This is awesome feedback, and it's intuitively aligned to what I now know to be true about this space. (Alas...)
So many great points in here that I can't respond back in appreciation to all of them, but this one in particular is something that I articulated to a friend just last week:
> There has not been many successful fitness startups recently
Seems like there's a lot to learn and reflect on there!
I very much came at all of this from the product side of things (with gusto and confidence!), and it's only recently (perhaps far too late), that I am truly appreciating just how important the market is in business. (Sounds sooooo obvious in retrospect to say that, I know!)
I remember a phrase I heard a while back to startup tech founders that said something to the effect of "be sure you are working in fast moving water", which just makes so much sense...
And then there's Buffet + Munger's bias for betting on the market (vs founder)...
To say the last, I've at least scratched the surface of appreciating the power of the market in startups + PMF.
> although most people that are into CrossFit will just go to a CrossFit gym...
Yes, this is seems to be the case for the most part, though I'm still exploring the "garage gym athlete" community. Turns out there are lots of garage gyms and a decent number of garage gyms have been outfitted by people who prefer/need to train at home, "ex-CrossFitters", etc. I think there's something here, but I don't have it fully quantified yet.
> edit2: and thinking about it more, I am not sure what will other "normal" gym people think when I do the AMRAP thing and jump around gym. Hm.
Haha. Been there myself. I find that it's important to build a small station with everything at arms reach in a "normal gym" setting so that it doesn't get taken by others.
In either scenario, though, you will be an outlier...but that's not a bad thing :)
The original inspiration for the app was when I was looking around the gym during one of the The Opens and listening to people 'strategize' about the workout. "Don't come out of the gate too hot", "Pace yourself", "Hit this many rounds/reps by this point on the clock", etc.
In other words, everyone was building a personalized "pacing plan", and it occurred to me that optimizing a plan to achieve a goal and delivering it through a digital experience was an idea I wanted to explore.
I've been a life long fitness junkie, and I really think that Greg Glassman's original blueprint for "quantifying fitness" as outlined in the CF-L1 Training Manual pretty much nails a winning formula for a lot of people. (e.g. the ones who are inclined to work out.)
The vast majority of the app experience itself (as well as a lot of the internal data architecture + software design that you'd never see or necessarily think about) is very much built around the idea of "workout prescriptions", "workout plans", "workout performances" and the "algebra" on those data structures that starts to quantify all of the splits.
You only need an iPhone to use the app, but the overall UX is a lot better (especially during a metcon) if you have a watch because you can just advance through the workout and track your splits with a tap on the wrist. IOW: start the workout on the phone, set the phone down, train, pick the phone back up later to get all of the analysis
This post and a lot of this dialogue has been TREMENDOUSLY helpful to me (both directionally and energetically) as I seek out a way to create a more focused experience in the app with a much more focused value prop (both in the app itself and in the marketing messages.)
Would very much welcome your (unvarnished) feedback if you decide to check it out and have any thoughts!
Definitely. I'm also more a technical founder profile than not, and it takes real work for me to try to "sell", which is ironic, right? I (obviously) love this app, but to try and actively "sell" it someone directly. Gasp.
I've been making headway on that front too, though. A lot of content Alex Hormozi has been producing on sales + lead-gen has been really helpful to me on both a tactical level as well as a mindset level about these sorts of things.
This gets back to what I consider to be part of the "spiritual" side of the entreprenurial journey: facing my fears, slaying some dragons, etc.
1 - Standard B2C - Basically, what's out there now. Try to go after end users directly
2 - B2B2C(-ish) - Basically, what you're suggesting, go after coaches/trainers with clients and work something out so that they can deliver their programs through the app, collect info about compliance to the program, etc. To your point, it definitely seems like there could be something here, and I need to lean into this more.
3 - Whitelabeled Solutions - As I look forward, I'm also now considering the possibility of an approach of cloning the app, rebranding it, updating its content, making minor tweaks, and licensing it to 3rd parties who want their own fitness app. (Maybe a fixed license, but probably a rev share.)
I haven't really made any headway on 2 + 3, but I'm increasingly thinking about them.
To date, the most I've done is add a "nag screen paywall" in the app that presents a monthly subscription as an in app purchase. It's not enforced (yet), so it's more of an "optional" thing as crazy as that sounds -- but you're right: gotta start enforcing that, and soon.
FWIW, over the months, I've rationalized not enforcing it because I tell myself, "Need to get a small quorum of active users first, because the monetization won't really matter or won't add up till much until then...I need to find some signal from users and don't want to obstruct yet (yet)."
And even as I type that, I sort of believe it, but at the same time, I know it's not the best way.
So yeah, it's essentially free right now for the small number of users who use it. I'll probably learn something important if I enforce the paywall on that small number of users.
100% -- and the comments on this post have really helped me to find some more clarity and gain confidence in taking some more aggressive next steps in that direction!
Amen! Thank for that encouragement. I think you are right. I need to be calculated and disciplined about it. A short-break would do me some good, and I'm sure my family would agree :)
This is a REALLY GOOD point of feedback. I have done literally nothing for ASO, and what you are saying reflects the reality that I don't see many organic downloads in the App Store. Definitely going to look into this!
On the iOS dev hours: yes, the $120 has been more aligned to seasoned talent with U.S. rates and the $80 has been more aligned to talent outside the U.S.
I'm a mobile dev and I do ASO, I'm open to chat and show you on what metrics you need to look at in the app store connect. Let me know if you're up for it. I tried to DM on Twitter but your DMs are off
A lot of the core UI/UX has been built around training to hit specific targets/splits for metabolic conditioning workouts, analyze those splits, etc. In other words, a _really_ fancy stopwatch that can do some analysis.
The app also supports weightlifting, endurance, and a broad interpretation of "constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement", but there's plenty to do there to improve the experience.
I've been thinking about the idea of making the scope of the UI/UX more narrow and focused on certain types of workouts, and I still am thinking about it. It's something I might try in the weeks ahead to see if "less = more" for a more focused ideal customer profile.
There's a good case to be made that the app is trying to do too many things for too many people right now : /
So many great points in here that I can't respond back in appreciation to all of them, but this one in particular is something that I articulated to a friend just last week:
> There has not been many successful fitness startups recently
Seems like there's a lot to learn and reflect on there!
I very much came at all of this from the product side of things (with gusto and confidence!), and it's only recently (perhaps far too late), that I am truly appreciating just how important the market is in business. (Sounds sooooo obvious in retrospect to say that, I know!)
I remember a phrase I heard a while back to startup tech founders that said something to the effect of "be sure you are working in fast moving water", which just makes so much sense...
And then there's Buffet + Munger's bias for betting on the market (vs founder)...
To say the last, I've at least scratched the surface of appreciating the power of the market in startups + PMF.