his story
Ryan DeLuca
Co-Founder & CEO, Black Box VR
Ryan DeLuca founded Bodybuilding.com in 1999 in his garage in Boise, Idaho at the age of 20. Under Ryan’s leadership, the company skyrocketed to nearly $500 million in annual revenue before he stepped down as CEO in 2015. With almost zero startup capital and no outside investors, Ryan grew his company from nothing to become the world’s most visited fitness site and largest e-tailer of sports nutrition supplements. From the beginning, the company was focused on transforming the lives of its millions of customers and staying true to the core principles that Ryan passionately believed in. Profitable from the start, Bodybuilding.com was eventually purchased by Liberty Media.
A born innovator, Ryan was named Entrepreneur of the Year by E&Y in 2009 for the Idaho/Utah region and Inc. Magazine called him one of the “Top 5 Coolest Entrepreneurs Under 30”. With 800 team members spread throughout six states and four countries, Ryan was proudest of the fact that Bodybuilding.com was consistently named one of the best places to work. Ryan was temporarily retired for only six months before the startup bug bit him again and together with co-founder Preston Lewis, Black Box VR was born, merging their continued passions for technology and fitness and the way they can intersect to help people transform their lives.
Ryan is the Chairman of the Idaho Virtual Reality Council, a nonprofit that is focused on growing the spatial computing industry in the local area. He is also the CEO of VR Fitness Insider, a digital publication dedicated to spreading the word about the power of VR for health and fitness.
In his spare time, Ryan is a private, instrument rated pilot with over 1600 flight hours. You can usually find him flying his Pilatus PC-12 turboprop around the western USA on the weekends for fun, charity, and business. He’s an avid non-fiction reader, spends his mornings at the gym, and recently took up ballroom dancing, much to the amusement of his friends and family. Ryan lives in Eagle, Idaho and has three crazy kids named Raiden, Kyla, and Bradley.