Founders
Black Box VR was founded by fitness fanatics Ryan DeLuca & Preston Lewis. The team spent years building Bodybuilding.com into the largest online supplement retailer in the world (with nearly $500m in annual sales). With the collaboration of many talented individuals, they created some of the world’s most recognized supplement brands, chart-topping fitness mobile applications, were honored with award-winning health & fitness campaigns, and created the world’s largest online fitness social network (with over 3m members), while always holding true to the mission of changing people’s lives.
In 2016 Preston and Ryan decided to start their new venture, Black Box VR, with a mission to disrupt the fitness industry once again by creating innovative products and experiences that create lasting change in people’s lives. After trying virtual reality for the first time, Ryan and Preston knew they were experiencing a magically immersive technology that, if paired with resistance training, gaming principles and high intensity cardio, will be the winning combination for people trying to reach their health & fitness goals. Black Box VR is redefining fitness as we know it.
Ryan DeLuca founded Bodybuilding.com in 1999 in his garage in Boise, Idaho at the age of 20. Under Ryan’s leadership, the company skyrocketed to nearly $500,000,000 in annual revenue before he stepped down as CEO in 2015. With almost zero startup capital and no outside investors, Ryan grew his company from nothing to become the world’s most visited fitness site and largest e-tailer of sports nutrition supplements. From the beginning, the company was focused on transforming the lives of its millions of customers and staying true to the core principles that Ryan passionately believed in. Profitable from the start, Bodybuilding.com was eventually purchased by Liberty Media. A born innovator, Ryan was named Entrepreneur of the Year by E&Y in 2009 for the Idaho/Utah region and Inc. Magazine called him one of the “Top 5 Coolest Entrepreneurs Under 30”. With 800 team members spread throughout six states and four countries, Ryan was proudest of the fact that Bodybuilding.com was consistently named one of the best places to work. Ryan was temporarily retired for only six months before the startup bug bit him again and together with co-founder Preston Lewis, Black Box VR was born, merging their continued passions for technology and fitness and the way they can intersect to help people transform their lives. In his spare time, Ryan is a private, instrument rated pilot with over 1600 flight hours. You can usually find him flying his Pilatus PC-12 turboprop around the western USA on the weekends for fun, charity, and business. He’s an avid non-fiction reader, spends his mornings at the gym, and recently took up ballroom dancing, much to the amusement of his friends and family. Ryan lives in Eagle, Idaho and has three crazy kids named Raiden, Kyla, and Bradley.
Preston is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Black Box VR. Preston is a fitness fanatic (past State Champion & Division I Track & Field Athlete), UXUI junkie, product design ninja and product visionary. Preston has provided creative direction and product management to some of the largest brands in the world including Hewlett Packard, Bodybuilding.com, Fiverr, Hurley International and SAP, to name a few. Along the way, his passion for amazing products and solving difficult design problems has earned him numerous awards for projects ranging from traditional print campaigns and packaging design, to chart-topping mobile applications with complex information architectures and millions of users.
After growing many multi-million dollar brands, Preston decided to leap back into the world of entrepreneurship with a mission to combine his passions for technology, games, fitness (Preston was a state champion track and field athlete), and changing lives to create the future of fitness; with this vision, together with co-founder Ryan DeLuca, Black Box VR was born. When he's not creating new digital products and growing brands, he can be found traveling with his wife, enjoying her delicious paleo creations (she's a paleo author and blogger at amazingpaleo.com), playing the guitar, singing, working out in VR and dreaming up the next tech innovation.
The Rock Star Team Making it Happen
We are fitness fanatics, user experience junkies, design ninjas, game development aficionados and virtual reality evangelists. We are always looking for talented individuals to join our team. Help us create the future of fitness.
Gene Williams has been in the tech industry in the Boise for over 26 years, starting off as a Programmer and quickly moving into a Systems Architect role with Eagle, Idaho based, Quality Design Systems for 12 years. Gene eventually landed at Bodybuilding.com, where he worked with Ryan and Preston as a Principal Architect for the Bodyspace community platform. After some time with Gsalr.com, helping them bring their revolutionary mobile sale finding system to life and later with TSheets and Intuit leading one of the systems integration teams, he reconnected with his former Bodybuilding.com colleagues at Black Box VR. Describing himself as a ``classic`` nerd, Gene has diverse hobbies including, 3D printing, designing, building and flying freestyle racing drones, photography, hiking and guitar. He lives in Meridian Idaho with his beautiful wife, Jenifer, and two precocious teenage children.
Kayla found her passion in helping people find what type of physical activity works best for them and what impact it can have on their life early on. Originally from sunny San Diego, she graduated from Chapman University with a M.S. in Health and Strategic Communications. Kayla has since helped implement health and fitness programs at the YMCA, UCLA Health, private clients and has coached gymnastics for over 10 years.
With over 10 years as a creative director in the gaming, mobile app and print industries and 5 years at Intel as a software engineer and UX lead, Duane has a unique talent of translating abstract creative concepts into actionable, real-world results. His core competency is in bridging the gap between strategic, artistic and technical teams. He takes personal and career development very seriously and is always learning. Duane has lived an adventurous life across 27 countries, speaks 3 languages (English, Mandarin and Indonesian), is the recipient of a Gold Award at Chinese International Industrial Fair (CIIF) for Excellence in Robotics, and has an enthusiasm and zest for life that he bring to all the teams that he works with.
An Idaho native, Rich proudly describes himself as a ``nerd-lete,`` enjoying all things sports and tech from an early age. Rich has served in various leading technical and business development roles across multiple industries since graduating with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boise State University. Rich has created several custom modeling programs which have been implemented in many large-capital, industry-first-type projects across North America. Rich is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Idaho and is responsible for product development, manufacturing operations, and procurement for mechanical and electrical hardware systems at Black Box VR. Rich enjoys exploring the Idaho outdoors and traveling with his family.
Chuck Westerberg is an Idaho native who spent almost two decades working for and managing the family dental business. He attended graduate and undergraduate school at Boise State University and has degrees in history and Latin. Chuck has an affinity for ancient history, archaeology, and osteology and has spent time in Europe studying Roman weaponry and signs of possible violent trauma on gladiator remains. When he’s not busy with the IVRC’s educational programs you can find him volunteering for various local non-profits, coaching his two wonderful kid’s baseball teams, and backpacking in Idaho’s great outdoors.
Jim specializes in the creation, publishing and support of interactive products and services for digital platforms. His 16 years of experience includes production management, product design, publishing operations, strategic business development and studio operations management.
Previously, Jim worked at Konami Digital Entertainment serving as Executive Director, Mobile Operations, where he managed operations for all mobile products distributed in North and South America. Jim’s relationship with Konami grew with their acquisition of the mobile technology firm Blue Label Interactive, a company he co-founded in 2004. Jim has provided interactive development services on projects with clients including Microsoft, Disney, Electronic Arts, EA Mobile, Activision, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Bodybuilding.com, Honda, Paramount Studios, Sierra Entertainment, TDK Mediactive, THQ, Inc., and many others.
Previously, Jim worked at Konami Digital Entertainment serving as Executive Director, Mobile Operations, where he managed operations for all mobile products distributed in North and South America. Jim’s relationship with Konami grew with their acquisition of the mobile technology firm Blue Label Interactive, a company he co-founded in 2004. Jim has provided interactive development services on projects with clients including Microsoft, Disney, Electronic Arts, EA Mobile, Activision, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Bodybuilding.com, Honda, Paramount Studios, Sierra Entertainment, TDK Mediactive, THQ, Inc., and many others.
Shane Hoalst is Director of Digital Publishing at Black Box VR. He has over 15 years of experience in marketing and e-commerce. He spent a big part of his career at Bodybuilding.com helping the company become the world's largest health and fitness online site. Shane has a passion for fitness and technology and holds a degree in Information technology/multimedia. Shane loves building and optimizing websites with the latest digital marketing techniques and can be found reading all types of books on business, self development and entrepreneurship.
When he is not working at the office, you can find him spending time with his wife and kids creating adventures to remember.
When he is not working at the office, you can find him spending time with his wife and kids creating adventures to remember.
Colby grew up in Idaho riding motorcycles and camping.
At Boise State University, he was the Lead Interactive Developer of the GiMM Works department, doing full stack development for VR, AR, beacon, mobile, and web applications.
At Boise State University, he was the Lead Interactive Developer of the GiMM Works department, doing full stack development for VR, AR, beacon, mobile, and web applications.
He also served in the US Army and as a Communication Security Repair Technician. Colby is passionate about accessibility and is a board member of United Airlines Accessible Travel Advisory Board.
True Transformation Has a Formula
Immerse & Emerge
At Black Box VR, we are creating the world’s first virtual reality gym experience. You’ll step into a Black Box VR boutique gym and immerse yourself in a whole new way to get fit that will make you never want to visit an outdated gym again.
Virtual and augmented reality are the next major computing platforms. These technologies will revolutionize the way we work, play, and learn. Black Box VR will take advantage of these advances to finally fix fitness and end the daily struggle that millions of people go through to get the exercise that they need to achieve the body and health that they desire. Today, fitness is boring, confusing, and almost impossible to maintain for the vast majority of people that set out to get into shape.
Black Box VR will change the way the world works out. You’ll step into the Black Box room with your custom fitness headset and an entire new world will be created around you. As you go through the experience, you’ll get a full body workout that is so immersive you’ll forget you are working out at all.
Some VR workouts in the future will include basic features like having your virtual trainer with you who is guiding you through a body weight workout similar to Wii Fit. We don’t believe that is enough. Black Box VR will integrate resistance training through an electronically controlled cable system which will be seamlessly integrated into the game experience. Reach out to grab that rope or lift the handles on that object and you’ll feel real cables, set to the exact resistance that you need. Functional fitness in a fictional word.
Only three Black Box experiences a week at 30 minutes each will be enough to increase your strength, endurance, and health while shaping your body in all new ways to help you achieve the body you’ve always wanted. Each workout will automatically move you toward your goal by refining the resistance, intensity, and speed based on your goals and your current progress. Plateaus are not allowed.
Black Box VR will open flagship gyms in San Francisco and we will expand from there. Licensing opportunities will exist for gym chains to add Black Box VR workouts to help them leapfrog their competition and create additional revenue opportunities. Franchisees will also be able to open their own Black Box VR gyms.
Black Box VR is rapidly developing the next and final fitness revolution.
Our Mission & Core Beliefs
At Black Box VR, we help our members transform their lives through addictive fitness experiences that harness the power of immersive technologies.
Core Beliefs
01. Fitness improves lives.
Being fit and healthy helps you become your best self for your family, your friends, your work, and society. You become the greatest version of you. Exercise is better than any drug for happiness, energy, disease prevention, and building self-esteem. These aspects of physical and mental health spill over into every part of who you are. Nothing else is as powerful for improving your entire life.
Core Beliefs
02. Adherence is the secret.
Consistency is essential when it comes to getting in shape. There’s no magical potion or mystical solution. Adhering to an effective workout and diet program will work for everybody. Unfortunately, life gets in the way and our willpower only lasts for so long before we fall off the wagon. A truly fit body and life remains an elusive goal for the vast majority of us.
Core Beliefs
03. Customer success is all that matters.
Our success as a company will be 100% correlated to the fitness results that we deliver to our users. If our users get in shape, they will continue to come back for years. The word will get around as people see the astounding transformations that we create and our company will grow. There is no other way. We will not settle until 100% of our customers achieve their lifelong fitness goals.
Core Beliefs
04. Video games are addictive.
Video games level up your character or farm but level down yourself and society, ultimately leading to less personal happiness and success. Game creators are the world’s best behavioral psychologists. They have perfected the art of getting people addicted to an experience so the person plays longer and more often, sometimes while sacrificing other parts of their lives. These same strategies can be harnessed for good.
Core Beliefs
05. Immersive tech is powerful.
Virtual reality has the ability to affect the brain in ways that other technology cannot. If your mind perceives it as real, it might as well be real. We consciously know we are not actually in another realm, but other parts of our brain aren’t wired to understand the difference. Using your body as the controller, this can be utilized to create shocking fitness results.
Core Beliefs
06. We are stronger together.
Bring us a difficult challenge. We love it. The thrill of solving hard problems together is only equalled by the meaning that we get from seeing our inventions being used to improve the lives of our customers and our team mates. Every day we will support each other as we embrace the grind, the frustration, and the failures that ultimately lead us to greater rewards than we ever could have imagined. There is no short cut.
THE HARDWARE
For centuries, true innovation in fitness has been sluggish at best. Incremental improvements have provided only incremental results. Not for long. The Black Box award-winning dynamic resistance machine re-imagines the fitness experience at a fundamental level.
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Still Have Questions?
Check out the Frequently Asked Questions page where we answer questions like: "Why VR vs. traditional workouts" and more!
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