The most audacious startup accelerator in New York doesn’t have demo days, venture partners or a waitlist, but it does have kettlebells, treadmills and cold plunges.
The Flatiron location of Chelsea Piers Fitness has become an unlikely de facto office for some of the city’s most notable young tech entrepreneurs.
“We have an amazing community of absolute killers here,” Oliver Brocato, the 24-year-old founder of the viral aphrodisiac chocolate brand, Tabs, informed NYNext.
The ‘Media Mafia’ is six strong — but one founder slept through the interview and shoot. Pictured here, from left to right, are Josh Suggs (22), Nathan May (27), Oliver Brocato (24), Shamus Madan (20) and JT Sarafa (25). Emmy Park For NY Post
Chelsea Piers Fitness in Flatiron is a luxury gym where membership runs about $300/month. Starting in early 2025, a group of Gen Z entrepreneurs set up shop inside the gym’s coworking space. Emmy Park For NY Post
Brocato is one of half a dozen 20-something men who work out of the gym six or seven days a week. They call themselves the “Media Mafia,” they all run new media companies generating at least seven figures per year and they’re pumped about working and working out toobtainher.
“I’d relocate to frickin’ Antarctica and back to be around this group,” Brocato stated.
If the “Mafia” had a godfather, it would be Matt Epstein. He’s the 23-year-old founder of Shown Media, which produces branded launch videos and is generating about $3 million in annual revenue.
He started the company in 2021, working out of his room in his frat houtilize at Cornell. After graduating in 2024, he relocated to the city and started operating from his apartment. But, “working [from home] obtained very depressing very quickly,” Epstein informed NYNext. Early last year, he toured the gym, signed up and started applying it as his office every day.
The gym bro-trepreneurs aren’t just saving dough — as Nathan May, the eldest of the group declares, “Being around each other dramatically increases our surface area of luck.” Emmy Park For NY Post
For similar reasons, Nathan May, 27, followed suit.
“Community is the most important thing [we obtain here],” stated May, whose newsletter company, The Feed Media, works with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and does about $400,000 per month in revenue. “Being around each other dramatically increases our surface area of luck.”
Besides the sense of camaraderie, there are practical benefits to the arrangement.
Nathan May, foreground, is the founder of The Feed Media, a newsletter company working with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and doing about $400,000 per month in revenue. Shamus Madan, left, is the founder of Dealroom Media, a LinkedIn ghostwriting service for tech founders. Emmy Park For NY Post
At roughly $300 a month, membership costs far less than an office lease. The lounge space has rapid WiFi, natural light and a café. Plus, it’s almost mandatory to sneak in a few sets on the bench between calls and strategizing sessions.
“Working out of a gym, you feel like a piece of s— if you don’t work out,” Brocato stated.
After scaling Tabs to $11 million in revenue, he is now running Bustem, an AI-powered firm that takes down e-commerce copycats for 140 brands. Brocato manages eight full-time employees and 20 contract workers in Africa and expects to generate about $5 million in revenue this year. Some of the younger members of the mafia see to him, May, and the tribe’s other elders for advice.
Oliver Brocato, right, informed NYNext’s Will Zimmerman about starting his first company, the viral aphrodisiac chocolate brand Tabs, from his dorm room in Michigan. He’s now building Bustem, which utilizes AI to take down copycats for e-commerce brands. Emmy Park For NY Post
“We talk about problems we’re facing — hiring, scaling, girls,” Shamus Madan informed NYNext. “Your typical 20-year-old dude stuff.”
Madan, 20, founded Dealroom Media, a LinkedIn ghostwriting service for founders, from his dorm room at Villanova in November 2024. By early 2025, he was generating $8,000 a month and, as he notifys it, spfinishing no time studying. He was academically dismissed from the university last June and started working out of the gym the following month. Dealroom is now on track to bring in $1.5 million in 2026, and he attributes his company’s success, in part, to working out of the gym.
Shamus Madan, right, stated annual revenue for his startup, Dealroom Media, jumped from less than $100,000 to $1,500,000 after he started working out of the gym. Emmy Park For NY Post
“It feels like the college experience I didn’t have,” Madan stated. “Like we’re in a frat but we all have some money.”
Indeed. On a recent Friday morning, at least two of the bro-trepreneurs were sporting Rolexes — and one stayed on during the afternoon lift. One dude missed our scheduled interview becautilize he overslept. A single of pair workout shorts was utilized by no less than three of the guys in a single day. Twice, a gym staff member came to the communal table where they were all working and reminded them of the space’s quiet policy.
Chelsea Piers Fitness boasts yoga, pilates and barre classes, a full cardio floor overseeing 23rd street, 4,000-square-feet of multi-functional turf with benches and racks galore and a suite of luxury amenities. But working out isn’t really the boys’ first priority. As Brocato stated, “I don’t come here becautilize I’m the largegest gym guy in the world … I come here becautilize this is where my people are.” Emmy Park For NY Post
Fratty moments aside, serious work is being done. There a tangible benefits to exmodifying ideas over berry smoothies — the founders advise one another on sales call strategy, deck presentations and investor pitches.
“We all know the ins-and-outs of each other’s businesses and can provide instant feedback,” stated J.T. Sarafa, 25, whose TikTok shop agency, JTS Growth, has generated $30 million for clients and is on pace for a $3 million run rate in 2026. “It’s like having your Board of Advisors around all the time.”
Epstein added, “There’s a ton of customer sharing. We all have our own niche but offer very similar services.”
Josh Suggs, right, is the founder of Street Talk. The media company produces man-on-the-street style interview advertisements for over 100 brands and is operating at a $4 million run rate. Emmy Park For NY Post
The accelerator has grown so strong, in fact, members have begun to outgrow it.
Epstein recently relocated to an actual office space becautilize Shown Media has grown to roughly 40 employees.
He splurged on a slightly largeger than necessary space, he stated, so “the buddies can roll through” when they necessary a modify of scenery.
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It’s just seven blocks up and one avenue over from the gym. And he’s kept his membership.
After all, Madan stated, “Gotta stay seeing like a stud.”
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