Can you start by introducing yourself and what do you do?
My name's Jake, I’m the founder of Newport Run Club. But what I do is a pretty loaded question. I think a better question is asking what don't I do? Because honestly, ever since I've just gone all in on pursuing my passions and goals, the world opened up. It all started with Newport Run Club.
What does a day in the life look like for you?
So by day, I'm actually a licensed CPA. I work in venture capital. I started in the Bay area. Prior to that, I worked for a big accounting firm right here in Costa Mesa. And honestly, I just went all in on thinking I was going to be this private equity hedge fund and investment banking guy, and found myself hating that very quickly. So now I've pivoted a little bit to working at a startup that's a little bit more aligned with my ethos right now. It’s very gritty. We build out processes and work with small companies that are looking to expand. So that's my 9 to 5. With Newport Run Club, it's everywhere. It's meetings, it's branding, it's marketing. It's all encompassing. It’s a lot. But yeah, I would say my day in life goes from very narrow to very chaotic.
What sparked the idea to form Newport Run club? How did it start in the first place?
So it started as an idea in late 2022. I found myself living this Groundhog Day. Like every day was the same. There was no variety. I had just moved here to Newport, probably two years prior to that. And found myself not really being able to expand my network. I grew up about 30 minutes away from Newport and always dreamed of living this life. And when I got here, it wasn't like that dream I thought of. I just felt a little bit isolated and it was hard to pinpoint why. There's things to do, but there was no genuine connection. So given I was working so much, I just wanted an outlet to be active and be outside and maybe hang out with a couple of friends. I'll never forget this day. I was with my coworker and after a few margaritas, I remember going to her and saying hey I'm thinking of starting a run club. So me and my roommate joined her and her friends on a Wednesday and it was the easiest 5k of my life. I grew up a soccer player. I ran a lot, but I just hated running on my own. Like, my relationship with running was toxic. It was boring. But when we ran together, it was the easiest three miles of my life, so something clicked there. So after that night, I went home and I was like, you know what? I'm going to start the Newport Run Club page. It was really just a way for me to have an excuse to get out of work and hang with my friends. It wasn't designed to become this massive movement. It was just a way that I wanted to connect with myself. I was trying to figure out what am I missing in my life? And it was just a genuine community connection and being able to get outside. After that, I remember making the Instagram account and saying every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., Newport Pier, and that's it. The first run we ever did I got a bunch of disposable cameras and took photos of my friends. Then it grew from there and I realized hundreds if not thousands of people in the area were also having that same problem that I was. So week after week, rain or shine, we just were always running. No matter what. And before I knew it, five turned to ten, which turned to 20, which turned to 50, to 100, to 500 and now we're here. It’s crazy what it's done. Not only for me personally, but for the community and the relationships that people have built. People challenging themselves mentally.
It's crazy to see how big it has become. After only a few years, I think the growth has been so natural. I know you mentioned you never have done any boosted ads, no paid marketing or anything. Did you ever think it was going to get as big as it is now?
Honestly, I thought no one was going to show up when it first started. Because we started in the worst time of the year. It was December, and the first one officially was December 20th, 2022. And then we didn't run the rest of the year because of Christmas and New Year's. And then fast forward to the first run ever. It's pitch black. But every time there were more people that showed up and it was kind of shocking. I think the real reason why it's gotten so big is just, again, people looking for genuine connectivity in the world. Everything is so digitized now. This is the simplest thing ever. And there's a lot of beauty in simplicity as well. That's why I make an effort to not do paid ads or paid marketing or anything like that, because I want people to actually come here with a purpose versus being sold on some ad I ran.
You can tell right away if people are just in it for the money or if they're in it because they're truly passionate about it. I think with Newport Run Club that it's very obvious that you're passionate about it. You love what you're doing.
That's what brings a lot of people in, is that beautiful story. I mean, so many things had to go right and so many things had to go wrong to even get where we’re at now. That's a lot like life, honestly. Like, there’s a lot of hidden messages that I think are calling to us, whether it's starting a publication, whether it's starting a movement and putting yourself out there. I think people have that internal compass that is leading them in certain directions. I think the passion isn't necessarily driven by me. Honestly, it's driven by its members. I say this a lot, I'm always like, I just work here. Like, I don't do anything. Without the hundreds of thousands of people who have come across the globe, none of it would exist. And it's the idea of individualism, but also collectivism, and I don't know where else you could find that for free on Wednesday at 630pm.
Tell me more about the community too. In my opinion, there aren't really a lot of outlets outside of you for young adults to get together, socialize, do something healthy, like running. Do you think it was more of a challenge to start something so fresh in Orange County?
I mean, anything that's new is a challenge for sure. But it depends how you define that challenge. For me, I wasn't worried that the community wouldn't accept it. I was more or less worried if people were willing to subscribe to that idea. Because when I searched for my community, I didn't find it, and I felt like I looked pretty hard. I had the going out phase where I would go to the local bars in my area in hopes to meet new friends, but that did not happen. If anything, I felt worse about myself because it turned into just the same place, the same drink, same bars, same rowdiness, the same drunk walk home, the same pizza, and I felt like crap. So then it was the group fitness classes. I pursued that route because I was like, you know what? Let me just meet people by literally almost paying to play. I was coughing up $250 to $300 a month for a membership. And truthfully, I should have not been paying that much money at that time, but I did it anyways because I was willing to make that sacrifice. And what I found in this whole process is that the community aspect was a lot easier to build instead. Although it seemed as if everyone had their people, I don't think anyone really did. Because next thing you know, as this community was building and flourishing, the conversation that I was having was that I am so glad I found a place like this. I've never experienced this in my life. I always wanted to move to Newport. I thought about leaving Newport, and this kept me here, or drove me forward in whatever way. So community is just a bedrock. Not only just for run club, but also life.
I feel like physical, tangible things are becoming so much more important. Everything is so digital nowadays, everyone’s on their phones, everything is instantly accessible. So I think something like a magazine or a run club sparks a different feeling.
For sure, as we go more digital, what’s going to be craved more is physical things. Whether it's print media or film cameras or vinyl records. Just physical things. People are slowly going to start to recognize this. Like me being the finance guy, I was like, oh, art's dumb. Like, you don't make any money there. There's no point for art. But I quickly realized how dark that pit was. And what really brought me to the light was the arts and being able to use the run club as my way to express my music taste, or my photography taste. I did it all myself. As time moved on, obviously it got way too big for me to do everything. So I use a lot of close friends for stuff now. But I'm usually very involved in projects because that's what I love doing, I love being in that creative element. Like taking an idea, plucking it out of your brain and putting it out to the world and seeing how it's received.
Talk more about your team. What do you do for the run club? What do you outsource? Who's a part of your team? What do they do?
So we have a pretty, pretty lean team. Obviously myself at the forefront of it all. Now, my role as a founder is just keeping us on its tracks and hopefully guiding it to success. So I spend a lot of my time with partner inquiries, events, and making sure a lot of our branding assets or deliverables that we're putting out align with the vision. My right hand man is Michael. He's just a beast. He's very detail oriented, which I'm not. He helps with keeping us on track as far as communication with partners, events, communication with volunteers, etc.. We have an army of people who have wanted to help us out. And I don't really have a payroll right now that I can afford. But we do appreciate the help that we do get and have created a wide network of volunteers who are always willing to raise a hand. And then we have my girl Cam, who's a stud. She is our director of community. She is very involved in the fitness space. I have this running joke that she's everywhere and nowhere all at once. She really is the one that helps keep an eye and ear out to the community and finds opportunities that we can get involved outside of the run club. And then I have Mia, who does our merch. So, she is the one who helps us get my ideas from my brain to a physical form. We also have Haley who I just brought on, who is like a little ray of sunshine. She heads our philanthropy side. With a lot of the opportunities that we were given, we are blessed for some of our events to make us some money and some of our merch sales help. So I wanted to give some of that back and that was like the latest addition to our team. So that's sort of the core team for our team right there.
When it comes to social media, I know you said you run it mostly yourself. How did you get into that? Do you have any experience outside of this when it comes to running social pages or did you just like, figure it out?
Yeah I just figured it out, which is always the best way. There's no playbook. There was no follow these ten steps to get your next thousand followers. I’ve just always been like, this picture looks cool to me and I like this song. Like I didn't really care what anyone else thought. Again, going back to its roots, it wasn't designed to be for the world. It was really designed as a way for me to escape that dark place I was in with my accounting job. So, surprisingly enough, I never had this fear or worry that I wasn't going to figure out. I was willing to take this to my grave. It was just an idea that I had. It was never a question for me. It was never a goal either. I never sat there like, I want to be the biggest run club ever or I want to make all this money. I just did it for fun, which turned into a legitimate operation.
Were there moments in time where you wanted to give up on it or quit?
No. I'm the kind of person that is all in or nothing. I have a lot of random hobbies that pop up for me. Like right now, my girlfriend is teaching me chess. I don't know why, it’s just something I've always wanted to learn. Within the first week, I was all in on everything with chess. My personality is just like, if I find that interesting I go all in. With the Run Club, I saw the momentum build and there was a point where I was exhausted. I didn't want to speak in front of 500 people, or I didn't want to shake everyone’s hands. But no matter what else was going on in my life, I still did it. And at no point did I ever walk away thinking, I wish I didn't have. It seems like on the outside that everything's posh and successful and flourishing. But behind that door there's a lot of risk. Whether it's a financial risk, like I'm just swiping my credit card for thousands of dollars of merch hoping it sells. Because like in any business, it gets to a point where you have to make money to keep it afloat. I just feel like what do I want to tell my future kids when I’m on my deathbed? I want to be able to tell a story that I risked it all, that I went all in on life and my interests and hobbies. And I never went back. I don't even know where that sort of mindset shifted because prior to that, I was very much on the theme of trying to fit in. I was trying to find a community and almost like, mold to it. But I realized I should just build my own community. And if you're going to build your own, just do it right. I just thought about the things that I would want in my life and what I would want for me. And the moment I discovered that, I was all in. So yeah, sometimes you have to put $10,000 on a credit card and just cross your fingers and be like, well, if this doesn't work, I'll figure it out. Thankfully, it's worked so far. I work full time and honestly a lot of the money goes straight back to the run club. This is really built on the foundation of the community, and I didn't want to use that community to fund my lifestyle. It just didn’t feel right. At first I was getting the worst advice. Several people were saying you should sell a membership, you should monetize this, you should do that. And I was just like fuck that. I'm going to build this. Sometimes it's scary. It’s not easy. But I think your mind adapts to pain. And to be honest, I think you need to experience some pain in life. Whether it's heartbreak. Whether it's stress. Whether it's losing a loved one. You can kind of do a full circle moment back to running. Running hurts, like running is not fun. But why do we do it? Because you get to a certain point where your brain realizes, this is what we're going to do, and I'm not turning back. And that's when you get that runner's high. So if you find that runner's high in life outside of just running, imagine what you could do. But it takes a bit of pain to get there. But good things don't come easy. It takes work to get things that matter to you. It’s just being able to accept that not all days are pretty. And on the other side, there might be something amazing.
Bringing it back to your team and growth and what you've been able to accomplish these last few years. I know you've done a lot of collaborations and really cool events. You have your own seltzer, right? How did all of those things come to fruition?
I know it sounds crazy, but they just landed in our lap. As of now, we don't do any outbound searching or anything like that. We just answer to opportunities that come to us. So honestly, I just woke up one day, and in our inbox was Lido House. They were just like we would love to do something with you guys and they sent us this pitch deck with what it could look like. Same thing with PacSun. I just woke up one day and I got an email from PacSun which we collab with regularly now. But it's all just been inbound requests, which is crazy. Now that I'm kind of sitting here and thinking about it, it blows my mind. I've never reached out to someone and said, hey, I want to work with you and do this. To me, I find myself saying no a lot more than yes. It's really hard for me to say yes. Not that I have trust issues with any brand or partner. I just feel like we are the shield to our community, because we never want to make the members feel like we sold them out. When you talk about the era of digitization. There's a war on our attention and our time and our health and our information. And I think this community has kind of created a shield for that, because you never feel like you're being sold anything. Like you don't feel like I'm trying to get your email to go send it off to some brand. You don't feel like I'm trying to get you for your money. So when you think about that war on the individual, I just want to protect that for our members because they come here because they heard about it, they saw it, they felt it and they come back. If that changes, I would hate to see this club go down a route where it feels like it's just all about money.
Any favorite moments that you've had since you started? Any favorite collaborations or at least any experiences?
The Diplo run we did was fun, that was a random sidequest. It turned out to be raining that day, and he decided to post on his story that he was in town and tagged us, and yeah, it was a crazy one. We got hundreds of people in the pouring rain. And luckily I think that worked out in our favor because the boardwalk was empty. That was a fun moment. Another good one was the first ever party we threw. So our first ever party was actually in Freelance Coffee. There were maybe 250 people at the time. And we threw a disco party. I got my buddy Casey to mix vinyl disco records all night, and everyone dressed up, and it was a really cool event. That was a highlight because that opened up a whole new door for us. At the time, I didn't really see any run clubs throwing parties. If anything, people were like, why are you throwing a party, this is about health and wellness. But in my mind, I was like, why can't it be both? That opened up the door for hundreds of other opportunities, like the events we do now, have only gotten bigger. The production has only gotten more intense and to the point where we've done mini festivals. Which is crazy, because I never thought I was going to be an event planner, but for some reason, I can't stop doing them. I just love them.
What's your favorite part of running Newport Run Club?
I guess this is where it gets a little deep. I've had some pretty intense conversations after our runs. Like at one point there were lines being formed of people trying to shake my hand. I was like, this is so weird. I've had people come to me saying we’re the reason why they’re not suicidal. Or we’re the reason they’re out of a drug addiction. Or we’re the reason why they met their wife. Those testimonials happen quite often, and it's pretty surreal because, selfishly, I didn't realize the impact it was making. Honestly, to this day, I still don't know the impact that I'm making. I just know that a lot of people are showing up and they're taking away from this what they need to. I just don't know what that thing is. Because everyone has their own internal compass. Some people want to come here to find a relationship. Some people come here because they're genuinely fighting internal demons. But the moment where people felt that they could trust me to open up, I was like, wow.
I started going to your run club last year. I got out of a breakup and my friends have been going to the runs for a bit. I always loved running. I did track in high school, so I've always loved running. So I was just like this is a great way to share my interest with other people. I'm not a very extroverted person, but I felt comfortable and I met a lot of really cool people. I’ve met some of my best friends through run club. That’s what my first experience at run club was like. Do you have a certain feeling that you want people to feel when they come to your run club for the first time?
I think what I tell most people is the moment you take that first step for yourself, we’ll do the rest. Like you're going through a tough time whether it be mentally, physically, emotionally, and you're feeling that pain and need that outlet. Some people would stay home and watch their life spiral, which happens quite frequently. But you decide to take that first step for yourself and say, I'm going to go do this. Once you do that, we'll take care of the rest. That's the part that I love the most, because the moment you're willing to accept that part of you and get out of that, you can find whatever it is you want, whether it's a collaborative bowl at a chicken shop or a smoothie or a wellness event party, or just physical exercise, or a post-run happy hour, or whatever it is you want. Like as long as you're willing to be there for yourself, we will take care of the rest. That's really just what we do. I think it goes back to being able to take that first step towards something, because you don't know what's on the other side. Even if it seems daunting or scary or intimidating. If you walk up to a Wednesday run for the first time and you see hundreds of people, I'd be like, Holy shit, what is going on? But yeah I want them to feel that connection, that little buzz in the air, that energy. I want them to go for that run and come back. Maybe they never ran three miles in their life. Maybe they come back and they’re like, holy shit, I did that. Whatever it is, it's really just showing up for yourself. We created an environment for you to get that. I think it empowers people more than they realize it. It empowers you to go up to someone you don't know and shake their hand.
I feel like that's your ethos too. You have a very clear visual identity as well when it comes to your storytelling, your branding, and even the events that you do. What inspired the whole visual identity of the brand?
Just my entire life, honestly. I was a product of really young parents. My mom had me at 17 years old. So I was really growing up with them by nature. I would come down to Newport all the time with my dad and we would just watch the waves. I had a lot of phases, I did everything. I had a skateboarding phase, a dirt biking phase. I did every single sport imaginable. I was just a menace child. I was fortunate to have a very loving and supportive family. And as I grew up with my parents, I was shown the world of music and photography. Growing up, there was never a day where there wasn't music playing in the house. So today, I just find myself inspired by the little things in life. Whether it's the song that plays in a cafe or a cool photo that I see in a magazine. There's a lot of inspiration around us all the time, and I always find myself seeking it. So yes, I have a vision of what I want Newport Run Club to look like, but it's really inspired by the things that I like. It's inspired by the way I grew up. It's inspired by the music that I listen to. It's inspired by the pictures that make me stop scrolling. It's really just an extension of my personality. That's why it's so easy and so pure because I'm not looking to mold it into anything. Like, I could probably go through every single photo that's on our Instagram and tell you exactly why I chose that song, exactly why I chose that picture.
Music is definitely a huge part of your branding. I'd love to know some of your favorite artists. Is house music your favorite genre?
I wouldn't say I have a favorite genre. I listen to everything and I'm also very inspired by artists' stories. I love the stories behind people and what makes them create the art that they make. For example, I like LCD Soundsystem, with lead singer James Murphy, who writes records and produces all their music. Another one like that is Tame Impala, Kevin Parker. I've listened to some of their interviews and they all never knew what they were doing. They're just making what sounds interesting to them, and they just put it out there in the world. I also obviously love house music. I love that 90s era of house music. Not necessarily for the songs themselves, but what that time represented. It was a change in music in general that went from early hip hop to a house music phase. Like the Chicago scene where people were finding all these random clubs and back alleys to go dancing. And it became a transformative state for a lot of different genres. I go down an era of like 80s disco for some reason, because that era, if you ever look into it, is very interesting, not only from the music point of view, but from a revolutionary point of view. It was definitely an era of a lot of resistance politically and socially, and watching the music that came out of that was really cool. My Spotify is crazy. Like there's no one genre for me.
That's why I love house music too, it just makes you want to dance. It makes you energetic, which ties so well with running. But yeah, I'm the same way. I have millions of different genres on my Spotify because different emotions reflect different types of music.
Music is a feeling. No matter what it is. It's a passion. It's love. It's dancing. Sadness or happiness, whatever it is. I think a lot of people subscribe to music that’s popular. But if you're willing to branch out just a little bit and listen to that weird song that's ten minutes long and listen on repeat for three hours, you might find that it really interests you. I love music and it's something that inspires me a lot. And if you want to really get into a creative process, generally what inspires me before thinking about a product is a song. I'll listen to a song and I'll grip on to what I like or how it made me feel. Then all of a sudden I think I almost reverse engineer a whole campaign around this song. So as you can imagine, I have a lot of ideas, given the amount of songs I listen to. But yeah, it's a weird way of going about it. But it works. I mean, at least for now.
Do you see the brand evolving into something more than how it is already? Do you have any dreams or end goals?
This may sound cynical, but in ten years I hope I'm still not on the steps of the statue on Wednesdays. I say that because I would like for this to be a movement that continues to live on beyond me. Which it already is, to be honest. I would love for Wednesdays to just be a staple in the city that people go to. I would love a brick and mortar store and have the opportunity to create an experience that you could get Monday through Sunday. I've definitely been plotting stuff in my mind. Not to get all sappy and raw, but I feel like I'm living a dream right now because honestly, none of this was meant to happen, so I'm just running with it all. Pun intended.
Where did you get your love for Newport Beach? Why did you choose to live in Newport?
Honestly, I have no idea. I grew up going to every beach up and down the coast, like Huntington, Newport, Seal Beach, Long Beach. Something about coming to Newport as a kid, just drew me in. I remember those days where my dad would pull me out of school and we’d go see the waves. I remember vividly there was one day when my dad took me out of school, we went to Newport and I remember walking in the sand, just looking at all those houses by the wedge and thinking to myself I want to live here one day. Now I get to be pretty involved with the city. And seeing how much they actually genuinely care about what goes on, it's real for sure.
It’s so cool to see the people you’ve brought together through your runs. You’ve brought such a fresh thing to the city of Newport. So, last question I have for you. Do you ever see yourself expanding outside of Newport? Do you want to bring this to other cities?
Not necessarily Newport Run Club, but what we're capable of doing, the experience behind this. Because I think there's something special that we built here, and we've talked about it a lot. It was just the idea of individualism, the idea to connect with a community. We've been able to sort of find that through our own events. I would love to see this transform and take over other cities. So we'll see I guess. I'm going to New York next week. Maybe there's some events that we could do in New York. So yeah why not. Instead of going from Newport to like San Diego along this coastline, we just go across the country for something new. What's to stop us?