their bikes to SE Asia in my last company. You can also google this: https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/peloton-in-housing-delivery-and-lastmile/ https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/peloton-in-housi...
    - jmacd 5y ago
      They use XPO Logistics.
- r_klancer 5y ago
  Coincidentally, I was (also) going to jump in this thread to say that at Fitbit we never employed even near 2800 people. Of course, per the standard corporate model nowadays, Fitbit in its time as an independent company didn't directly employ the people who do the manufacturing, logistics, retail sales, or front line customer support (nor of course the people who do janitorial services, security, food service, etc for those folks.) So I don't think it was fair of GP to say: > All your comment really shows is how little you know about how many people it takes to run a large business Although perhaps it was more fair to say: > you don't really understand what Peleton do Personally, I concluded from the headline that there must be an interesting story there.

sowbug 5y ago

Five days ago, HN's front page linked to an article that answers your questions in a very general sense: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30185229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30185229

aivisol 5y ago

The article says they lay off 2800. The total number is perhaps much higher?