Second Nature

Hilary Fenet just pulled off one of the most talked-about brand activations at UTMB — a full hotel takeover in Chamonix for Rabbit, complete with a clubhouse for the week, community breakfasts, and an espresso cart in the parking lot. But the company behind it, Halo, started with a much smaller and much less glamorous moment: Hilary booking a hotel on the wrong side of a mountain before a race in the Italian Dolomites.
In this conversation, Hilary walks through how a bad hotel booking turned into a genuine business insight — brands were building incredible experiences for their sponsored athletes, but ignoring the people actually buying their gear. She breaks down how Halo builds these activations from the ground up, the data that makes the case for in-person experience over pure digital marketing, and what it actually takes to scale something this bespoke to multiple events happening around the world at once.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Halo and Popfly:
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Show Notes:
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Hilary Fenet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-fenet-b2b2358/
Rabbit: https://www.runinrabbit.com/
Monica DeVreese: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monid/
Dolomite Skyrace: https://www.dolomitemountains.com/en/resources/dolomites-tips/sky-race-in-the-dolomites
Aravaipa: https://www.aravaiparunning.com/
Citadel Investment Group: https://www.citadel.com/
SAFE Note: https://carta.com/learn/startups/fundraising/convertible-securities/safes/
Athletic Brewing on Second Nature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUZyMp1XsPs
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Rabbit: https://www.runinrabbit.com/
Theo of Golden (Book): https://amzn.to/4xliEF3
Climatic: https://www.climatichealth.com/
War of Art (Book): https://amzn.to/4h2vkuE
Shoe Dog (Book): https://amzn.to/4A5RSmL
Fun Stuff:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Taylor Hoekstra spent years selling products through an unlikely channel — farmer YouTubers — years before anyone called it the "creator economy." That experience taught him something most people in the outdoor industry hadn't figured out yet, and it planted the seed for Popfly.
Before writing a line of code, Taylor spent two years and roughly 500 conversations validating the idea, testing a simple question: would people actually pay for this? In this conversation, recorded live at Outdoor Retailer, Taylor walks through the classic cold-start problem every founder building a two-sided marketplace has to solve — get supply first, use supply to pull in demand, then reinvest in supply relentlessly. He also gets honest about the early years trying to convince outdoor brands that working with creators was worth their marketing budget, long before it was an easy sell.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Taylor Hoekstra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorhoekstra/
Popfly: https://www.popfly.com
Camp Chef: https://www.campchef.com/
Cold Start Problem: https://amzn.to/4qTtHEb
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Outdoor Retailer: https://outdoorretailer.com/
Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro: https://us.amazfit.com/
Shackelton's Voyage: https://amzn.to/4qRwmOB
57 Hours: https://57hours.com/
Fun Stuff:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Today, we're sharing something a little different. My longtime friend Rebecca Rusch invited me onto her podcast, What's The Rusch, to talk about navigating transitions: the ones we choose, and the ones that choose us.
Rebecca and I have known each other for over 20 years, since my days as her athlete manager at Red Bull, and this conversation covers a lot of ground: my own path from Red Bull into building Super Rider and Second Nature, the behind-the-scenes story of helping athletes see the light, and some honest reflections on loss, reinvention, and figuring out what comes next.
This isn't a regular Second Nature episode, but it felt too good not to share. Enjoy the conversation, and if you like what you hear, go check out the rest of What's The Rusch right here: https://www.rebeccarusch.com/whatstherusch

Second Nature Listener Survey: https://surveymars.com/q/inCNkLas9
Alyssa Olenick, known online as Doc Lyss, has spent the last eight years building a seven-figure fitness and training business while simultaneously earning a PhD in exercise physiology. She started with $35-a-month one-on-one coaching over Google Sheets and a MacBook that literally overheated. Today she runs a training app, a coaching team, and a quarter-million-follower community built on a simple philosophy: talk to your customers, act fast, and never stop iterating.
In this conversation, Alyssa breaks down what it actually took to build a business that didn't feel real until nearly a decade in, why she turned down far more brand deals than she accepted, and what "world-building" really means in modern marketing: the idea that people buy into an identity, not just a product. She also gets candid about the hardest season of her business, the difference between growing a business and running a company, and why she deliberately paused an entire second brand for years because she knew she couldn't do both well at once.
This episode is supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Alyssa Olenick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssaolenick/
DocLyssFitness: https://www.instagram.com/doclyssfitness/
The Lyss Method: https://quiz-thelyssmethod.com/
DocLyss Newsletter: https://substack.com/@doclyssfitness
DocLyss YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@doclyssfitness
Alex Hormozi: https://www.instagram.com/hormozi/?hl=en
Shelby Sapp: https://shelbysapp.com/
Codie Sanchez: https://codiesanchez.com/
Yeti: https://www.backcountry.com/brand/yeti
ShopMy - Alyssa's Storefront: https://shopmy.us/shop/doclyssfitness
NoBull: https://nobullproject.com/
Ozlo Sleepbuds: https://ozlosleep.com/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
SENIQ: https://seniqbrand.com/
Halfdays: https://www.halfdays.com/
Suunto Race 2: https://www.backcountry.com/suunto-race-2-sport-watch
Courtney - Post Hardrock Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQYa_fTw01w
HoverAir X1 ProMax: https://us.hoverair.com/products/hoverair-x1-self-flying-camera-combo
Fun Stuff:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Second Nature Listener Survey: https://surveymars.com/q/inCNkLas9
Gary Vernon, Scott King, and Aimee Ross have been building what is now one of the most significant mountain bike destinations in the world. What started in 2006 as a five-mile trail system in Bentonville, Arkansas has grown into 600 miles of trail across the region, 1,200 miles statewide, and most recently, a lift-access bike park with its own chairlift, restaurant, and membership model.
In this conversation, they walk through the design principles that made it work: building for beginners first, focusing on progression, and the decision to build within city limits rather than isolating trails on private land. They also break down the economics of trail building compared to traditional recreational infrastructure, what it actually took to build a 38-trail bike park in under two years, and the advice they give every community that calls asking "how do we become the next Bentonville"...which is, simply, don't try.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Scott King: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-scott-king-9991a4/
Aimee Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimeeross/
Gary Vernon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-vernon-ii-58253a7/
Tom Walton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-walton-40b9792ba/
OZ Bike Park: https://oztrailsbikepark.com/
OZ Trails: https://www.oztrails.com/
Discovery Loop: https://www.visitbentonville.com/blog/stories/post/ride-the-loop-bentonvilles-scenic-bike-route/
IMBA: https://www.imba.com/
Transform Your Community (Gary's TED Talk): https://youtu.be/yXJkWIeNP6g?si=p8frsQWhW7CzqJnB
IMBA TrailLab: https://www.imba.com/trail-labs
Gravity Logic: https://www.whistlergravitylogic.com/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Cone valve suspension: https://dirtbikemagazine.com/cone-valve-suspension/
Sierra Nevada NA: https://sierranevada.com/brews/trail-pass-ipa
Triumph Daytona: https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/motorcycles/sport/daytona-660
The Design Way (Book): https://amzn.to/4zjfoMS
Marin Alpine Trail EXR (Aaron's Bike): https://marinbikes.com/collections/alpine-trail-e
Fun Stuff:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia