Eat Play Crush with Mary Shenouda

Mark Sisson: Entrepreneurship, Having It All, and Foot Health (Meet Peluva)

Episode Summary

Mark Sisson is an OG in the health and wellness space, celebrated for advocating primal/ancestral living. He’s the author of the popular “The Primal Blueprint” and the man behind the influential 'Mark's Daily Apple' platform which led to becoming the founder of Primal Kitchen which sold for $200 million just a few short years after it launched and can be found on almost every store shelf nationwide. Mark is no stranger to going against the grain and taking on challenges as a lifetime triathlete, creating solutions and products to solve for himself first before taking it to market and he’s on a mission to do that again with Peluva, shoes designed to offer a comfortable, barefoot-like experience. In this episode, Mark shares his journey into the 'Primal' lifestyle out of necessity as a professional athlete back before there was any such thing as sponsors or endorsements, rolling up his sleeves in true entrepreneurial spirit to support his passion. He shares insights from his story from doing odd jobs like painting houses to support his running passion to hitting it big with Primal Kitchen to the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur and why family always comes first for him. Mark also dives into the story behind 'Peluva'—the shoes he created for comfy, barefoot walking. He spills the beans on getting the best shoe designers on board and the long process of making these shoes just perfect. Join us as Mark dishes out advice for folks looking to start their own thing and shares why he thinks everyone can benefit from wearing Peluva shoes. It's a chat that's all about good vibes, cool shoes, and making life a bit comfier!

Episode Notes

Mark Sisson is an OG in the health and wellness space, celebrated for advocating primal/ancestral living.

He’s the author of the popular “The Primal Blueprint” and the man behind the influential 'Mark's Daily Apple' platform which led to becoming the founder of Primal Kitchen which sold for $200 million just a few short years after it launched and can be found on almost every store shelf nationwide.

Mark is no stranger to going against the grain and taking on challenges as a lifetime triathlete, creating solutions and products to solve for himself first before taking it to market and he’s on a mission to do that again with Peluva, shoes designed to offer a comfortable, barefoot-like experience.

In this episode, Mark shares his journey into the 'Primal' lifestyle out of necessity as a professional athlete back before there was any such thing as sponsors or endorsements, rolling up his sleeves in true entrepreneurial spirit to support his passion. 

He shares insights from his story from doing odd jobs like painting houses to support his running passion to hitting it big with Primal Kitchen to the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur and why family always comes first for him.

Mark also dives into the story behind 'Peluva'—the shoes he created for comfy, barefoot walking. He spills the beans on getting the best shoe designers on board and the long process of making these shoes just perfect.

Join us as Mark dishes out advice for folks looking to start their own thing and shares why he thinks everyone can benefit from wearing Peluva shoes. It's a chat that's all about good vibes, cool shoes, and making life a bit comfier!

What We Discussed:

00:00 Intro

00:38 The story behind how Mark and I first met 

02:31 How would Mark introduce himself today

03:38 Getting into the Primal lifestyle

08:01 Painting houses and doing different jobs to support his running career

13:18 Why Mark’s success is earned 

14:12 Pre-Primal Blueprint ventures

19:25 Building “Primal Kitchen”

24:53 The ups and downs of being an entrepreneur

26:49 Mark on selling Primal Kitchen to Kraft Heinz Company

27:57 Managing stress and discomfort

30:50 Family first, success second
34:30 “Everything I created was for me first”

35:11 What inspired “Peluva”?

40:29 Hiring the best shoe designers in the world

43:01 The iterations and wear tests to perfect each shoe design 

45:07 “My foot came home…”

46:53 Creating this footwear is Mark’s gift to the world

50:49 The adjustment period of wearing barefoot shoes

56:34 Why Peluva’s are the best shoes for athletes

58:49 How and where non-athletes can wear Peluvas?

1:00:19 Long term effects of wearing Peluva shoes

1:02:23 The meaning behind the name “Peluva”

1:03:34 An advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

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