Griffin Gordon and Kevin Condon were The Little Gym customers before they became franchise investors. Now they own 30 gyms.

Before Griffin Gordon and Kevin Condon owned dozens of The Little Gym locations, they were parents watching their children enjoy gymnastics classes at the franchise. Their kids were tumbling, running and leaving class asking to do it all again.

As a customer, Gordon was impressed that The Little Gym staff members knew the children’s names, greeted their parents and made families feel welcome.

Gordon and Condon had met years earlier at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business before pursuing different careers. Condon became a co-founder of Hidden River Strategic Capital, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm that invests in small businesses. Gordon split his career between private equity investing and running small and midsize companies, later founding an investment firm focused on franchisees.

Their paths converged around an opportunity involving Richard Moore, a longtime Little Gym operator whose family had spent nearly three decades building the business. Moore wanted to keep growing. His parents were ready to retire. An advisor introduced him to Gordon and Condon, who saw a chance to pair an experienced operator with the capital and support to expand.

In 2023, Gordon and Condon’s firms invested in seven North Carolina locations of The Little Gym, forming the foundation of a business called Somersault. Three years later, the partners say their footprint has grown to more than 30 locations , with another 10-plus in development.

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