Silence broken

What “Mister Runtastic” thinks about the adidas decision

"Mister Runtastic" Florian Gsschwandtner during an interview with the "Krone". Following adidas' decision to close the three Runtastic locations, the company's co-founder made a statement in his podcast.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

For some, the move was a foregone conclusion, while others were surprised: the adidas decision to close the Runtastic offices in Pasching (Upper Austria), Salzburg and Vienna caused quite a stir. In his podcast, Florian Gschwandtner, the co-founder of the software company that is the epitome of a start-up fairy tale, spoke about it for the first time.

The 170 employees were informed early on Monday morning, and shortly after eleven o'clock adidas announced in a press release that it was bundling its digital expertise at central locations and therefore gradually closing the Runtastic locations in Pasching, Salzburg and Vienna by mid-2025! The decision caused quite a stir. After all, the rise of Runtastic was Austria's start-up fairytale.

In May 2017, Runtastic opened its expanded location in PlusCity - even the then Federal Chancellor Christian Kern stopped by.

(Bild: Andy Wenzel)

And with the sale in 2015 for 220 million euros by founders Florian Gschwandtner, René Giretzlehner, Christian Kaar and Alfred Luger, a real success story. "I know that our journey has significantly shaped the start-up scene in Austria," says Gschwandtner in his podcast "BTM - Business, Technology & Millions". The former Managing Director spoke to Martin Kaswurm about...

• the beginnings: "We started with our idea in 2008. We founded Runtastic in 2009. There were few people who believed in us. 'No one will ever go running with a cell phone, that's nonsense', they said. We paid ourselves zero euros for the first 18 months, then 900 euros. But we became very profitable relatively quickly and were able to grow from our own business."
• the deal with adidas: "I think it was a blueprint in the European corporate start-up scene for what a takeover like this can look like, because everything worked very, very well over the next few years. Adidas wasn't the highest bidder either. We had offers that were up to 50 million higher."

This is Florian Gschwandtner

"I grew up on a farm, didn't have the best conditions, always believed in myself and my colleagues somewhere - and also in doing and creating things that others might stifle" - this is how Florian Gschwandtner describes his career. In 2008, he began pursuing the idea of Runtastic together with René Giretzlehner, Alfred Luger and Christian Kaar. The company was sold to adidas in 2015. Gschwandtner and his three co-founders are highly active investors. The 41-year-old is also passionate about founding companies: for example, he launched the 100 push-ups app Foxyfitness in 2023.

• Runtastic's business card in 2015: "We have 140 million registered customers, 330 million app downloads, 140,000 new downloads every day."

In 2015, adidas bought the software company co-founded by Florian Gschwandtner, which was also a topic on Twitter, today X.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Runtastic Twitter 2015)

• the adidas decision to close the Runtastic offices by mid-2025: "The biggest, most successful companies in the world are closing offices. It's quite normal to optimize things and become more efficient. Now is probably the right time to say: integrate it into the headquarters. The app will continue to operate."

• the future of the 170 employees: "The employees who are now being let go can all apply for jobs in Zaragoza, Herzogenaurach and Amsterdam. I know how much talent, culture and motivation they have and how much such people are needed. It was incredibly nice to see that so many companies have already contacted me and are now keen to get involved. I'm not too worried that they won't find a job."

• His feelings: "I've been out for five years, so you lose a bit of the bond, the closeness. We started it from scratch, set up the offices: It was an incredibly wonderful time, we created an incredible amount. I will be proud of it for the rest of my life. The people were just great."