The Fitness Founder's Dilemma: Scale Fast or Stay Independent?

Joe Meglio scaled GameChanger Fitness from a 600 sq ft baseball facility in New Jersey to 16 locations across two states, hitting Inc. 5000 in 2025 on 125% three-year revenue growth. With ~40% four-wall EBITDA margins and active interest from private equity and family office capital, Joe unpacks how finance stops being a scoreboard and becomes the steering wheel — and the framework for weighing debt-accelerated vs. equity-accelerated vs. organic growth.