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Moving to a new city can be lonely, especially for young adults starting their careers. For Owen Akhibi Herrera, the solution was to put on running shoes and invite others to join him.
What began as a way to make friends in New York turned into Peak and Pace, a social fitness club that brought in more than $640,000 in 2025, according to CNBC Make It.
Akhibi moved from London to New York and, in July 2024, launched Peak and Pace to build community beyond nightlife. At the time, he worked full-time in algorithmic trading sales at the investment bank J.P. Morgan.
He promoted the club with daily social media posts, and by its fifth session, about 150 runners were showing up.
How a free club makes money
Running with Peak and Pace is always free. The money comes from its events: after the runs, Akhibi began organizing parties with DJs and food vendors, with tickets that usually cost $15 to $25. Over time, the club added hiking and ski trips outside the city.
More than 30,000 people attended its events in 2025. The company operates with an overall profit margin of about 15%, and Akhibi reinvests the profits instead of paying himself a second salary.
Growing the club came at a cost. For about a year, Akhibi worked 18-hour days to balance Peak and Pace with his demanding day job. “I had to keep performing at a very high level in my [day] job,” he said. “Keeping myself in a good mental mindset was probably the hardest thing.”
A business that runs without him
In March, Akhibi moved to San Francisco for a new job at an AI robotics lab. Today, a team of nine contractors runs Peak and Pace’s events in New York almost entirely on its own.
The biggest lesson, he says, has been patience: “If you can just learn to be patient and try to put yourself in their shoes, then you become understanding in almost any given situation.”