Alden Mills, former Navy SEAL and Perfect Pushup inventor, turns a simple idea into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
You might not know his name, but you’ve probably seen Alden Mills on TV. He’s the Perfect Pushup guy – a former Navy SEAL who turned the idea for an exercise tool into a multi-million dollar fitness company that has sold millions of products in less than three years.
The Perfect Pushup found fame through TV commercials and infomercials that challenged viewers to "Get Ripped" with a device that puts a spin on the classic pushup by allowing the arms to rotate naturally. Unveiled in late 2006, it wasn’t long before the "As Seen on TV" product populated the shelves of the nation’s largest retailers. Mills’ company, also called Perfect Pushup, quickly capitalized on the success of the original product with Perfect Pullup, Perfect Counter, a mobile Perfect Pushup and several varieties of kits. The commando-turned-fitness guru has sold more than 3 million units of the Perfect Pushup and Perfect Pullup.
The phenomenal success of Perfect Pushup sounds like a classic American overnight success story. After all, it took just six months to design and develop the original Perfect Pushup. But the road to success was littered with plenty of speed bumps for Mills and his team.
"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and a lot of failures. I’d love to tell you that, ‘Oh, yeah, I came up with it and six months later we were humming along in sales, but I started the company in 2002," said Mills, who doesn’t publicly disclose his company’s revenues. "I can tell you that I was broke from 2002 through 2006. So we really didn’t start paying ourselves until March of 2007."
Suffering Sets Up Success
For Mills the odyssey began during his junior year of high school in Sturbridge, a small town in central Massachusetts where he grew up. By then Mills realized he wasn’t good at ball sports. But since he loved the water and could endure discomfort, he found himself drawn to the sport of rowing.
"I was terrible at hand-eye ball sports – my hand-eye coordination sucks. But I was good at suffering," he said. "And I could suffer pulling an oar sitting on my ass going backwards. And what I really liked about rowing, especially in eight-man shells, was there was no MVP or high scorer. Everyone had to get their blade in at exactly the same time and pull. And a SEAL team is based on just the same principles … that’s why I thought it would be a great fit for me."
Mills graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1991, became a Navy SEAL and served with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2 until 1996. As a platoon commander with SEAL Team 2, Mills’ platoon was randomly chosen in 1996 to participate in a yearlong study to determine why SEALs suffered unusually high disability rates. The study found the high injury rate was largely due to repetitive exercises that put extreme stress on isolated muscles and joints. The results of the study planted the seed for the Perfect Pushup concept.
"So that’s where I really started thinking about things – ‘God, there’s really got to be a better way to do some of these things,’" Mills said. "Pushups always killed my wrists, sit-ups always hurt my back, pullups always hurt the elbows when you’re trying to get up there, and the wrists for that matter. And that’s where the original idea came from."
A False Start
After seven years as a SEAL, Mills left active duty in 1998 and in 2000 earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He headed west to California with his new degree. "I followed the money," he said. "I joined a technology start-up – I was gonna make my millions with options on the software company I had joined when in reality I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I didn’t relate with software."
A couple of years later and 20 pounds heavier, Mills was disillusioned with his career choice. He decided to get back to what he really loved to do: fitness. He became a certified professional trainer and in October 2002 started a health and fitness company called PT Metrics, which metamorphosed into Perfect Pushup. After unveiling its first product in 2005 – a handheld rotating weight system designed to work the muscles of the upper body – the fledgling company hit hard times.
"We launched our first product called BodyRev back in 2005, and basically ran out of money. I was up to my eyeballs in debt," Mills recalled. "I had raised a million and a half dollars and then I had to take another $600,000 loan, and I had $25,000 left."
One More Shot
Mills decided to use the money to develop the idea that had been lurking in the back of his mind since the study of his SEAL platoon: Improve on the time-tested pushup. The challenge was to design a device that enables the arms to naturally rotate 90 degrees through their range of motion. The rotation would engage more muscles and help to generate optimal power while minimizing joint strain. "It’s deceptively simple, but that’s the beauty of it – you don’t have to do as many to get results and feel the benefits of it," Mills said.
He put together a team of industrial designers and mechanical engineers, as well as experts in marketing, product design, e-commerce, development, manufacturing, packaging and sales. It took just six months for the team to develop the prototype, and the Perfect Pushup was launched in November 2006.
Mills began marketing the Perfect Pushup by buying small ads in the back of magazines. The enthusiastic response led to commercials and infomercials on TV, which in turn helped get the product into retail stores. Today the Perfect Pushup can be found in the nation’s largest retail chains, including Wal-Mart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kmart, Walgreens and GNC. The product earned GNC’s Rising Star Award in 2007 and spawned a new generation of products, Web sites, videos, blogs – even its own channel on YouTube.
"The real credit goes to the team," he said. "I had come up with a concept, but then you bring in real professional designers and mechanical engineers that look at it from all different angles and understand the best manufacturing elements and the best elements for fitting in a box and things like that."
Mills’ team philosophy and military background influence the way he runs his small-but-potent company of 25 employees. The former commando frames his company’s next mission in military terms, referring to focus, mission objectives and warning orders. He posts situation reports and implements after-action reports. "What did we learn from this? How can we strengthen our strengths and bolster our weaknesses? I’m trying to lead by example and that means checking your ego at the door, that I’m not going to be the one to come up with the right answer all the time," he said. "And fostering an environment that is a true cross-functional environment. I mean, that’s what SEAL team was all about."
Follow Your Passion
Mills urges other vetrepreneurs to follow their passion, because it is the only thing that will sustain them during the inevitable difficult times. "Had I thought, ‘Oh, you know what? I’m going to get into fitness because I can make a lot of money, there’s no way I would have stuck it out for seven years and gone through up to $2 million in debt, strained family and friend relationships, and I worked more hours than I thought existed in a week to try to get something off the ground," Mills said. "If they’re really passionate about something, then they should follow their heart. And they will figure out a way to get it done."