G'day guys,

I don't think I'll ever start this newsletter with something like 'it's been a really quiet week for me'. 

Because, it has been a busy week. And it usually is.

Busy on many fronts. I think after the crazy rush in December, and now with many people returning back to work, everyone seems to be following up things that got put into the 'Oh that's a 2025 problem' pile, including me!

If you're new here, and there's many of you, I'm Robbie. I'm the Founder of Runly.

I started this brand way back in 2021, which really feels like a lifetime ago now. Every week I write this founder update to give you an idea of what's happening behind the brand, the challenges, the wins, the interesting, and sometimes even the dull, too.

Sometimes when I chat with people about Runly, I get the impression they think what I do day in day out is just constantly working on the product itself. Tinkering, measuring, testing, analysing, improving, developing, iterating and adjusting.

Sure, that's a big part of it. I nerd out on the details.

But it's not everything. I can't be.

For a brand of our size, we push in more resources than we probably should into product development, because we've got to keep up with the big brands, and even find our own edge and innovations.

However, there's so much more that goes into it.

We're a community-focused brand.

We really value our community, grassroots running, the outdoors, health & fitness, and well, people.

A big part of what we do is get involved in community events. Whether it's activating at the Melbourne Marathon, or a 100-person funky trail race in the middle of nowhere, both are equally important.

This year we're looking to get involved in a number of events we can't physically be at.

Unfortunately being based in Melbourne, with a small team, it's just not logistically viable for us to get to all of the interstate events, as much as we'd love to!

The costs really add up. Unless we can drive there, it probably costs us around $3-5k just to get people, equipment and product up there. Unfortunately for a start-up business, it just doesn't work.

So we want to develop some really meaningful partnerships with event organisers around the country this year, and hopefully, some international ones too! looking at you over there New Zealand

As with any worthwhile partnership, it takes time! It requires a little bit of relying on people to introduce us. Introduce us to event organisers, race directors, and for the bigger events, partnership people.

That's a big part of what I'm working on now, and like last year, I'm hoping to start releasing some of our event schedules for 2025 in the next couple of weeks.

Aside from that, here are some rapid-fire updates from me:

📷 First photoshoot of 2025 in the books.
- Last week we knocked out our first photoshoot of the year. We were really going for something pretty different this time around, and you'll see the results soon enough. There may also have been a couple of new products in there 👀

🧦 New socks colour!
- This week we have very quietly dropped a new socks colourway on the website - Highlighter Black. Combining a black base with a strong neon upper, it might just be my new favourite. Check it out here.

🆕 Two weeks away from a new drop
- I've been teasing something new for a little while. In two weeks we're going to be revealing what it is. Stay tuned. It's really, really nice.

That's all for this week.

Run well,
Robbie