# Walk the Talk: How Living It Beats Pitching It

[Lubo Smid](https://www.strv.com/blog/authors/lubo-smid) Co-founder & CEO of STRV

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TL;DR For me, sport and business aren't two worlds. They're one. And clients can feel the difference across the table in 30 seconds.

In early February, I was sitting in an Airbnb in Phoenix one morning. I'd flown in for a HYROX race. A notification popped up with the contract for IRONMAN, STRV's new global partnership. I signed it. And within 15 minutes, I'd registered myself and a few colleagues for the half IRONMAN in Baku. We're heading there on September 5th.

This moment isn't about IRONMAN's brand prestige. It's personal confirmation of something I refused to admit to myself seven years ago: for me, sport and business aren't two different disciplines. They're one and the same world.

That's what I want to write about: why the commitment I pour into sport is one of the best business investments I've ever made.

## When The ICU Forces You To Reconsider Your Life

Before I turned 30, my life looked completely different. STRV had a reputation as a company that built great tech and threw great parties. We burned money, we drank, we didn't sleep. I ran on adrenaline and youth. I'd always loved sport, but health wasn't a priority. The priority was growing the company.

Then I ended up in intensive care. Diagnosis: Type 1 diabetes.

Everything changed overnight. I quit drinking. I overhauled my diet. I started training. It wasn't a decision, it was a necessity. What I didn't expect was that it would push me further than I'd ever planned to go. When the body works, the head works. When the head works, the business works.

It took me over 10 years of building STRV to figure out what I actually wanted to build. For a long time I couldn't answer one simple question: "What type of products does STRV most enjoy working on?" We had projects across every industry, which is exactly why we lacked a sharp competitive edge. I found the answer outside the office. In the gym, on the bike, at the starting line. The moment I found it, a lot of things started happening almost on their own.

## What My Week Looks Like Today

I train six days a week, and these days almost every day is a two-a-day. I start at 7:30 a.m. with my routine. A little later, bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and MCT oil, which gives me clean energy on my low-carb diet without a glycemic spike), and with my first meal of the day, a supplement protocol inspired by Bryan Johnson and David Sinclair: NMN and resveratrol to support NAD+ and cellular regeneration, omega-3, vitamin D3 with K2, magnesium, creatine, probiotics and a few other things tuned to my current focus. It's not biohacking for the sake of biohacking. It's part of how I keep stable levels and peak performance with Type 1 diabetes.

The first two or three hours go to meetings or focused work. I don't train right after waking up; the body isn't ready yet for peak output in my view. Only then comes the first session, followed by lunch, deep work in the afternoon and recovery in the evening: sauna, ice bath, compression pants. If a second session is on the program, I go again.

My main focus is still HYROX. The community around this new sport excites me in a way I couldn't have imagined for a long time. HYROX has gotten hyped and social media is saturated with it, but it still fulfills me. It gives me exactly what I was looking for. The goal stays clear: train until I qualify for the world championship. We'll see what age category that ends up being. On top of that, IRONMAN has now joined the lineup, and over the summer I'm planning to ride across America.

When it comes to coaching, I surround myself with the best. For a long time, [Hunter McIntyre](http://instagram.com/huntthesheriff) led my prep. He's a multiple-time HYROX world champion. Now I train with [Dylan Scott](http://instagram.com/thehybridraccoon), and my good friend and occasional training partner is the best Czech in HYROX, [Tomáš Tvrdík](http://instagram.com/tomtvrdik). All three of them are part of HYROX Elite 15 (the top 15 athletes in the world). When I want to get somewhere, I need to surround myself with people who are already there. That applies everywhere, not just in sport and business.

## What It Costs Me

Tens of thousands of dollars a year. The IRONMAN entry fee is just the tip of the iceberg. Flights to races, coaches, physio, massages, contrast therapy, gear, gadgets, supplements, a tailored diet. And the most valuable item on top: time.

Most people ask whether it's sustainable. Whether it pays off. The answer is getting clearer: it does pay off, and it's one of the best investments I've ever made. I'm talking about ROI for the company too.

## How Barry's Became The Playbook

One of the moments when it definitively clicked for me was Barry's. In 2018, David Semerád and I started going to Barry's in Venice Beach. We liked it so much that we said: we're going to visit all 50 studios around the world. At the time it sounded like a crazy idea. Looking back, it was the best sales pitch I ever made without pitching anything.

Two years later, we built [Barry's X](http://strv.com/our-work/barrys) for them, a product that brought the experience of their "Red Room" online during COVID. The tens of thousands of dollars we invested in the Barry's World Tour came back to us as over a million dollars across a multi-year partnership.

This isn't coincidence. It's a system. And it's become the foundation of how STRV wins its most interesting clients today.

## How The Habits Got Written Into STRV's DNA

The change I went through personally got written into the company. Big parties used to be the thing. Today it's a gym right inside the office, running groups, joint race entries, wellness events. People come to us, clients and employees, who treat performance, health and discipline as core values.

Our client portfolio now includes [Gold's Gym](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7466120877236101120), [Barry's](http://strv.com/our-work/barrys), [Chirp](https://gochirp.com/products/chirp-rpm-rolling-percussive-massager/?gadid=&gad_campaignid=22337757263&gbraid=0AAAAADOqQFWMqYZBMfzmJ1AmEKH44Mj86), [METHOD](https://www.themethod.com/en-fr), [Major League Soccer](https://www.strv.com/about:blank), [Arnold Schwarzenegger](http://strv.com/our-work/the-pump), and now [IRONMAN](https://www.ironman.com/). There's no brilliant business development playbook behind that. I live what I sell. In a meeting with IRONMAN, I don't have to explain why I understand endurance sport. They see it.

The difference between a salesperson describing it and a partner living it is fundamental. You can feel that difference from across the table within 30 seconds.

## Why IRONMAN, and Why Now

IRONMAN reached out to us last summer about a partnership. At first, I was actually avoiding the idea of doing one myself. HYROX is closer to my heart. It's more strength-based, shorter, the training isn't as much about volume, it suits me. But once we started negotiating the partnership, I told myself: if I sign that contract, I'm signing up for the race.

Right after the signature in Phoenix, I clicked register for the 70.3 in Baku. We fly out September 5th.

I'm not doing IRONMAN just to do IRONMAN. I'm doing it to be a living reminder of what STRV is about. I want to be a walking example. When our clients in the fitness and sports world see what my calendar looks like, I don't need long presentations. They see that at 37 I'm finishing a half IRONMAN, aiming for the HYROX world championship and planning to ride across America in the summer. At that point, nobody wants to see case studies anymore. It's a different form of credibility, and for me, the cleanest one.

## Summer 2026: Riding Across America

Instead of celebrating my birthday, on July 1st I'm setting off on the bike across America. Race Across America (RAAM) has fascinated me for a long time, but I'm not racing it. I want to complete this goal for myself. I've taken a month off from STRV and the plan is clear: cross the USA from coast to coast. Hopefully I can pull it off in that time. As is my habit, I'm not picking the easiest route. We're going the opposite direction from the official race, mostly against the wind. That's how [Headwind Coast to Coast](https://www.hdwnd.com) was born, from Times Square to Santa Monica Pier.

I follow [Jesse Itzler](https://jesseitzler.com/), and one of his lines has stuck with me for a long time: you should have at least a few things on your bucket list that scare you a little. This is exactly that. It's not life-threatening, but it'll be a thrill. And there's a real chance I might not pull it off at all.

That's exactly what's beautiful about it.

## What It All Adds Up To

For a long time, I didn't know what kind of company we were actually building. Today I know the answer: STRV is the strongest technology company helping sports, fitness and lifestyle brands dominate the digital era. Barry's was the first major proof of concept. IRONMAN is the latest piece of the same story. I already know it won't be the last. We have others in the pipeline that go well beyond sport. The principle is transferable: once you let what truly drives you into the business, you stop trying and start creating.

The most valuable thing I have, time and commitment, I'm putting into giving our position maximum legitimacy. Not through marketing. Through life.

Before I turned 30, I couldn't have imagined writing this. Health was at the bottom of the list, business at the top. Today I know that was a false choice. The business runs best when my health runs well. My health runs best when I have purpose in business. And clients show up most often when you stop pitching and start living it.

*At STRV, we've had one core principle from day one: Strive for more. That's the reason STRV is even called STRV.*

*Everything I'm writing about here, IRONMAN, Barry's, the bike across America, is nothing other than that principle applied in practice.*

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