Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 174: Anthony Privitelli - Voice Notes on Race Day

Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 174: Anthony Privitelli - Voice Notes on Race Day

Here's how people can enjoy this episode:

Guest: Anthony Privitelli @runwithrally

Show Notes:

Anthony Privitelli is the founder of Rally, the app that lets your people leave you voice notes that play automatically at every mile marker on race day. I love Rally so much that I had to know the story behind it.

During this episode, we talk about:

  • The Sicilian nickname situation — why colleagues call him Tony but family and friends use Anthony
  • His pre-Rally life building an AI-powered walking-tours app with ex-TikTok coworkers, and its surprising tie back to Descript's own origin story
  • Seven years as an early Patreon employee (2013–2020), watching the entire creator economy get built in real time, before a stint at TikTok
  • Being 36 and building his latest startup while sleep-deprived with a one-month-old
  • The moment Rally was born: driving across a locked-down Orange County to catch a friend for a five-second flyby at her marathon, then thinking, "That's it?"
  • Cold-testing the very first version of Rally on four strangers from Reddit's "first-time marathoners" subreddit
  • The X-rated voice notes he had to quietly delete during beta testing, and the PSA that came out of it
  • Why Rally deliberately hides who left you a voice note until you choose to find out
  • How gifting a voice note works, the new race-bundle pricing, and the DM mix-up that led one user to think a friend had already gifted theirs
  • The "Go, Abby, go" voice note that still gives him goosebumps, and the harder ones — messages from people who passed away before their loved one's race day
  • Turning down $15–20K a month in ad revenue to keep Rally's share pages clean
  • The brand and race partnerships so far — Goodr, Shokz, Orange County Marathon, Pittsburgh, and Indy Mini — and building an ambassador program for everyday runners instead of just big creators
  • The next problem he's trying to solve: building a fundraising feature into Rally the right way, without stepping on races' existing charity partnerships
  • Being a brand-new dad to one-month-old Sophia, and the honest reason — beyond the newborn — that he pulled out of the Chicago Marathon this year
  • His hot take on "hard work"
  • His go-to mental mantra on race day: "your body will go further than your mind"
  • What's next for him — trying to break an hour in a solo HYROX

Previous Guests Mentioned

Other Links

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast


Speaker 3: hi Abby, this is Rahim. I'm so, so proud of you. You're 10 miles down. Go Abby. Run, run, run.

Ally Brettnacher: Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast for everyday runners. I'm your host, Ally Brettnacher, and if you run, you're a runner, and every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together. This week's episode is really exciting because I have the founder of the Rally app with us.

So this is unofficially brought to you by Rally. You'll learn a ton about that app today if you don't know it already. the idea for Rally after a familiar spectator moment where you drive across the city to try to catch your friend flying by for a few seconds, and then he's thinking, "Gosh, that's it?

That's all I get to say And a TikTok video a week or so later gave him the idea for voice notes that play automatically at every [00:01:00] mile marker. Kept secret, you can't hear them until race day. So in this episode, we talk about the scrappy start, cold testing it on strangers he found on Reddit, the TikToks that made it go viral

Why he'd rather charge $10 for you to keep your voice notes or have somebody gift you your voice notes rather than sell out to sell ads, which I really respect him for. We also get into the emotional side where people have received voice notes from loved ones who have passed away in between the time that they recorded the note and then on race day, which end up being super special, and his honest take on how he pulled out of Chicago this year, but he'll still be there.

He's also a brand-new dad to sweet baby Sophia, and he has a hot take on hard work that I also really love So If you don't have the Rally app yet, you will definitely want to download it after hearing this week's episode. Here's my conversation with Anthony Privitelli

Anthony Privitelli: This is so funny. All of my family calls me Anthony. Since after college when I was in San Francisco, like my job name, all my coworkers just [00:02:00] started calling me Tony. And I've always, like my email has always- Great ... been Anthony at whatever, but everyone just assumes like- Sure ... oh, Tony, and I'm like, "No, Tony."

Like so like my professional name, like to colleagues has, has been Tony, but like when my friend, when my, my family hears people calling me Tony they're like, "That's, that's not your name." or people would just call me b- by my last name from like high school and like being in sports, people just like shortened the last name.

They either like call me Priv- Yeah ... or Privy- Privitelli ... Privitelli, like whatever.

Ally Brettnacher: Perfect.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. My dad would say it's very Sicilian, not Italian but- Yeah, whoops. Okay ... it is.

Ally Brettnacher: It is. That's

Anthony Privitelli: great ... no, it's, it's, it's a funny thing. But okay, so- Please ... Descript, this is, uh, totally random, but the founder of Descript is- I don't know, yeah

Andrew Mason. I'm not sure if you're familiar.

Ally: Side note. Descript is what we're using to record this interview.

Anthony Privitelli: But he was, he was also the founder, co-founder of- Ooh ... of Groupon. But the story with Descript is they were... He was building a company in, like, 2016. It was a, like, tour [00:03:00] guide walking app, and I was in San Francisco and loved it. It was, like, very much you step outside your house or, like, you go to the starting point, and it was, like, curated walks in San Francisco.

And they were amazing. Like, we did one in the Haight that talked about, like, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, like, all of the different, like, Haight Street- Whoa ... music and history of the Haight. And eventually, it cost way too much money to, like... It was a full-on production of a, of a, of a, of a walking tour app.

And he basically s- like, pivoted into Descript with all of the... I think, like, the very first product was, like, like, cutting up audio, where it was, like, recording audio, and then you could go in and type, and it would, like, dub over and use your voice. And, um, like, back in, like, I think 2017, there was this company called Lyrebird.

Okay. I'm pretty sure Descript acquired Lyrebird, um, or maybe it turned into it.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow,

Anthony Privitelli: okay. But yeah. A- and the reason why I bring that up is because the startup I was at before called L like, my... [00:04:00] I was at TikTok. M- some ex-employees from TikTok, we all, like, uh, like, banded together to build Le Walk, which was inspired by, , Detour, which was what, which was what Descript was before.

And it was, like, the walking tours app. So that was like, we totally took, like, an AI spin on it and said, like, "Hey, let's go to, like, Paris and Rome and work with tour guides-" Yeah ... "record a bunch of tours, and then w- instead of, like, editing and, like, if someone said, like, 'Back in 1767,' and it was really 1787, we wouldn't jump into a recording studio and-" Yeah

"re-record. We would just edit their voice-" Wow ... and it was all AI generated. So-

Ally Brettnacher: Cool ...

Anthony Privitelli: that's what I was doing before Rally. But whenever I see Descript, it's like, it's funny seeing how these companies, like, kind of- Yeah ... came to where they are now. But yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a great... Descript is crushing it.

They're, they're great.

Ally Brettnacher: So fun. And so it's... I think it's so funny that you worked at TikTok, and you don't have social media. Why is that?

Anthony Privitelli: I really want to do it. I do. Um, because I think I, I mean- It's, [00:05:00] well, I'm gonna say it's easy. It's not easy, but it's, uh, it's just a matter of, like, being consistent and, like, being at TikTok.

I was at Patreon before TikTok, too. I was at Patreon for, like, seven years, and this was before creators were called creators. Like, from 2013 to 2016 was, like, I don't know- Oh my

Ally Brettnacher: God.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ... Vine. Vine was- Right ... like, the platform, and, like, every big social media person, I, I mean, not all of them, but, like, the majority of, like, the OG, like, Instagram people basically all came from Vine.

Like, Vine shut down. They all went to YouTube, started doing longer form content. They weren't making money off Vine. It shut down. They started making money off YouTube. And, like, once Instagram became a very popular thing, all of the, all of the creators or YouTubers were just telling everyone to follow them on Instagram for, like, more content, more of, like, the behind the scenes stuff, and then it had had the switch in, like, 2018.

But being at Patreon from 2013- That's incredible ... I was there from 2013 to 2020, [00:06:00] and it was crazy to see, uh, first it was podcasts. Like podcasting had... There were a lot of podcasts back then. Now there's- Yes ... it's, like, a stupid amount of podcasts. But back then, it was, like, Tom Merritt, like, OG podcaster.

Yeah, then we started seeing more, uh, like, YouTubers come on Patreon, and we would just see the evolution of, like, creators. And then I think Instagram, like, really blew up the, like, con- That's great ... I'm a, I'm a social media content creator person, and I could make money off of, off of, like, growing an audience, um, and doing...

And then, like, all the brand deals started happening in, like, I don't know, 2017, 2018, and then it just kind of- Mm. Yeah ... like, became the Wild West. But yeah, I, I feel like I've been around. Like, my background is, is legitimately within the creator space from Patreon and TikTok, and p- totally, like, totally different platforms, but, like, same type of consumer.

Like, same user, I guess. So yeah, I tell myself I, I really wanna do it, but I'm, I'm more of a, like- Yeah ... pro- like, builder at first. But I've seen now, now, like, there's a new style [00:07:00] of content creator- Right ... is, like, the entrepreneur sharing their journey. Yeah, one of my biggest regrets, my biggest regret is, like, I used to have, like, a little handheld camera when I was, like, eight years old.

I just, like, I film everything, and I have so much footage just on my iPhone of, like, just for myself. And during the, like, early days of Patreon, like 2013, 2014, we were, like, five people in an apartment. I filmed so much content, like, on my phone, and I just, like, never... I ne- I never thought to, like, vlog it and, like, be like, "Oh, we're this little startup."

Mm. Like, what, what could this turn into? Ah. It's, like, my biggest regret. It would've been so fun to have, like- Yeah ... a weekly vlog- Right ... of Patreon from the beginning.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: So I tell myself, "Oh, okay, I've been building Rally now. Like, I should be doc- I've been documenting it myself," and, like, I just haven't had...

I don't know. I just haven't, like, forced myself to publish it or, like, make a series about it. You

Ally Brettnacher: know what you have to do, but it is still... You still have to go do that.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: It's, you know, it's, time is so limited- A lot of time ... especially now-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: that you're a new dad with a mon- one-month-old. So

Anthony Privitelli: [00:08:00] That is like a new challenge, and what's crazy is like, I think like in the tech world a re- a lot of reasons why I think investors really like young people is because, one, they're naive.

Like, they don't think about all of... Like, they don't think- Right ... about how hard something g- is gonna be, so they just, they just start doing it. Yeah. Which is honestly great. Like, ignorance is bliss in this regard. Um, and then the other like most important thing about young kids is like they don't have any other responsibility.

Like, they could literally work from midnight- Right ... to 11 Yeah ... PM and like sleep for an hour and then keep going. And that's what we used to do, but like now it's a little bit more challenging with the baby. So I, I... Like, I'm 36, and I've been doing this since I was 23, and it is crazy. Like, and especially now with, with AI and the ability to build and how like the, like the barrier to entry- Yeah

to like build a product is so low. Like, we used to joke about just being an ideas guy, an ideas person, and needing an engineer to build the things. And now like if you have i- like ideas now are kind of like what you need- Yeah ... and you need to then execute on [00:09:00] that. But yeah, it's um... I kinda envy the, the kids that are 19, 20 years old who are in college, and like the college kids are, you know, the ones doing social media, building, and like they have all the time- Yeah.

No, right ... in the world to like... Which is great. It's, uh,

Ally Brettnacher: it's, it's tough, and they have all these tools. You're like, "I didn't have those tools when I was building my business," or whatever that

Anthony Privitelli: was. Yeah. I am grateful for the experience we had though. Like, the in per- like, the remoteness sucks. Yeah. Like, I...

Being in office for seven years and the in-person communication, the camaraderie, the, the fun vibes, like you can't... Especially- Yes ... in San Francisco in startup culture, like that is- Yeah, yeah ... it's unmatched. Like, true. Like, playing Mario Kart for an hour- Right ... during lunch and then like... I don't know. It, it w- it was an extension of college- Yeah

just like in a professional environment. Like- It was, my dad would come and visit - Yeah. ... he's like, "What is this? What, what are you doing?" It's real.

Ally Brettnacher: It's real. I'm like, "

Anthony Privitelli: No, Dad, this is, this is the future." Yeah, I mean,

Ally Brettnacher: I just remember, yeah, the pizza parties that we had at the end of quarter, and like ringing [00:10:00] gongs and doing all...

I mean, it was just like the best. I do miss that. Especially, yeah, the in-person be- I don't know that I could have survived in a remote role. I don't know.

Anthony Privitelli: No, it's, it's hard. Like, I, for kids, like that are... Like I think there's been a push more towards hybrid, but I've seen s- I've seen like headlines of surveys of like people who are...

People would take a smaller salary to work remote than be in office, and I think that's just a shift in like what people... Which is fine, which is great. Like, people are living outside doing all that stuff. But yeah, and I think this goes back to like most, most of those people are also like doing the side hustle, and when you're working at home, in between meetings, like you can do your side hustle on the side and you could try to, yeah, build your creator business or build whatever thing you're trying to do on the side as well.

So I think people who default to remote are probably more on the like entrepreneurial type of journey for themselves, I would, I would bet.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, which is kind of what you've just done, like building, building Rally. I mean, if, if- Yeah. ... I feel like [00:11:00] everybody listening to this, everyone's a runner, they probably have heard of it And if they haven't, I would be surprised.

Well, at least in- I hope so ... the world I'm in That's cool ... it seems like everybody knows it, everybody uses it. Yeah. I, I wanna know a lot, but let's just start up with what is Rally and how did you come up-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: with the idea for it?

Anthony Privitelli: The tagline for Rally is just simply Voice Notes on Race Day. Being in tech, the most important thing is, like, explaining your app- Yeah

in, like, four or five words. Um, plus, like, you have a certain amount of characters when you, like, ship an app to the App Store. Mm-hmm. So, like, Voice Notes on Race Day was- Yes ... was perfect. It's exactly what it is. And for anyone who's listening who doesn't know, you simply can join whatever marathon, half marathon, ultra, 5K, like, any distance.

So I like to just say, like, endurance runners basically can join the race through the Rally app. You get a s- unique link that says Ally is running the Monumental in November, and it'll be all of the mile markers, whether it's a half marathon or a full marathon or a 10K, and we do a voice note per mile or per kilometer.

You send that link out to your friends and family, they record a voice note. You can't hear it until [00:12:00] on race day- That's so good ... like, once you pass that mile marker. So it's encouraging, it's motivational. Um, and the reason why I built it is I was, of course, you know, social media back... Like, on TikTok scrolling one night, and I saw a bunch of people, they would text their friends to just, like-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah

Anthony Privitelli: uh, text them during their race. And this was, this was right around, I think it was 2024. Uh, one of my friends was running the Orange County Marathon. I'm, I'm based in Southern California, and they were running the OC Marathon. So we got up at, like, 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM and, like, got to the course in one little spot where she's like, "Hey, come here.

This is where, like, I want you guys to be 'cause, you know, mile 17 is where I hit my wall." And we're like, "All right. We'll be there." So we were there. She runs, and, like, she was trying to b- she was trying to PB, right? So she's not gonna stop- Yeah ... and hug us- Bye ... and say hi. Like, it's like a flyby. We're, like, there, and she's, like, waving at us, and then she just goes.

And we're like, "Oh, that was fun, but, like, that's it?" Like, really? Like, it was, it, it means a lot obviously, but for the spectators [00:13:00] we're like, "Well, like, let's, let's drive and now, like, let's go further." And Orange County doesn't have, like, a bunch of Citibikes, like, we have to dr- we have to get in our car and drive and, like, marathon streets are closed, so it was like, it was hectic.

So then we got to, like, basically the finish line, which was where we were going to go anyway, and we got to see her again. But my thought was like, "Man, that's so annoying." Like, we're, we... Like, we saw her for a split second, and, like, she was wearing headphones and everything, and then that experience made me think, like, there's gotta be a way for us to, like, you know, support her differently.

I had no idea about the whole voice notes until, like, a week later I was on TikTok and someone said, like, "Oh, I had my friends text me, and Siri was just reading the text messages." And I was like, "Done. I can build this from, like, a GPS distance-based way where you can collect voice notes in, like, every mile, every, ev-" Uh, I first was toying with, like, should it go, like, every 10 minutes- Markers

I was like, no. Like, the mile markers- Mm, mm ... are great. They're also like... Yeah. Um, so that's kind of like the birth, the birth of it, and I finally started building it. The first race [00:14:00] was the San Francisco Marathon in- 2025. So I had built it, like, uh, I had just like tested it out around my house, was putting like little GPS points in my driveway, down the street, and was just making sure it all worked.

And I found like five people- Rock it ... off of Reddit. I

Ally Brettnacher: love Reddit, the best place.

Anthony Privitelli: This is a good thing about Reddit, but bad if like you're trying to hack Reddit for like your product. It's very hard to just jump into a subreddit- Right ... and like promote your app. Like, all of the mods are very good at like- Yeah.

Yeah ... being like, "This is an ad, your, your post is done." So I knew that we, like my app was gonna be a, like it wasn't even approved, it was just on test flight, so it was just like you couldn't search for it. I had to like privately invite you. But I went into the first, first time marathoners- Yeah ... or first marathoners subreddit, and I was there for about a week.

I was like liking every post. Um, I was commenting and just kind of like, you know- Yeah ... building, like warming up my account on Reddit, until I made a post and said like, "Hey, I'm running [00:15:00] my first marathon, San Francisco Marathon." I didn't even say like, "I built this app." Yeah. I just said like, "I found this website that allows you to leave me voice notes."

Like, I'm like, "I've been a part of this community, it's so supportive. Anyone who wants to leave me a voice note, like please do." And it stayed up, and the whole, the whole purpose of that post was like I was hoping that someone who was also running San Francisco Marathon would be in the comments and be like- Do it

"Wait, I, I'm doing it, like let me, like I want access." So then someone replied, and I was like, "Okay, great, like this is my friend's app, like I'll get them in touch with you." So I got in touch with like four people from that, and then like set up a call like this, and literally had to show them I, like, invited them to the test flight version.

I showed them, like, what button... It was such a scr- like, it was literally- Amazing ... scaffolding of the app, and I had to tell them like, "Hey, like, make sure you do this, this, and that," and then like, "Let's please, like, let's chat after. I wanna hear how, like, your experience was." And four out of four, I was... This-- I had no analytics, so day of San Francisco Marathon, I knew four people were using this, like, janky [00:16:00] little app I just built, and I had no idea if the voice notes were playing.

I had no idea if it was working. Right. Yeah. I had no idea if they even remembered to press start. After the race, like I, like I, I, I waited until, like, the Monday after, and I was-- and I emailed all of them and said, "Hey, like, hope, hope the-- hope, you know, your marathon went well. Would love to s- like, hear about your experience with Rally."

And didn't hear back from them for like a day or two, and then finally, like, started n- the emails started trickling in, them and like saying, "Oh, it was amazing. Like, let's, let's jump on a call." And four out of four of them said how incredible it was. Everyone who left a voice note thought it was- Yes ... so amazing to be a part of their race as well.

Um, so that gave me the encouragement to be like- Wow ... "Okay, I should build this out." And then I think the next big race after San Francisco was Sydney, Sydney Marathon last year, so August, uh, for 2025. And one or two people from the SF Marathon, like, made a TikTok-

Ally Brettnacher: Uh-huh ...

Anthony Privitelli: with their voice notes overlaid, and then, like, that, that, like, the, the comments were like, "What did you use?"

And they were, and they were emailing me saying like, "Hey, like, people are [00:17:00] asking for this, like, what do I say?" And I was like, "Don't say anything. Like, it's not available yet. Let me-- I need to, I need to ship this app. I need to, like, send it to the App Store, get it released." Um, so I was able to do that in time for Sydney.

Like, I think maybe, like, 10 or 15 people were able to use it for Sydney. They made TikToks, and at this point, like, it was out. We were, like, putting more races in. Yeah. Those TikToks went viral Like legit 100,000 views Right, right Like I guess that's like not viral in today's sense Yeah But enough for like a very s- um, which then just like snowballs.

Then people were using it for Chicago, New York, uh, Marine Corps Marathon to like fall marathons last year was all from a few TikToks that people made and just kinda snowballed

Ally Brettnacher: in. Unbelievable.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: so. Like unbelievable. Okay, so- Yeah ... so were the people at the San Francisco marathon, those four runners, were they first-time marathoners then since you found them in that subreddit?

Anthony Privitelli: Fu- funny, one of them was. Three other people were not. It was like their second or third. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: But now people have seen people use it. Of course people are doing that now. Yeah. But like I would be s- too nervous to figure something else out. Yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: Only one of them was. It was this, [00:18:00] um, uh, this girl was in the subreddit, and it was her boyfriend that was running, and she's like- Perfect

"I wanna set this up for my boyfriend." Cool. "It's his first marathon." I was like, "Okay, cool." What's crazy is I was very... Again, this was like the whole thing I said about like being, like ignorance is bliss- ... when you're building something for the first time. And my time at Patreon was like, I was on the fraud team, so like I...

Bad actors is like always in the front of my mind. So when it came to this, one of the first like beta users for the SF Marathon was a, like she was a Peloton instructor, and she had her own subreddit, and people would like go to her class. And she told me how she was gonna just like send her link out on Reddit, and I was like, "Oh my God.

This is gonna be so bad." Like, Redditors are gonna be like- They're gonna be like, "Ew, yeah, I'm gonna kill you in your sleep"- ... this is gonna be like- ... or I don't know. Like... Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, I was like, "Oh, man." And then I thought, "Okay, this has to be an edge case." Like, she's a Peloton. Yeah. Like, her community is on Reddit.

I saw the voicemails being recorded, and I went in and [00:19:00] just listened to them, and I ended up deleting three of them because they were just like very like X-rated. Like- Oh, my God ... very bad. So I was like when I heard that, I was like, "Thank God I, like tested this out," 'cause I don't want someone to associate- Yes, right

like this is a terrible app, like do not use it. But then I figured, like most people are gonna send their Rally links to- Right ... their friends and family like over DM, and like they're gonna know. Right. So and, and, and the, the good like flywheel about Rally is that in order for Rally to work- Yeah ... like you need to share your link.

So as you share it, like other people who it might record might know someone else who's running, be like, "Oh, wait. You should use this as well." So like that was like a nice little flywheel that I didn't wanna get rid of, and like it's necessary. So I just kind of like ignored that and thought, "This might happen, but for the most part, people aren't gonna be sending their links."

But I do see people sharing their Rally links- I've done that ... on Instagram all the time. Yeah. And like we get tagged in it. Yeah, but no issues thankfully. But I think, I don't think Instagram's like- Yeah, that's like- ... [00:20:00] Reddit, the worst place to like- Yeah, don't do that ... post publicly. That's a good PSA for people.

Hey,

Ally Brettnacher: guys, like don't, maybe Or just expect something interesting-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: if you do that.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. We've made, like I've made the decision where like I, you are not allowed- Love that ... to listen to your voice notes before. It's the best. And so it's definitely s- it's, it's surprised. We don't collect a lot of information from the person leaving you a voice note.

Yeah, yeah. Um, just because- Yeah ... friction. Um, I wanted it to be super easy for anyone. Like the best, I think like the best compliment I've gotten from Rally is like most people send it to their parents. Yeah. And their parents leave... Like their parents are successfully leaving them voice notes, so if it works for-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah

Anthony Privitelli: you know, people in their 50s and up, I'm like great. It is.

Ally Brettnacher: Like this user

Anthony Privitelli: experience is fire. I

Ally Brettnacher: was so impressed by it, Anthony. I remember using it and I was like, "Wow." That is, it was stupid easy, and that's how- Yeah. It's a- Especially in the mobile world, like people are-

Anthony Privitelli: It's a very-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, it takes more than a second and they're out, you know?

Yeah. So it's, it's so great

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. It's a very simple idea. Yeah, so kind of just ignored that and thought, "You know what? Let's just let people regulate this themselves." And we [00:21:00] still don't collect, like, the person's name. Um, maybe that's something we'll do, like, once they record the voice note. Like, they've already submitted it now, like, we could say like, "Hey, put your name here," and-

Ally Brettnacher: Right

Anthony Privitelli: the users can then determine if they want to reveal who did it. So, 'cause, like, one thing that happens, we've seen a lot of people setting this up for their friends, and, like, if I'm setting this up for you, I'm sending it out to our group chat. Now I'm seeing like 10 voice notes and I'm like, "Wait, I need to follow up with people.

I don't know who to follow up with-" Yeah ... "because people have-" It's true. I don't know who's left a voice memo and who hasn't. So that's an annoying part, but we still haven't really done anything about that yet.

Ally Brettnacher: You almost don't wanna know who- Yeah ... you're gonna hear from- Totally ... which is even more interesting.

I remember... I'm trying to remember which one of my voice notes- Yeah ... during Marine Corps, but I couldn't hear very well because I actually played mine... This was very risky, actually, looking back, Tony or Anthony. I played mine out, out loud and, um, do you know who Rob Perez is, the influencer? He's, um, out amazing.

So anyway, he ran with me 'cause I was running for Ainsley's Angels, and so they're playing out loud, and oh my God, my friend [00:22:00] Renee's was so embarrassing, but it was so funny. I was like, "Oh my God." Everyone around... Everyone's looking around like, "Oh my God." So, but it was, it was, it was entertaining, for sure.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. We do have a free replay now. So, like, in the app, most people, like, most people aren't gonna see this, um, and we've done a bad job of, like, announcing this publicly, but if you're running, and we know that courses, especially for the big majors, like, there's bands, there's, there's spectators. Yeah. Like, it's very loud.

So, uh, and most people have their phone, like- Mm-hmm ... in their running pouch or whatever, and if you don't hear your voice note, like, we allow for a, like a free replay, like, during the race- Ah, that's smart ... so you can, like, hear it again. So yeah, like the main thing is, like, we want everyone to hear their voice notes, like, at least once during the race.

Like, that's the pur- that's the purpose of the app, yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, you can pay to download all your voice notes after, and it's only 10, $10, which is, like, unbelievably- After, yeah ... i- for in my experience, it's like- Yeah ... photos are so expensive. I mean, I would rather have these voice notes almost than, like, the [00:23:00] professional photos.

Um, and then you can gift it to a runner, which is brilliant. Just brilliant.

Anthony Privitelli: So yeah, we did this. Um, there's actually a few updates, actually. I just got this out, so we'll be, like, posting this on our Instagram. But we just came out with, like, race bundles as well. So right now, like, c- Rally is completely free to use.

Like, download the app, join the race, collect all the voice notes on race day, hear all the voice notes for free. We don't, like, do any paywall before. So we want... Like, this is, uh, like, at first, like, we wanna create- Yeah ... a good experience for all the, the runners, and it's totally free to use. And then after the fact, the way we make money is you can pay to l- like, replay and save and download your voice notes.

You can download them off of the app. So if you wanted to delete Rally after- Yeah ... you totally could, and you still have your voice notes. So like- Tech 101, like, maybe, like, not as smart, but, like, ultimately, like, I want this to be, like, good for the users. And we've had a lot of people who run multiple races.

Like, majority of people are using, like, not a lot of people run multiple marathons a year, but we do have a- Right ... a set [00:24:00] of users who are running multiple races. So buying your voice notes every time, like, gets expensive. That's smart, too. So we just came out- Yeah ... with race, like, packs basically. Like, instead of...

So, like, individual is, uh, 9.99, like, $10 USD for a single race. A three-pack is 25 bucks, and then a five-pack is 35 bucks. Yeah, that's so smart. So it's like a 16% discount, then a 30% discount. Um, and then for the gifting side, we thought, you know what? Like, most people are sending- Right ... this to their, their best friends- Yeah

their husbands, their wives, their parents. So every time after someone, after someone records a voice note, we display an option for that person to gift you the voice note. So if the first person who leaves you a voice note sees it and gifts it to you, then it's, it's done. Nobody else recording a voice note- Makes sense.

Yeah ... will, will have the option to gift it 'cause it's just a one-time thing. If, if, like, the first three people don't leave a v- don't gift it to you, they'll, like, basically just hit, like, dismiss on it. Yeah. And then, like, the next person who leaves you a voice note will see. So we basically give you... We give, like, every single person [00:25:00] an option- So funny

to gift, which I hate saying because then people who, like-

Ally Brettnacher: You ******* ...

Anthony Privitelli: don't get it gifted You couldn't spare $10 to- I'm just like, "Oh, sorry." Yeah. Oh. Um, someone, someone just DM'd us, uh, and they were asking, like, "Hey," uh, they, they asked, they asked something about transferring a race because it got canceled and, and then they said how, like, they thought that someone had gifted it.

So I, I looked at their profile- Oh, no. ... and I was like, "Oh, no one has gifted it." I'm, I'm, I'm s- I made a joke. Yeah, sorry. I was like, "Yeah, you gotta, you gotta talk to your friends about that." That's really funny. But But yeah. And then we actually just came out with the ability to create your own race. Yeah. So, um, or create your own event, um, where right now, like Rally, like our team basically creates the list of like all of the official races.

So like all the way from like backyard- Mm-hmm ... ultras to the New York City Marathon. Like, we have a list of over, like, I don't know, 2,500 races- Yeah ... just through the end of this year. But we've got a lot of requests of people saying like, "Hey, it's my 30th birthday this week, and I'm running 30 miles for my 30th birthday."

So yeah. So now, like people- Nice ... can create their [00:26:00] own event and just like upload their own image. So, and then like you basically like pre-buy. Same thing, you could do, like before you create it, like you can go through the entire flow- Yeah ... of creating it, and then you have to like p- like basically pre-pay for your voice notes.

Yeah. It's like the best idea ever. Or you can like do the race pack as well.

Ally Brettnacher: I, I mean, I just love it. I am... You know I'm a huge fan. And I wanna support you as much as I can because I just-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: believe that it's such a simple but so incredibly powerful. I mean, yeah, I cry when I listen to mine again, especially with my daughters.

It's like, oh my God.

Anthony Privitelli: My favorite is literally every Monday and Tuesday, there's, there's, like especially in the fall, there's tons of marathons, um, just year-round, and we get tagged in all the vi- like a lot of the videos. And I swear, like it doesn't get old- Oh ... because every voice note is unique. Every person has their own story, like they're fighting their own battles, and we hear...

And like people share this, and they tag us, and we're just like, oh my God, these are so... Like, we run out of comments. Like how do we say this differently? Yeah. How do we say that we're like crying over here? But it's, uh, yeah, it's great. It, it like, it's honestly our like weekly [00:27:00] boost of motivation and energy- Yeah

to like keep going and like keep building new things

Ally Brettnacher: and- Right. And talk about endless content, like you just have... I mean, everybody who uses it seems to share about it because, again, it's such a great experience. Have you run? Any races, Anthony? I need to hear about your personal journey with running, too.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah, yeah. I am a sprinter. I am a very short distance... I'm like a cheetah. I can run for, like, a minute and then I'm toast. And but, like, I, like, high school, college, uh, track athlete, 100 meter, 200, 400, four by 100. Max. That's a long distance, yeah. 400's, like, my, like, that gassed after it, yeah. Um, and, like, my body I think from being, like, I played, I, like, obviously, like, did, uh, track in high school and college and did, like, football and then played ice hockey.

So, like, I think, like, my muscle fibers are more of, like, the fast twitch. So it's been hard for me to, uh, change th- that and, like, become more of a distance runner, and, like, the endurance part is something, like, I struggle with. I've never run an [00:28:00] official marathon. I don't have a medal. But about two years ago, I left my credit card at a restaurant, um, and I really wanted to, like...

I really wanted to, like, punish myself for this. And I looked it up and it was, it was, like, 14 miles away. So I was like, "You know what? I've never run a marathon." Shut up. You're lying. "This is further than a marathon." You're lying. "I'm gonna run and go get my credit card." No, so again, like, no training, and I, and I was, like, in, I was like...

You know, this was a couple years ago where I wasn't, like, very involved in, like, the running community at all. And I thought, "Oh, I can go do this." Like, I'm athletic enough. I, I, I don't run that often. I, I d- I used to not run at all. But I was like, "Ah, I can do this." Ran there 14 miles. I was like, "Oh, this feels good."

Picked up the credit card, ran back. Af- like, at mile, like, I don't know- 18, my legs were toast. I, like, literally had to, like, catch the ferry back home. I could not walk, and I was sore for three days after. So I was like, "All right, this is, like, legit. This is very hard. This is [00:29:00] very this is difficult." So about four months ago, I started training to do a marathon, and I w- I really wanted to do Chicago.

And, um, didn't get a bib, found the Ronald McDonald Foundation, got a bib through them, but then had baby girl about a month ago, and that kind of, like, really just c- put a, put a c- put a c- crank in my, uh, in my training. So I, like, didn't run for four weeks, and I was like, "Uh, this is maybe, like, not the best time for me to complete this marathon."

So- We'll be there ... I'm gonna be out in Chicago, like, we'll be out there- Yeah ... for the expo. And, like, yeah, we'll be there, and New York City, but I really wanted to do Chicago, one, just to get a marathon under my belt, and it's a very... I've heard it's, like, a very, uh, flat course.

Ally Brettnacher: I feel like being a startup founder, especially in tech, like, you are an endurance athlete.

Like, when you had a job and building it, you're, like, working through the night when you had the time. Like, yeah, you'll get there.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. I do like... I mean, I'm very competitive in that regard, and I think this is... I tell [00:30:00] myself this wasn't a reason, but I, I definitely, like, deep down, I, I know it, it was a reason.

And, like, I felt like if I did run it, I don't feel confident I would've broken the four-hour mark, and I was just, like, mad at myself, so I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna delay a year." So I'm doing a HYROX instead. I- Much shorter distance, like way, way, way easier for me. Like, the weight's, like, the eight- Yeah

running eight kilometers on, like, that's way easier from a race- Yeah ... like, than a marathon.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know. I, I am HYROX curious, and I wanna do one with my husband, but then you have to do the men's weight. And so I guess there's some strategy involved in, like, what he would do- Yeah ... versus me, whatever, whatever.

But will Rally support HYROX? That's an interesting... Yeah, right, with the GPS- It's

Anthony Privitelli: difficult ...

Ally Brettnacher: kind of com- yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: It's... A lotta, a lot of people, like, don't run with head- like, you are not- Okay, that makes sense ... wearing headphones during HYROX. Like, actually, yeah, I can't... I don't think a lot of- Yeah ... people do.

Like, I can't imagine. I just started seeing people taking gels for their HYROX. [00:31:00] Like, I did not think that was... Like, I, I've been seeing all the- Yeah ... HYROX content 'cause I'm training for one now, and I feel like people taking ge- like, that was not a thing that we were doing. And, like, all of the nutrition, like, that's a huge thing, too.

Like, so much goes into training for a marathon, like, from your diet to, oh my gosh, like, it, it, it's a, it's a lifestyle- Yeah ... change, which is- Yeah, absolutely ... which is hard. Well, yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: especially when you have a newborn. Huh.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So I wanna know, too- Yeah ... like, some of the, your favorite Voice notes. That's so hard, I know, but, like, are there specific, like, stories you've seen that were shared that were, like, really memorable for you?

Anthony Privitelli: I mean, there's, there's one... Okay. There's one voice note that I absolutely love. Um, this girl, Abby, ran the Chicago Marathon last year and her friend left this mar- her, left this voice note. We've actually, like, used it in some, like, promotional, like, just, like, internal- Yeah, yeah ... promotions that we've sent to, like, brands and stuff.

But the voice note is just so, uh- Yeah ... I'll, I'll send it to you, so if you wanna, like, dub it in. But it's, like, so... It- it's so good, like, uh, I, I, I [00:32:00] can't... I won't do it justice. But, like, at the end sh- she, like, h- her friend is just saying, "Go, Abby, go. Run, run, run." It's just like, oh my God. Like, I get goosebumps every time I hear it.

Like, it's such a good voice note. But the most memorable ones, it's, like, kind of like a somber type of moment. But, like, we've had people who have said, like, "Hey, you know, my, my, my grandmother or my mom or my husband..." Um, this has happened, like, multiple times, where they've recorded their voice notes and, like, after the race, like, they've kind of...

They- they've passed on. So these people, like, look at these voice notes just like, "These, these are, like, the last- Wow ... memories I have." And, uh, yeah, like, so those are the ones when I, when, like, they DM us about this, and then, like, you know, this was before, um... No, the, like, we... You've always been able to download.

But this was, like, uh, people have been so, so, like, weary of, like, wondering like, "Hey," after the race- Right ... like, "Will I be able to keep my voice notes? Like, I'm s- like, uh, the, my, my- Yeah ... grandmother's sick, like, I wanna make sure..." It's like, "Yes, you don't hear them now, but you will 100%-" Yeah ... "have them, like, you will save them, like, [00:33:00] don't worry."

Um, and, like, we've actually, like, sent them, we've sent them to people, like, before. Right. We're like, "Hey- Yeah, so you- ... here they are, just so you know-" ... "piece of mind." But those, those, the, like, there's, there's countless stories of, of people's voice notes like that. And, like, then they'll, like, tag us in the video, and we're just like, "Oh my God."

Like, those moments make me feel like... I'm a very nostalgic person. Like, I spend, like... The number one app I use, like, if you look at your- Yeah ... screen time, it's my- Aw ... photos app. Like, every night, like, I just go, like, I love, like, Google, and I think, like, app, like, Apple Photos- Yeah ... does, like, the one year ago, five years ago, seven years ago.

And I take, again, like, I, I take so much, like, so many photos and videos just, like, forever. Um, one of my favorite apps- Oh, I love it ... I'm totally just tangent right now. But one of my favorite apps is- I did that one year ... One Second Everyday. One S-E. Um- I did it for four years in 2023. Uh, like a lot of, like, the Patreon stuff was, was in there, but I did one second- Wow

every day for probably four years and made, like, I don't know, like a [00:34:00] 15-minute video. Like, I think, like, if you pay for it, like you can extend from 10 seconds to, like, 20 or something like that. But oh my God, I wish, again, like I wish I would've kept doing it- That's- ... but after four years- ... serious commitment

I was like, "Ugh, all right. This is cool." Yeah. Like, I made a video.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. but I'm a very nostalgic person. Like, I, I love - I don't wanna say, like, I, I don't live in the past at all, but I, I love to remember. I love to, like, look back and remember things. 'Cause like, if you don't have photos- Yeah ... like, you don't remember things.

Like- I, I, it's like a story. Like, it like I'll... I have the apps that, like, show photos on my home screen, and it's just like I'll, I'll text my friends- Yes, love it. Mm-hmm ... like, "Guys, this was six years ago today. Like, this was so fun." And then like, so, so, like the voice notes piece is especially, like, very special and, like, we're recording this on September 14th, and, like, my feed- Right.

Same. Yeah ... has been like a bunch of September 11th stuff, and, like, the voicemails from... It's just like... So, like, all of that, like, having, having your person's, like, voice, hearing them, hearing them encourage you. A lot of people, you know, tell, [00:35:00] like they've, they express feelings that maybe- Right ... they haven't heard, saying how proud they are.

Mm. You know, "I've seen you train for eight weeks. I've seen you train for however long." Like, you know? And, like, you hear the emotional relationship between both people, and I think the users who are receiving the voice notes, you know, ev- like, every- most- Yeah ... people say, like, they cry hearing it. Um, like, m- a lot of people have said, like, they p- they, they, like, got their personal best because of the voice notes.

So, I don't know. That kind of stuff, like, makes me feel really good about the app and-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I... Well- Yeah ... somebody said in the, um, in the reel that I posted, I don't know, last week. She was like, "When my race was canceled, I had to travel to a different race, and so I used Rally so that I could hear the voices of people who were originally planning to be there to cheer me on, and that helped get me through that."

I mean-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: it's, it is really powerful. You mentioned brands, and I know, I think the first time we met, we were talking about kinda how you were gonna go to market, and make money, and work with brands. How, how are you seeing that for the future?

Marker

Ally Brettnacher: Quick break in the show to [00:36:00] tell you that this week's episode is unofficially brought to you by the Rally app. I am such a huge fan, as you'll hear me tell Anthony in this podcast episode, that I believe anybody who is wearing headphones on race day should absolutely have this app, send it to friends and family, and have encouragement at every single mile.

I used it for the first time at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC last October, and actually had it playing out loud, which was hilarious and embarrassing at points. So now I'm going to give you a few examples of the voice notes I got from that race, so you can get a taste of it, here's a couple of those

Speaker 8: Listen up, my dirty little sex kitten. I hope you're running your ass off. Not that I really need to tell you that because you're Ally ******* Brettnacher. Of course that's what you're doing. And listen, I want you to know that every single step of this race, I am thinking about you. I am checking in on you, and I am so damn proud of you and just lucky to know you.

Speaker 5: Hi, sweetie. I know you're just a little further than halfway. Got a fee feeling pretty good [00:37:00] still. I'm probably at about mile five, maybe six, so I'm probably a little ways behind you. But you got this, babe. You're halfway. Beautiful day. Love you

Speaker 7: Ally, it's Rach. You are the baddest, strongest, coolest ************ bitch on this planet. You are setting such an amazing example for people in everything that you do. This is your race. You are going to kill this. You don't have much further to go. I know you got this. Do it for your girls.

I don't know what else to say, but I love you, and you're doing so great

Speaker 6: Oh boy. This is Casey. We're in mile 23. I chose 23 because it's my favorite number and you're also the greatest, just like Michael Jordan.

I'm gonna cry just thinking about this. I wish I could be there to cheer you on. I didn't think I would cry, but wow. You are just so badass. I love you. Every ******* step you make inspires so many people [00:38:00] and I wish I could be there to show you my crying face right now. I love you.

Ally Brettnacher: I mean, amazing, right? Like, how can you not be motivated after hearing from the people who you love and who love you most during one of the hardest things you'll ever do in your life? So link in the show notes, or you can search Rally app on the App Store, voice notes on race day. Thank you, Anthony, for creating such an incredible product.

Can't wait to see where it goes. All right, now back to my conversation with Anthony

You mentioned brands, and I know, I think the first time we met, we were talking about kinda how you were gonna go to market, and make money, and work with brands. How, how are you seeing that for the future?

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. So there's been... I mean, I love that we're kind of agnostic- Yeah

to all of that- Yeah ... because we, like, our app makes money, which is, which is honestly good. And before, we have over 100,000 users that have used the app, um, in the last year. We have over a million- Oh, cool ... voice notes. So, we didn't, we didn't start monetizing until January of this year. So, like, all of last year was completely free.

The whole idea was like, "Hey, let's just, let's just [00:39:00] get people to know about the app." And I thought, I was like, "You know what? Let's make this free forever. Let's get-" Right, yeah. I remember that ... like, "Let's get brands and sponsors to pay for this." And so I, I had talked to a few brands to, like, do some sponsorships, and we, we landed, we landed a brand sponsorship, um, for the LA Marathon, and we did a great sponsorship and, like, partnered- Oh, great.

Yeah ... with, uh, with Goodr Sunglasses, and, um, th- that was incredible. And the, like, if we were a bigger team, if maybe like... This is probably something- Yeah ... we should do if, like, we were to raise money. But again, like, completely bootstrapped. Like, it took a lot of time just in terms of, like, I don't know- Yeah

a couple months of just emails and back and forth, and conversations and, and planning, where like, "I'm doing that," and then also trying- Mm-hmm ... to, like, build the product. It was, it was a lot. A dream world would be for us to, like, like have, you know, sign on a, a couple partners for the entire year at, like, a good, like- Yeah

reasonable price that, like, helps us, um, and, like, obviously gets their brand out there. Um, but, like, the, the, the share pages that you share Uh, to collect your [00:40:00] voice notes. Like, all of those pages, and, like, we'll put, like, the brand logos and our, our sponsors there. Th- that's like where We get the most visibility and, like, engagement obviously.

Right. And that's where people are spending the most time, is on those share pages to, like, select a mile, record a voice note. So that's where, like, we're doing our brand partners and sponsorships, like sharing the logos there. So my first thought was like, "Oh, let's keep this free. Let's just... Let's try to find, you know- Yeah

ads, and let's, let's try to find partners that wanna partner with us." And, and we're still working on a, a few brand partners, but eventually I said, like, "This is a lot." Like, I don't like not being in control of our own revenue- Fight, yeah ... where, like, it's just a constant, like, ad play. And then those screens get tens of millions of views every month, so then we had a bunch of people, ad agencies reaching out to us being like, "Hey," like, "you should run ads on these pages."

And, like, I entertained the idea because they're like, "You could just turn on monetization and make 15 to 20K a month-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Anthony Privitelli: on the stupid, like, Google ads," you know? That like... And I was like-

Ally Brettnacher: Good for you ...

Anthony Privitelli: we're not gonna do that. Like, I do not... I want this page to look, to look [00:41:00] clean. I want it... I don't want you to, like- Ugh

have to click X- Yeah ... on this little thing and, like, press it on your phone and then, like, not be able to leave a voice. So it's like, it wasn't a hard decision. It was like, oh, well, we're just turning down that money. But I said, "You know, the user experience is definitely, like, more important than- Yeah

having the page littered with ads." So didn't do that. So I, I decided like, you know what? Like, we're, we're creating enough value. Like, the, the, the three months of, of 2025 fall marathons of, like, seeing everyone use the app. We had people, like, email us be like, "Hey, this is great." Like, "This is free. We realize, like- Ugh

we wanna support you." So, like, we had, like, a very small handful of people who, like, receive a free product- Right ... and be like, "Hey, this is great- Just like Abby ... we wanna, we wanna pay for this."

Ally Brettnacher: She's like, "Where can I invest? Where, where can I give you... Can I give you money?"

Anthony Privitelli: Ex- exactly. So it was, um... And I thought, you know what?

Like, if I wanna go full time on this, like- Yeah ... grow a business, like, we need to make money. Like, I can't work on this forever. Um, so then I thought, you know what? I don't wanna make this a subscription. Like, subscription is obviously, like, the bread and butter for [00:42:00] apps. Like, 10 bucks a month, 20 bucks a month.

A lot of apps do, like, $5 a week type of thing. That just obviously does not make sense for Rally. Like, you run, like, the most avid runners are running- Yeah ... what, like, five marathons a year. Um, and the majority of people are doing, like, one- Yeah ... one race is the majority. Like, you're training for your marathon, you do it, and you're done.

Like, most people, like, they do the marathon one time. Who are those people that I don't talk to those people. It's like, it's like they're running Era. Everybody's

Ally Brettnacher: crazy.

Anthony Privitelli: They did it. Check mark. Yeah. So subscription was never, like... Idea, like, as a, as a founder, it's like you wanna try to find a subscription business.

Like, n- it didn't make sense for us. Maybe if people are, like, creating their own runs and, like, find a way to use it and, like- Yeah ... if people are expanding on bundles and saying like, "Hey, this is getting expensive"- Right ... like, we'll do, like, a, a cheaper subscription. But at first we were thought, you know what?

Majority of people are just doing this one time. Let's make this a one-time payment. It's worth it. We've gotten enough feedback that people love their voice notes. Obviously it's from your friends and family. It doesn't seem crazy to just charge for- Yeah ... downloading them and keeping them forever, 'cause, like, we're storing them on our servers.

Like, our [00:43:00] server cost is, like, pretty expensive with- Right ... over a million voice notes. So- Like, that felt fine. We turned on the, we turned on the, um, the paywall in January and, like, didn't hear a thing from anybody. And people were just paying for it, like... We're like, "Great, this is awesome." Most people would be like, "Great, it's, it's too cheap."

That's- Like- Yeah ... increase the price. That was my thought. It's like, no- I was like, "Wow ... like this is- 10

Ally Brettnacher: bucks. That's

Anthony Privitelli: easy. Yeah. So we didn't hear a peep from anyone. We're like, "This is great. People think it's good." I'd rather it be a good deal and people convert rather than, you know, make it more expensive and, like, have half the people not...

And honestly, like, it's better for us for you to download your voice notes, make it cheap, and then, like- Amen ... make your video on social media and, like- Yeah ... tag us. Like, that's our- Yeah ... like, that's our growth.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I c- I could see people using it, like, a bundle for, like, a training block. Like, you know, people who are training by themselves and they have- Totally

a run that, like, a training run they're really nervous about, like, "I have never run 20 miles. Like, I could really use the support." Could totally see people doing that.

Anthony Privitelli: I feel good about that. Right. 'Cause that, that's how I use the app. Like, when I'm testing, like, [00:44:00] I... Like, I use it for road trips, honestly. Like, so we have...

Obviously, the way Rally works is it's GPS-based, and we have a fallback just on distance. So, like, for people who... You can go on airplane mode, you can download your voice notes, but, uh, for, like, all the, like, the bigger marathons, we use, we actually grab the GPX file of the course for as many races as we can do.

So then, obviously, like, not every single race provides a GPX file. Um, so for those ones, we k- kinda, like, fall back to, like, when you press start, we're kinda tracking you, and, like, every kilometer- Yeah ... or mile, your voice note will play. Um- So, uh, when I go on, like, my runs, like, I would... I thought it was great.

Like, I actually loved hear- like, I would literally send it to my wife, and she'd, like, send me voice notes for, like, my long run, and I was like, "Man, I'm just on a weekend 15-mile run." Like, imagine, like, being in Chicago- Yeah ... running the marathon- Yeah ... and having, like, my other friends, like, knowing. Like, I, like, I get the goosebumps, and it literally, like, it makes me feel good.

Like, I, I get a boost of energy, so I was like, "Man," like, I, I get the chills from it, too. Um, so I hope, like... A [00:45:00] lot of people wanna use it before their race, 'cause, like, this is the one thing that I don't like about Rally, is that you literally can't- Yeah ... use it until race day, and that's nerve-wracking because-

Ally Brettnacher: Sure

Anthony Privitelli: if it's your first race or your 10th- Mm ... race, you've got a lot of things going on. Like, you've got your corral. You're, like, you might be talking with friends, people you meet. You might be, you know, getting your playlists all set. Here's an app you've never used before. Like, for the most part, people can get through it, which is good.

But, like, you know, turning on your location and your permissions and all that kind of stuff, we've, we've, we've made some changes so, like, when you open up the app the day before, like, it'll prompt you to do all that- Smart ... kind of stuff to get you ready for tomorrow. But, um, yeah, I think, like, a lot of people have said, like, "Hey, can I use this before the race?"

So we're hoping that, like, with create your own run, test it out with all the bundles, they'll do that. But I've thought about how, like- Well- ... we're not a training app. Like, there's a- Yeah ... very suc- like, Runna is, like, like, that's great. Great business model, great app. Like, for the user to be using the app for, you know, six months or [00:46:00] however long the training block is, you know, paying 20 bucks a month, like, that's, that's worth it.

It doesn't make sense for Rally. Like, we're not a training app. We are literally, like- Wait 'til- We are the- ... on race day ... app for race day. Yeah. So, you know. Um- Yeah. So if there... Like, if people would want to use this more often, we've had, like, very few. We've had, like, a few people say like, "Hey," like, "I wanna use this all the time."

But I, I personally think that, um, like, getting voice notes, asking people for voice notes all the time, it kind of, like, devalues for, like, the big moment- Yeah ... if you're, like, constantly throwing out your link to people. It, it, it makes sense for, like, families. I think, like, we've had a few, like, moms and dads be like, "Hey," like, "I go on a lot of long runs."

Right. They- "Like, I would love my kids- Yeah ... to leave me voice notes." And, like, they get to keep them forever. That's a good point. Like, it's, it's great. So-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Anthony Privitelli: um, yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, yeah, I think about you left your own voice message to yourself too, so that's funny. You could always do that. Be like, "Hey, you remember?

Suck it up."

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. I, I like... I enjoy that. Yeah. And I'm like, I would pay for this. So m- like, before just putting that on, like, I, I think the race bundles- I'll have to keep that in mind ... will give us [00:47:00] some data on this, and we'll t- we'll, we'll, we'll talk to some people and be like, "Hey," like, "what would a reasonable subscription look like?"

Like, we wanna make su- we wanna make it reasonable, and, like, if you did have a subscription, then, like, all, like, everything would be free. Like Chicago Marathon, your 10-mile warmup the day before or the week, the week before, whatever.

Ally Brettnacher: So local listeners will know the Indy Mini, which is a local half marathon here in May that runs around the speedway.

Kind of a segue to that, like, working with races. So can, can the race, like, pay to then have it available to all of their participants or s- stuff like that? Yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: These are the pillars. So you first asked, like, us working with brands. So us making money, we thought brands. So brand partnerships, race partnerships, and then, like, our own revenue.

So we've done some great partnerships with races. Mm. We did Pittsburgh. We did Orange County Marathon. We did Indy Mini, and we have a few others that we're working on. Um- And, uh, it's kind of just been like a, [00:48:00] like a collaboration, like a free collaboration where, um, some, some race directors who, like, maybe aren't familiar with Rally, like they'll email us and say like, "Hey, we've had a bunch of participants, like, email us about Rally."

Yeah. "Like, what... Can you add our race?" Yeah. I'm like, "It's al- it's already added." Like, they're... They say like, "Like, how much does it cost to have our race on your app?" And it's like- Yeah ... we're not gonna do that either. Like, am I, am I dumb for turning down all this revenue? But, like, our, our app is gonna have all the races regardless.

Like, we're not gonna... We're not only gonna have the races online that we work with. Like, we have... There's so many ridiculous, like, not ridiculous, but there's, there's tons of races, and, like, people request it, and it might just be, like, two people running- Yeah ... it out of, like, you know, the 500 people. Yeah.

But we're like, "Yeah, we'll add it. We want you to g- have the experience for it." Um, so from the race side, what, what we care about is we want as many people to know about Rally and to use it for their race. So when it comes to races, you know, for Indy Mini, we basically had, like, a [00:49:00] social media collaboration with them where, like, we made a cool little video.

It was... And the whole purpose is like, hey, anyone running Indy, like, Rally is powering voice notes. Mm-hmm. We're here regardless. Like- Yeah ... use it, like we're, we're here for you type of thing. Um, and, like, we'll pay the race- Right ... to get on their newsletter. We'll pay to be like, "Hey, like you have the, you know, 20,000 runners."

Yeah. We want them to know who we are. We want them to use the app. Absolutely. Yeah. Like, can we, can we work together? Yeah, and like they want... And what's great about working with a lot of these races, a lot of the people, like the employees of these organizations and the companies that like put on the races, like they themselves are familiar- Yeah

with Rally or someone within the organizat- organization is familiar with Rally, which makes the conversation a lot easier, um, because, you know, someone internal says like, "Oh my gosh, I left a voice note for this person- Yeah ... and they loved the app." Yeah. "Or I used the app and it was great." So we have like a little, we have like our whole little pitch deck for races who like aren't familiar with Rally, and they're like, "Oh, this is great," like, "This is amazing.

We want... Like what does it take for us to be a part of it?" Um, and then [00:50:00] for us, it's like, "Hey, like we want you... We, we wanna be involved with all like the race participant emails." And we do expos, which is another thing that we do for the races, which is just like us being at the expo. Yeah, like we're not, we're not like becoming an official sponsor by any means.

So like, like the whole money side to races and marathons- Yeah ... is fascinating. Like it is a, an- Yeah ... entire business. Like it's crazy like how big and small some of these teams are. Um- Right ... a lot of these teams are like, you know- Pretty huge ... 15 to 20 people. Like, yeah. Like for these pretty, pretty like midsize.

Large, yeah, yeah. A lot of the organizations, like they host multiple events. Mm-hmm. So like whether it's Indy Mini, like they're hosting like obviously- Mm ... like a few other events throughout the year as well. Um, but like their, their like, um, their like big event is obviously the Indy Mini. Um, so yeah, like we try to just partner and have like good relationships with the races.

We wanna be plugged in on social media, in their newsletter, and then obviously like for race day, like we're, we're, we're just like our standalone product. A [00:51:00] lot of the bigger races already have like tracking apps where like we've built in- Right ... our own tracking. So we don't do... So, so that's kind of been a challenge where like when, when these race directors hear about this other app, they're like, "Oh, we already have our app."

We're like, "Oh no, but we're different." Like, um, so we're not... We don't like partner with like the racing like bib or like the timing apps. Yeah. Where like that's all official timing and, you know, like a stranger can go on, you know, New York City Marathon app and like put in- Yeah. Right, right, right ... your bib or your name and like track you type of thing, where- Rally, it's like if you wanna track someone on Rally, they need to be running with the app.

They need to, like, have press start. Like, we're not... There's no way for us to track you if you're, like, not on the app type of thing.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That would make sense to have Rally included in the app, but it's so easy as its own thing- Mm ... that it's almost like why would you spend your time building that integration when it's like- Yeah

literally just click a button and record.

Anthony Privitelli: So that's, so that's something that I'm thinking about doing on, like, the, [00:52:00] um, on, like, the enterprise side where we've had a few races be like, "Hey, can you whitelist, whitelist this for us?" So it's like- Yeah ... maybe that's a great idea for us to do where we can figure out a way to, like, plug in our technology- Yeah

into their app or something, and then, then, then we could, we could charge-

Ally Brettnacher: Right ...

Anthony Privitelli: you know, a good amount for the actual- Right ... ra- race to pay. Um, but then the other thing that you said, like we do sponsorships. So, like, we've worked with races and then other brands we allow to do this as well. We're like, "Hey, this is a 20,000-person race or a 10,000-person race.

Like, we, like, we have this many people running with Rally. Does X brand or does, hey, race, do you want to basically sponsor all the- Mm-hmm ... participants and make it free for everyone?" So that's, like, another revenue path for us as well where races will basically, they'll partner with s- with us, and they'll pay, you know, out of, out of, like, a very big discount.

Like, if they have 10,000 people running, like, we might just say, like, "Okay, we have X amount people on the app using it. Why don't we give you, [00:53:00] like, this discount? And, like, anyone who uses the app, whether it goes to, you know- Yeah ... 5,000 or 10,000- Yeah. Oh my gosh ... it'll be free 'cause pre-bought that type of thing.

So much

Ally Brettnacher: opportunity. It's, it-

Anthony Privitelli: So.

Ally Brettnacher: Like, my head- Yeah ... explodes just thinking about, like, all the ideas too. I'm, like, writing stuff down so I don't forget. But, um, I also wonder, I'm like, do people listening- ... who aren't int- interested in technology find this interesting? I hope so. Um, whitelisting, I'm like, whitelisting, oh yeah, I know what that is.

But people are probably, "What the hell does that mean?" It's means that there's no branding of Rally anywhere, and they make it their own. It looks like it's just from, you know, the New York City Road Runners, and they have no idea Rally's even involved. So just as a- Yeah ... as an aside. But, um-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah

Ally Brettnacher: I was like, we- Good, good call

are speaking another language. I would just posted- Yeah ... a video making fun of, uh, tech talk because it is... You can, you can go real far in the weeds- Oh, sure ... with all that. Well, more so the acronyms than anything else, like with corporate stuff. But, um-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. I, I had two other things- Yeah ... that I wanted to mention as part of, like, ideas or things maybe you've seen already, Anthony, and one was [00:54:00] Cameo.

I think I messaged you about this at one point. Like, giving your link to a celebrity, like paying through Cameo- Yeah ... somehow to have, like, I don't know who, like, some B-list celebrity cheer you on. But-

Anthony Privitelli: We've had someone do this. We've had someone do this where, uh, we d- we don't have an integration with Cameo by any means, but what people have done is they've taken, like, they've received a r- uh, someone's, like, Rally link, and then they have gone- Okay

to... Someone went on Cameo and got, like- Yeah ... got a football player, like someone in the NFL. I think it was like, I think it was for a Southern California race, 'cause someone from the San Diego Chargers left a, like left a Cameo, and that person then, like, hit record on their phone- Yes. Okay ... and then just, like, pressed play and, like, played it because they said, "Hey, my friend's running this marathon."

So, like, we've, we- It's... That was like, this person, like- Great ... went through a bunch of hoops and figured out how to do it, but we've had people do this. And we've had a lot of people- Exactly. Yes ... like DM running influencers to leave voice notes, which is a great strategy. Like, [00:55:00] that's a great strategy for, like, them- Great

to figure out, like, what the value is, but- Yeah, like my

Ally Brettnacher: guy Rob, I was telling you about- Um, so yeah ... he had never heard of Rally, and he- So I was telling him about it as these voice messages are playing. He said, "Actually, you know what? I think people have sent me links to record on theirs." And so he's like, "Hey, if anybody sends me one- Cool

I'll d- you know, I'll do it. I love cheering for people," which is great. But, you know- That's awesome ... to your point, too, it gets them out- Yeah ... you know, them more out there as well and-

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. It's great for coaches, too. Like, we've had a bunch of, we've had a bunch of, like, coaches DM us and be like, "Hey, I have a bunch of my, like, clients or, like, athletes running later this fall.

Like, how do we get- Right ... things set up? Like, I wanna leave them-

Ally Brettnacher: Right ...

Anthony Privitelli: like, either tips or, like, just, like, uh, n- notes, like, when I know, like, when they, when I know they're gonna need me."

Ally Brettnacher: Um, and then the other thing- Yeah ... was, was fundraising. Like, so many people, like you mentioned Ronald McDonald House and stuff.

Like, how are you thinking about that- Oh, yes ... and, like, allowing people- Yeah ... to... You know, gifting the voice messages made me think about, oh, like, could they, like, as part of their fundraiser, I don't know. How are you [00:56:00] thinking about that?

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah, raise... So, ugh, this is- This is tricky. This is, like, the one thing I am trying to figure out because I think, like, the most common one is just giving, right?

There's, like, just giving links for fundraising. But it seems like, again, like I'm learning all about, like, all of the dynamics of, of running a marathon and it's, it's not just running. Like, there's a lot that goes in, and, like, the fundraising is probably, like, the next biggest thing. Like, yeah, you're running, but, like, yes, I'm fundraising.

So a lot of the bigger races, like they have their own partners, right? So, like, I think like Boston Marathon- Mm-hmm ... they have like the BAA, right? I think it's the... Like, they have their own association for, like, all of the, all of the charities that they work with. You can't just, like- Right ... raise money- No

for a random charity. Mm-hmm. Like, it has to be, like, through the organization. People are already sharing their rally links. People are now sharing multiple things with multiple groups. I think, like, the fundraising definitely goes a lot wider where people can just, like, donate a dollar where, you know, getting voice notes for a [00:57:00] marathon, you're limited to 26 or 42- Right

voice notes if you're doing kilometer, so that could fill up pretty quickly. But fundraising is a huge part of it. So we've been toying around with what does that look like with rally. Like, can you just share your rally link and also- Right ... fundraise money and go, and have that go towards your goals? Like, on the back end of things, like, how does that look logistically?

Do we have to partner with all of the organizations? Like- In my mind, like being scrappy- Easily, yeah ... we could build that very easily, but then the mecha- the mechanics of it all, like do we... Like, when it comes to donations, like being a 501[c][3], like doing all the write-offs- Yeah ... like, there's a lot of little things that go into it.

So like, it, it can't just be, like throwing up a quick little paywall then giving you all the money. Like, that's a very scrappy, like maybe could work for a couple months, and then- Right. Yeah ... you would get regulated- Yeah ... and be like, "Okay, this is not how this works." Um, so like doing it the right way, um, is like, for this you'd have to do it the right [00:58:00] way because- Yeah

you're dealing with probably a lot of money. $15,000. Like, you know- Yeah, it's crazy ... people are raising thousands of dollars. Yeah. Thousands, yeah. So that is something that we want, like I want to figure out because I think that just makes- Right. Yeah ... Rally obviously a lot more valuable too if this becomes the home for Voicence and also like, you know, this is where people...

It, it also like makes sense, like with the name of like rallying behind you and like fundraising. So I'll ask, if anyone's listening and like is- Right ... part of donations or like been part of like a 501[c][3] or like has any, uh, I don't know, experience with fundraising or working at one of these companies- Yeah

like I would love to chat. Um, I've, I've like chatted with some folks about this in some races where they've said like, "Oh, like we have our dedicated partner." So the hardest thing with being a new app in this space is like breaking old relationships or like getting, getting these people inside of these organizations- Yeah.

Oh, man ... to be like, "Oh, let's try something new." Where like once you have something that works, it's like they don't really wanna break their way, which makes sense. It's like, so there's a lot of, it takes [00:59:00] time to kinda like break into it, where like we've, we've heard no, oh my God, thousands of times. It's just like, okay, well-

Ally Brettnacher: I want you to come run Monumental.

How do I get you to come to Indianapolis? It's just like, what is it this year? It's the we- it's the weekend after New York, so you should just come run the half. It, that, you could do that in your sleep.

Anthony Privitelli: I could do a half. Yeah. I could do a half marathon, 100%. I do that

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: I'm still running like 12 to thir- to, I'm still running 12 to 15 miles just keeping like-

okay, here's the other thing that I hate I hate zone two. I think everyone hates zone two. Oh. But, like, on a hot day, I just want my run to be over. That's funny. I'm like, I'm gunning it. Like, I don't care. And so, like, I, I need more discipline, and I think this is where I need to like-- I want to hire a n- like, a real-life coach.

Like, I don't like having... I don't ever take workout classes. I don't like being told what to do in the gym. I don't... I, like, the only people I've ever liked training me was my track coach, and now I'd want a marathon coach. I-- like, running is where I want a coach, [01:00:00] where stretching, I will not stretch on my own.

I'll just go in and start going. Like, HYROX, I don't stretch. I just go in and start ... I just, I just go. So it's bad, but, like, again, this is like you need, you need that. So I can do half, 100%. This is the other thing, like, we want-- like, I see a bunch of other brands doing this with, like, bibs and stuff, and, like, we want to...

Like, we're, we're creating an ambassador program. We have some fun partnerships coming up with, like, Shokz. We're getting, like, a bunch of headphones that we wanna, like, distribute out, and, like, we wanna reserve that for ambassadors. And we obviously, like... W- when you hear ambassador, like, you think you need to have tens of thousands of followers on social media.

Like, we don't want our ambassador program to be that. Like, obviously, it's help- it's helpful for, like, the bigger creators to use Rally and, like, talk about it 'cause they have a bigger audience. But, like, so many people run, like, we want, like- I, I think if we can get ambassadors in the masses, like we can then support more people, especially if we're not, like if we don't have to pay an [01:01:00] influencer like $5,000 to post, like,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: Um, but like I, I get why it costs that much money. Like, you're paying for the audience and reach, which makes sense, but, you know, I personally am not... Like, I don't have a lot of followers. Like, I, I like giving opportunity to, you know, smaller like the, the unnoticed people and, like these are the types of people who are making the content for us- Yeah

and tagging us for free just 'cause they love the product. Yeah. So it's like they're- That's me ... championing Rally- Yeah ... anyway, so, so yeah. We're... Part of, part of like the brand partnerships we wanna do now is just like product for placement type of thing, where, you know, we want if, if we can do a good deal with, with Shokz where like they're gonna give us headphones and we'll promote them, like we'll provide a link to their website, and they wanna give us X amount of headphones to give away- Well-

to our ambassador program- Yeah ... great, we're gonna do that. If there's a sunglass brand, if there's a nutrition... Like, there's so many running brands, too, from nutrition to apparel to... Like, we can... We haven't done a good job- Yeah ... of reaching out to any of [01:02:00] them. Yeah. And, like, this is where like the outbound sales probably, we should probably have someone to do that.

Um, but I feel like every conversation we have with these big, with these bigger brands, like someone in s- like the team we're working with at Shokz, like they, the, one of the, like one of the people we're working with, like they had left a voice note for a friend- Mm-hmm ... for London Marathon. Right. So there...

It was such like- Yeah ... a warm conversation. It's like, yeah, let's, let's figure something out here.

Ally Brettnacher: I love it. I could talk to you all day about this because, again, I just find it s- so simple but just so incredibly meaningful and powerful, and I'm so excited to keep following what you guys are doing. And I'm serious, you've gotta come, just like on your way back, you know.

Where do... You live in Southern California, so are you- Have you always lived there? Is that where you're from?

Anthony Privitelli: I'm from SoCal, yes. I, I was in San Francisco for seven years after college. I was there from 2013 to 2020. And then COVID, um, my, my wife and I, when we were dating, we were in San Francisco. We were gonna move to New York, um, 'cause I just, I have like a, [01:03:00] an unweird, like a very, I don't know, like strange passion with the East Coast.

I've... Like, my aunt and uncle live out in Boston, and I've never lived on the East Coast. It's something I've always wanted to do. Um, I'm definitely like more of a city person. I love San Francisco, loved it. So after being there for seven years, my, my wife and I were like, "Let's go. Let's try New York. Like, it'd be so fun."

Then COVID happened, so we're like, "We're not doing that." Like- Right ... we're not gonna tr- travel across the country for COVID. So we ended up coming home. We came down, back down to Southern California, and, uh, just kind of, I don't wanna say got stuck here- Yeah ... but like kind of just haven't left. And now with the baby, it's a lot harder to move.

Like, our families- Oh ... are in SoCal. Mm-hmm. So it's, like, very hard. Yeah. It's like this is now the wrong time. But we both love being in a city. Like, the suburban life is just, I don't know, not the greatest. Like, we like being around people. We love, like, the hustle and bustle and the energy of a city. Um, but yeah, like I'll be...

I travel quite a bit now, like, with, with all the races. So, um, yeah, I'll [01:04:00] be in Chicago, New York, and then yeah, maybe... It'd be fun. I've, I could, I could do a half-marathon. So maybe- You

Ally Brettnacher: should come run with me. I would, like, lose my mind. That would be so fun. I already have like a crew I'm assembling of people running with me, 'cause I'm gonna go for a PB, which for me is, um, 1:43.

And you're probably pretty quick if you... Well, I mean-

Anthony Privitelli: My, my half-marathons have been like 1:57.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay.

Anthony Privitelli: 1:57

Ally Brettnacher: to- Yeah, yeah ...

Anthony Privitelli: 2:10 is where I like

Ally Brettnacher: fluctuate. And have you like ra- So- You haven't had a coach. You haven't, like, raced. Yeah. I think you could be, if you want... But it's so hard when you're- No ... a founder of a startup te- in tech.

Like, you're like, "How am I supposed to do this?" But you're gonna get into it, 'cause you're not gonna be able to resist- Yeah ... this community of people.

Anthony Privitelli: I, I, I mean, running, I, I don't know why I even think about doing a half marathon first. Like, that would've been... I sh- I should do that, honestly. You should just do

Ally Brettnacher: that.

Anthony Privitelli: I should just do that.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, 1000%. Because you don't- That'd be great ... have to do it fast. Yeah. You just have to... And you could do it in your sleep.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. What I really wanna do- Yeah ... 'cause, like, I'm more of a short distance person, and I think... I've been seeing a lot of people, like, uh- Oh ... trying to [01:05:00] like PB their 5K, and like- That seems more up my alley of, like, being- Super quick

okay, let me try to, like, get some endurance- Yeah ... and, like, just do the speed tests. Um, so yeah, I, I think I'm, I'm... I probably bit off more than I could chew, and I wanted to do a marathon mainly because of, like, rally is, is best for marathons.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. See, it's funny. I, I don't know the breakdown of listeners on this podcast, but I think a lot of people here are marathoners, and we always talk about how, like, running a 5K- Yeah

is my nightmare bec- or racing, I should say. I could run a f- I run 5Ks, like, every day, but racing a 5K- Yeah ... to me is, like, you go from zero to, like, hell in, like, right away versus the marathon, it's just like a slow burn. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. But then- Yeah, totally ... to your point, too, about comparing yourself to others people, other people's times, too, I always remind myself that nobody really cares about how- Yeah

fast or slow you're gonna run a marathon. So you can just do it for fun, which is hard as a competitive person to, like- make yourself do that, but I've gotten [01:06:00] better at that.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah, I, I fell victim to it myself. Like, I... That was... Honestly, like if I, if I were to be honest with myself, that's part of the reason why I probably pulled out, which is like I hate myself for that.

Amongst other reasons, like, I just didn't think I was gonna... I was basically gonna fail, and like I am not... Technically, I was afraid to fail f- with this, but like I like to tell myself like, "I'm not afraid to fail." Like, I've, I've tried to build multiple startups in the past, and they've all gone to ***.

They were bad. But I gotta get those out of the way. And probably, probably the same thing with marathoning. Yeah. Like, I need to like run some bad races to, to get to my good times. Um, and I'm like, I don't know, I told myself that I wanna be one and done- Yeah, that's- ... but I could... I already sense that like this is a thing that you wanna get better at.

Good luck with that. Yeah. So I, I can see myself doing that for the 5K. I can see myself trying- Yeah, yeah ... to like get better and better and better at the 5K- Speed, yeah ... 'cause like at, at my core, like I am like a sprinter type. Um, I'm more of a speed person where just like historically my endurance- Yeah

is just like not it. That's like, I don't know, just like different [01:07:00] like- Sure ... body type and like- Yeah, yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: like,

Anthony Privitelli: I don't know, physically. All

Ally Brettnacher: right. Well-

Anthony Privitelli: So-

Ally Brettnacher: Whatever ... I'm not built for that ... I think, I think you're gonna start... You're gonna... I'm, I can't wait to watch you. You're gonna end up doing ultra-marathons.

Yeah. Mark my words. I'm telling you. I didn't think- Well, that's intense ... I would ever do it- Yeah ... and then here I am. I did a 50K, and now I wanna do a backyard ultra 'cause I went and spectated, and that was a mistake, 'cause then you just wanna do it.

Anthony Privitelli: Biggest mistake. Yeah, biggest mistake is literally s- like, I think the gateway into this sport, into this hobby- Yeah

is literally spectating 'cause there's something about that- Right ... this is literally like why I even built Rally. Like, going to... Like, seeing... Oh my gosh, just seeing strangers holding up signs for anyone, and like then you see the families- Yeah ... holding the flowers, and you just know like there's a backstory.

This is like me, like the install, like I'm very emotional when it comes to this. Like, it's so, it's so heartwarming when you see families holding flowers, holding signs- Yes ... and like they're just waiting for their person to cross, and like you see them, it's like it's honestly everyone should go and- Yeah

spectate a mar- even your local marathon. It's... I can't [01:08:00] imagine what it feels like to be like at Chicago- Yeah ... or like one of the majors. Yeah. That's next level. So.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, and I know we're running out of time. I, I wanna make sure before I ask you the end of the podcast questions, that we talk about that, like the difference between like working hard and hard work and like your thoughts on how people are just, you know, say like, "Okay, you know, you have to work hard."

Well- Yeah ... yeah, so get on your soapbox- Yeah, yeah. ... and tell us what you, how you feel about this.

Anthony Privitelli: I... Yeah. Okay. I, I literally hate the saying of you need to work hard. I hate it. It like, it, it's, it, it's just words. Like, those are just words, work hard. Like, what- Yeah ... what does it mean? Like, for anything. Oh, like if you're, if you're like, if you're in college and like your parents are like, "Oh, what if...

How do I like... What do I need to do to graduate?" They're like, "You need to work hard." It's like, what? That doesn't tell me anything. Like, what is it? Like, to be successful you gotta work hard. Dude, literally that tells me nothing. Um, so I like- For me, and like I can, I can kind of attribute this to like being, trying to like build [01:09:00] a, a new app, a new startup to like being...

Try- trying to like train for a marathon. Like what does it take to build a startup? Oh, it takes hard work. Well, no, it takes sacrifice. Like, it takes... Like, you need to be prepared to, if you're doing this on the side, you need to like say goodbye to like your nights and your friends. Like you're, you need to, you need to like put in the time and maybe work from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

But like, okay, that's again like, okay, so you have to work a lot. It's like, no, what you... Like what is hard about doing this, of specifically about a startup, is like building something that you don't know people are gonna like, dedicating time to something you don't know that's gonna work, and you're gonna hear people say no.

Like, you're gonna launch something and no one's going to, no one's going to respond. I had four people respond. And I'm like, "Ah, this sucks. Like, nobody wants this." But I believe in it, so I'm gonna keep going. And then seeing... I think this will be relatable. For anyone trying to like build on social media and like continuing to...

[01:10:00] Like, what's hard about that is not seeing success- Yes ... and still going. That's what's hard. What's hard is like s- of, of questioning like should I still be putting in time? Yeah. Or should I be doing something else? And like, like where is my time best spent? And what's hard is telling yourself like, "No, I wanna keep doing this, and I will...

I'm gonna keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it." That's hard. Doing something and believing in yourself and not seeing the results but, but knowing that it will come, that's what's hard. And like if you tell someone that, like, hey, you're in year three, and then you see someone else who just started and they blow up, you're like, "That's really hard."

That's what's hard about this. It's like you see someone else have the success that you want, but you're not there yet. What's hard is still going and still believing. So like- If, if people were just more honest about like the, like what's hard is like the emotion, like the internal emotions that you feel of, of-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah

Anthony Privitelli: comparing yourself to others, continuing to believe in yourself, and like not quitting. Like not quitting is like [01:11:00] borderline I hate, because it's like, no, like the emotion is like you're gonna get in, and if you're recording this podcast, like how many podcasts have you done? Like you haven't quit. Like I don't know what your aspirations are for your podcast, but like you're still going.

And I'm sure you have struggles and, and maybe it's hard to find guests, like whatever it might be, like that's what's hard. So if people would just like say more. Like don't say it's hard, like say more about it. Like what is hard about it? It's like, "Well, I quit my job, and now I make no money, and there's, there's hard months, and I like, I look at my wife and my kid, and I have to wonder-" Yeah

like should I be doing this? Should I give up on this, or should I try to find a job? Like that's a hard decision. So- So

Ally Brettnacher: good.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah, that's my small talk. I wanna

Ally Brettnacher: like

Anthony Privitelli: just

Ally Brettnacher: applaud- Like

Anthony Privitelli: I hate hard work ...

Ally Brettnacher: because it's like, yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I literally this morning, this, you might get a kick out of this, I wrote my dreams, because-

Anthony Privitelli: My dreams,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah

I don't, I don't actually- Yeah ... I haven't written them down. Like I think about it a lot, like what I want for this, the, what I'm trying to build, and it's like, well, what do I, what do I dream about? Like what does that mean? And I hate comparing myself to other [01:12:00] creators that have 100,000 followers, because it's like, yeah, if a brand looks at my profile they're like, "Oh, she doesn't even have 10K.

Like that's a joke." But like I know that I have a community of people who, who will buy something because I love it. They're like, "Oh, Ally's my friend. She totally gets it. I'm gonna..." You know, they, I have this community, but it feels weird to even talk about that, 'cause I feel like that's, oh, I have this, uh, very loyal community, and it's just all really hard.

Anthony Privitelli: Imposter syndrome is hard, like all of it. Like hearing, hearing no, like, like putting yourself out there and getting rejected, that's demoralizing. And to keep going is hard. To, to like believe, like, and like I think with most, most people on social media ha- like understand that you need to like get over the cringe mountain of like- Still, still working on it.

Yeah ... like honestly, like the best thing about TikTok, but like the reason why people love TikTok so much is because your friends weren't there. Everyone is totally fine to get up and talk when your friends aren't there, but like to think that someone from high school or college- ... is gonna look at you and be like, "Oh [01:13:00] my God."

Yeah. Like, "Look at Ally." Yeah. "She's trying to do a podcast. She's just like everyone else." It's like that's hard to like get over the fact like, you know what? If people aren't gonna support me, like whatever. Like that- that's like the first thing that people need to get over, especially for social media.

Yeah. Or like even for starting a new business. Like in order to start a business- Yeah ... like you need to share it, and most people don't wanna share it- Right ... because like they're afraid what their friends are gonna think. Like, and like getting over that is obviously number one. Um, but yeah, like that's, that's what's difficult.

Like comparing yourself to others, seeing other people's success, continuing to go. Like the two hardest things to do is to start, that's the hardest thing. Like people can talk about it. They get, they get this like feeling of, I don't know, like it's, um- Uh, like you almost get this like false satisfaction of telling people your plans.

Right. And like, "I'm planning to do this," rather than just doing it. Like, it, it, it's worse to tell people what you plan on doing. Like, don't tell anyone- Yeah ... just, just go and do it. And then that's like number one, just start. Like, you don't need a plan. A lot of people fall into this like fallacy like, "I need to, over planning to- Right

I need to make sure I have [01:14:00] the right- Yeah ... microphone- Yeah ... the right mic, the right light, the r- Like, it's like, no you don't. You don't need anything. Just, just start. Like, and I think the number one thing is like you need to be bad. You first need to be bad. Like, you will be bad. You will be bad. Like, everyone's bad at things.

Like, it's almost, it's almost good to be bad at things- Mm-hmm ... because like you're gonna grow and, and be better. So it's like the longer you wait to start, the like, the, the longer it is- Yeah, yeah ... for you that you're gonna be bad at something- Yeah ... until you become like great at it.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I already ran today, but like I'm fired up.

I'm like, "I should go run again." Yeah, no, I, I really love all that, and I hope, I know that that'll help somebody listening 'cause it... You know, you see somebody qualify for Boston their first marathon. It's like some people have been working a decade to build that kind of speed. I mean, it just, you're not the same.

It's not... And you don't know the whole story most of the time, too.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. Well, that's the, that's the second thing. Like, the second hardest part is like to k- like to keep going. Like, a lot of people might have their, their piece of paper with their goals listed out, and what's hard is continuing to write the same goal [01:15:00] every year if you don't hit it.

So most people will just change their goal. It's like, no, no, no, like keep g- like keep going. That's the second hardest part is to keep going because you see other people achieving your goals faster. You see other people who maybe are in your position and gave up, and now they're succeeding at something else.

Oh, I should give up? Yeah. So now you're thinking- Yeah ... oh, like I need to find my something else. It's like, yeah, it's like, oh, well, other people were in my same. They gave up, so like they're out just wasting time. That's what's hard. And, and sometimes maybe switching and pivoting- Right ... is the right thing.

But- Yeah ... that's what's hard. That is, that, that's the challenge.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, okay. I'm gonna ask you the end of the podcast- Yeah ... questions now. There's two. Um, what is your- Okay ... and maybe I'll change this one a little bit, but what is your favorite running song and/or mantra? And I wanna just change that to say like what should somebody...

What do you- Mm ... wanna hear in a voice note as like kind of a combo question?

Anthony Privitelli: Okay. In terms of music, I'm like a very like cinematic type of like highlight reel type of music. So I like like or- Game of Thrones ... orchestra music. Like, I don't know. [01:16:00] No, not, not Game of Thrones. Like, um, what's a good one? Um, oh my God, this is so dumb, but like Never Enough.

Such a good song when you're running. So good. Like, like things that like build up, like, yeah, I like some, some, some of like the... Like I'll, I'll go on Spotify and find like cinematic playlists and, and just like have that while I'm running. Um, which is kinda... Like, I'm not like the rock music or anything like that.

Some of- some like Disney songs are great. Like, yeah. I love those types of songs that like are just loud, like in term- not loud, like... Yeah, yeah, loud in terms of like specific- Mm-hmm ... instruments that you can hear, and then like- Yeah ... the voice of being like- Yeah ... very crystal clear. Like I like that kinda stuff.

Um, and, and like in terms of what I, I don't know about voice note, like anything, just emot- like just hearing, I think, like my friends like telling me like, "Hey, like I, I believe in you," is like a big one. But for me, [01:17:00] like I'm very much a, uh, mind versus body, where like it's, it's like you versus your mind.

'Cause like your body will go further than your mind can. So like I had like, the way I... Like when I run, I always just like picture myself like, "Hey, in four hours you're gonna be sitting on the couch thinking that like you could have gone further and you would've been fine. Like you're gonna regret just not pushing."

So like I like to tell myself like, "Hey, like your body, your body can go further- Yes ... than your mind. Like get out. Like, don't think. Like stop, and like- Yeah ... you get in this like, oh my God, I'm gonna die. I can't. Like my leg... And then like your form starts to suck, then you start to feel it in your knees.

It's like, no, no, no. Just- Yeah ... just keep going. Your body- It's really good ... will keep going. Um, of course maybe someone's listening- Yeah, until it didn't go ... like yeah, I've actually passed out. It's like, yeah. Yeah. At a certain point. Yeah. Um, so that's like my... That's like the one thing like I tell myself, is like, "Hey, like y- you gotta- Yeah

you gotta beat your mind." That's

Ally Brettnacher: really good. It is so mental.

Anthony Privitelli: It's very mental.

Ally Brettnacher: And then your next finish line and/or milestone. So we've talked [01:18:00] about this a little bit, but now I'm gonna get you to come to Monumental maybe. That'd be so good. Yeah.

Anthony Privitelli: So in terms of... I, I, I did a solo, sorry, I did a, I did a mixed duos Hyrox with, with a, with a girl, and that was so fun.

This one is a solo, so I really wanna try to break an hour. I wanna try to get like sub- Okay. That sounds really hard ... which is insane. 'Cause- But-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Anthony Privitelli: um,

Ally Brettnacher: I- 59?

Anthony Privitelli: I, w- I'm just, I'm just doing, I'm just doing, um- Okay ... open. I'm not doing like the pro weight- Just ... or anything like that. But, um- Sort of- ... it's a runner's race.

Like, the weights, uh, I don't know, like, it's, it's definitely a runner's race. I f- I'm in such better shape from marathon training for the last nine weeks. Like, I feel like if I can then alter my training for speed rather than endurance, like, I think like that's my home base, is like I can, I can do speed.

Um, and- Yeah, right ... kilometers are much shorter- Very true ... than miles, so. Uh, I feel, I feel good about the High Rocks race, and [01:19:00] then I do, like the next finish line would be, like, maybe- Yeah, that'd be so great ... maybe the half-marathon in November. Um, I need to get, I need to get one under my belt, like, for sure want to get one under my belt, and won't even care about- Great

time. I think, like, finishing will be the goal.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, and you could just meet- And just like, just fin- I mean, like, people- Yeah ... you can meet people during the race, like, while you're running. I mean, it's just, there's so much to enjoy about it besides just trying to go as fast as you possibly can.

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah. I, I mean, so I, like, I view that as, as, like, a celebration, where I, I see videos of people stopping on the side, and, like, I, I would wanna do that.

I'd kinda feel, I'd feel like I'd wanna try to PB at a race that, like, none of my friends are at, so I can just, like, go. 'Cause I'd feel bad if someone, like- Yeah ... came out to support me, and I'm like- Yeah. See ya ... pull, like, just running right by 'em.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh. Well, this has been so much fun. Yeah. Thank you, Anthony, for doing this.

Oh, and now, I hope now- This was great ... I'll see you on a bunch of- Yeah ... other podcasts and all over social media. I can't wait to see your face. I know- ... you will.

Anthony Privitelli: I need to, I need to go online more. We'll all hold you to it. I need to go online more, [01:20:00] for sure. Honestly, accountability is probably the, one of the best, like, factors for this, so- E-

Ally Brettnacher: everything

Anthony Privitelli: you post from

Ally Brettnacher: Rally-

I would love the accountability ... I'll just put, "Where's Anthony?"

Anthony Privitelli: Yeah, seriously. Start doing that. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Like- Where is he? Where is he? "

Anthony Privitelli: This isn't Anthony." Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Awesome. Like Um, well, thank you, and thanks to everybody who listened, and happy running.

Anthony Privitelli: Cool. Yeah. Good luck for anyone running a half-marathon, marathon, 10K, whatever.

Like, good luck. It's- Yes ... a lot, a lot goes into it, so. Be proud

Ally Brettnacher: and use Rally.

Anthony Privitelli: Be proud.

Ally Brettnacher: If you haven't already, head to the show notes and sign up for my weekly Finish Lines and Milestones emails. I try to make them not suck, but I send them weekly. And if you haven't already downloaded the Rally app, obviously you've got to do that before your next race. And I'm trying to get To- uh, Tom was calling him Tony.

I'm trying to get Anthony to come to Indianapolis for Monumental, if not this year. we'll get him here. And speaking of Monumental, drum roll please, the celebration event, Eventbrite is now live. So you can go get your ticket for our post-race celebration event with Athletic Annex and Brooks Running and [01:21:00] my partner in crime, Lindsey Hein, the founder of Sandy Boy Productions, this podcast network.

It'll be downtown at Brothers this year instead of Bottleworks because we are expanding the event so we can fit over 200 people now instead of being limited to around 100. So super exciting. Go get your ticket. You can use code FLAMS, F-L-A-M-S, which is Finish Lines and Milestones, for $10 off of your ticket.

We also are launching, if you're listening to this on Friday, September 18th, we're launching a giveaway. So if you're listening to this and you're like, "I'm not from Indiana," well, we have a two nights stay at the Bottleworks Hotel. We have two race entries to a sold-out race, so you can come and run, and then two pairs of Brooks shoes and then two tickets to our celebration event.

So you should enter that. we'll close that on Tuesday, September 22nd and announce the winner on Wednesday, September 23rd. So hopefully we can make somebody's Monumental dreams come true. So all that in the show notes, and thanks again for listening, and I'll see you again next week. Bye.

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