I’ve worked with my good friend Heidi Roizen at Mobius Venture Capital since 1999. Heidi transitioned out of her role this year and has decided to do something completely different.
When someone leaves a VC firm, they usually say something like they are "following their passion." I accept that the passion of some ex-VCs is to run a software company, but it’s not much of a "passion shift."
As long as I’ve known Heidi, she’s been passionate about her weight. Or rather – passionate about getting rid of some of it. Most of our serious discussions were on a walk either at the Dish or around her neighborhood. So – I wasn’t that surprised when she told me about her idea for SkinnySongs.
I came up with the idea for SkinnySongs because I wanted great music to keep me motivated about losing weight and getting in shape — and I couldn’t find any. I wanted fun but empowering music, like Pink’s 18 Wheeler or Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats, but I wanted the lyrics to be about taking charge of my weight and getting in shape. And I didn’t want preachy or corny music — I wanted first class, radio-hit-quality music to listen to while walking, running, hiking, working out, driving — even while just sitting around if that’s when I need to hear it.
Heidi’s inner rock star is finally coming out. She wrote all the lyrics on her first SkinnySongs album. The composer and producer for the majority of the songs is David Malloy, a heavyweight in the music industry with over 40 number one hits to his credit as a producer and two Grammy nominations as a songwriter. The artists are the real deal (Tania Hancheroff, Kaleo Sallas, Larkin Gayl, Susan Ashton, and Rachelle Byrne). And the whole project was executive-produced by George Daly, CEO of About Records, whom Heidi first met through my other partners Ryan McIntyre and Jason Mendelson.
SkinnySongs works great – Heidi has dropped a ton of weight and looks awesome. Pick up the music and a couple of t-shirts for post-holiday ‘resolution support’ gifts for your friends that will soon be dieting again after the endless holiday food.