“There’s a big misconception that being fit means being athletically fit,” says Zimmerman. In other words, competitive athletes need more than just large muscles. The pair was looking for expert advice on proper conditioning and nutrition for the still-developing bodies of high-school and college athletes.

They couldn’t find it, so they’re creating it.

“There’s nothing out there like this,” promises Palazzo, who played football while earning his bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard University. He’s referring to StacK, the online magazine whose first three issues have already garnered 600,000-plus hits.

Palazzo and Zimmerman—who, in his senior year studying chemical engineering at Carnegie-Mellon, also plays varsity football—are determined to bring to market “the first magazine developed for the athlete, by the athlete.” The magazine is targeted to readers of both genders involved in baseball, basketball and other team sports.

To launch the publication, the pair began by cold-calling the nation’s most respected collegiate coaches and trainers. They found the experts eager to talk, and the two have so far written most of the articles themselves.

Palazzo and Zimmerman have aggressive growth expectations: They plan to raise $200,000 to $900,000 to bring their first hard-copy issue to press early in 2004. From there, they project annual revenues to increase to $105 million by year five.

Meanwhile, they aim to convert surfers of the free online edition into avid print subscribers, and will soon approach advertisers. It’s the perfect challenge for two high-performance athletes like Palazzo and Zimmerman.

Reprinted from COSE Update magazine