Talking Business Now

Excy co-founder and CEO Michele Mehl joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share the story behind her company's 2014 launch and the lessons she's learned as she's steered it into a national brand. The Seattle-based startup develops, manufactures, and sells portable, total-body exercise bikes. Mehl's mission is to eliminate barriers to people getting enough exercise—health conditions, injuries, and lack of time and space—so people can conveniently connect exercise to the circumstances of their everyday lives. The 14-pound bikes provide cardio, strength training, and full-body physical therapy cycling. The company also offers a mobile coaching application. Excy (short for "exercise cycling") grew out of Mehl's own life circumstances, more specifically her personal fitness woes, a challenging work schedule as the owner of a PR company that helped launch brands such as Zulily and OfferUp into market leaders, and a family history of heart disease. As she thought about how to create a better, more conven