Fitness Startup PumpUp Picks Up The Pace Again With iOS App

Pumpup, Canadian startup,Waterloo startup,startup,startupsBack in May when the high princess of startups inside the valley Sarah Lacey suggested there were no good fitness startups we found out about Waterloo startup PumpUp.

What makes pumpup.co so great are a number of things. For starters the three founders behind pumpup.co know their roles and do them well. In an industry that can run a little top heavy on the ego side they have the entrepreneurial founder, the sales, marketing and bizdev founder and of course the athletic trainer founder. You couldn’t have a fitness startup without one.

The UI is intuitive and it’s made for the average person, not the overly buff set that don’t need the gym as much as us normal folks.

Now, to make things much easier to manage PumpUp on the go, they’ve released an iOS app for iPhones and iPod Touch, both devices that make it into the gym while you’re working out.

With over 40% of new gym memberships cancelled in less than a year, people are looking for an easy-to-use solution that gives them the guidance and motivation needed to get fit. By asking a few simple questions about people’s fitness goals, where they want to work out and the equipment they love to use, PumpUp automatically builds a highquality workout designed specifically for each user.

PumpUp is meant for people who want to get started with a fitness routine but don’t know what to do, or those who want to take their fitness to the next level. PumpUp shows users what to do, how to do it,and over time, adapts their plans to ensure they continue to improve.

“People aspire to be fit and live a healthy life but most people find difficulty in reaching their goals,” says Phil Jacobson, co-founder & CEO of PumpUp. “We’re simplifying the experience by asking you what you want and taking care of the rest. Getting fit doesn’t have to be tough; people just need to be shown what to do. With PumpUp, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

The PumpUp App is available as a free download on the Apple App Store on iPhone or iPod Touch at http://itunes.com/apps/pumpup. PumpUp is free to try for 30 days and costs $4.99/month on an annual subscription. To celebrate the launch and New Year, an annual subscription for PumpUp is only $2.99/month for the rest of January 2013.

Pumpup your startup everywhere else at everywhereelse.co The startup Conference, details here!

Lookout Amazon, Google Acquires Waterloo Startup BufferBox

BufferBox,Waterloo startup,Canadian startup,startup,startup newsAnyone who’s followed mobile technology over the last 18 months or so knows that Google and Amazon are in an all out war .When Amazon launched their Kindle Fire tablet, loosely based on the Android operating system, they immediately set up a walled garden ecosystem to provide Amazon content to the tablet device.

Amazon has been in the online e-commerce business a lot longer than just about everybody else. For that they are one of the most trusted names in e-commerce. They’ve also built up a huge collection of content that fuels everyone’s taste in movies, music and of course books.

Many feel that Google’s Android powered tablets, dubbed “Nexus 7 and Nexus 10” are direct competitors for Amazon complete with their own media and app store called “Google Play”.

Now it looks like Google is planning on expanding their click and mortar business to directly compete with Amazon. The acquisition of Waterloo based BufferBox is just another indicator of what Google may have planned in the not so distant future.

BufferBox preceded “Amazon Lockers” by over a year.

When BufferBox co-founder [Mike McCauley] first heard about Amazon Lockers he was disheartened and felt their idea had been ripped off. He was later able to turn it into a much more positive spin when he said: Amazon “put credibility behind the technology,” McCauley said. “Now there’s a big new market Amazon has created. Because Amazon controls 30% of the e-commerce market, you need a third party to offer the service for everyone else.” to the Wall Street Journal read more at http://markerly.com/p/_ZhMm73

The concept is simple, BufferBox lockers are placed in high traffic businesses. Customers of e-commerce shopping sites that have partnered with BufferBox can use the lockers for a safe, secure, and sometimes 24 hour a day place to receive packages. With BufferBox and the Amazon Lockers, long gone are the days someone has to worry about their purchase becoming lost, stolen or damaged, waiting in an overnight carriers pick up location or on the front step.

We’ve even heard from several sources that Memphis based FedEx is working on a similar locker based system that will solve a billion dollar problem with drivers having to attempt a delivery to the same address multiple times a week. This will also solve problems for e-commerce customers who may not get off work until after their local delivery service closes for the day.

Late last month Google announced that they had acquired BufferBox.  The team at BufferBox will all be joining Google in the acquisition but they don’t have to move far. Google’s Waterloo offices are on the upper floor of the building where BufferBox is based.

It’s obvious from our interview with BufferBox co-founder Mike McCauley that the small startup is looking to disrupt the way that packages everywhere are delivered.  Now they’ll get to do that on a huge scale as part of Google.

“Being a small company and a startup, there’s obviously a lot of challenges,” BufferBox chief executive Mr. McCauley said in an interview with the Financial Post

“So us being able to work very closely with someone like Google allows us to leverage their resources and share vision and combine thoughts and talent together to really make something a lot bigger than we ever would have imagined. We’re really excited to be able to build out that vision quite a bit quicker than we otherwise would have without them onside.”

 

Linkage:

Source: Financial Post

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Canadian Startup: Growple Challenges You To Grow Together Interview

While things seem to be falling apart for Waterloo Canada’s biggest company RIM, a new startup wants people to grow together. Their startup Growple is all about making challenges over anything and everything and either challenging yourself, your friends or new acquaintances using Growple’s mobile platform.

The challenges can be anything from “I challenge myself to lose 30 pounds” or I challenge Mike to pick up the girls number across the bar. Challenges are more fun when their done together. Making new friends and growing socially is more fun when it’s surrounded by challenges.

The team behind Growple is frustrated about how people claim to be “social” and how they try hard to stay connected rather than actually being connected. It’s another one of those startups that takes the virtual world and brings it to the real world, bringing the online world off line.

We got a chance to interview Growple’s co-founder Kevin Kim. Check out the interview below.

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There Are Good Fitness Startups Everywhere Else Like Canada’s Pumpup.co INTERVIEW

For the second time since their launch new Silicon Valley startup website Pando Daily has had blinders on to great startups. As you know earlier this year they missed the memo on the  whole Chicago startup scene.  Apparently they couldn’t find any good fitness startups either according to Pando Daily Founder Sarah Lacy.

Well we actually went digging for good fitness startups last week and low and behold on the open public forum we all know and love called Twitter we found Waterloo based startup pumpup.co. That proves two things actually, that great fitness startups exist everywhere else and that there is more to Waterloo than Blackberry.

What makes pumpup.co so great a number of things. For starters the three founders behind pumpup.co know their roles and do them well. In an industry that can run a little top heavy on the ego side they have the entrepreneurial founder, the sales, marketing and bizdev founder and of course the athletic trainer founder. You couldn’t have a fitness startup without one.

Phil Jacobson is the sales, marketing and bizdev founder, but he calls himself the hustler founder. We got a chance to talk to him aboat (lol) this great Canadian startup.

What is PumpUp?

PumpUp is a mobile and web application that allows users to build totally personalized, trainer-quality workouts. On top of the amazing workouts, PumpUp tracks your progress over time and provides users with coaching and reminders to improve their fitness and keep them motivated.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Garrett Gottlieb: Garrett is the Hacker of PumpUp. He is a current Bachelor of Computer Science candidate at the University of Waterloo. He has held co-op positions at numerous software companies, including RIM and TribeHR.

Phil Jacobson: Phil is the Hustler of PumpUp. He is a current Bachelor of Business Administration candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University. He has held co-op positions at a variety of fortune 500 companies, including Unilever, PepsiCo, and ConAgra Foods.

Ben Pickard: Ben is the Trainer of PumpUp. He is a current Bachelor of Kinesiology student at the University of Waterloo and a certified Personal Trainer. He is the current President of the Strength and Conditioning club at his University.



Where are you based?

We are based out of Waterloo, Ontario in Canada. We have been awarded space in the Velocity Garage (a startup hub managed by the University of Waterloo).

What problem does PumpUp solve?

PumpUp solves 3 key problems. First off, there are many people who are unsure of what to do when working out, are repeating the same workout, or just choose to not workout at all. Secondly, personal trainers are expensive and finding a good one is difficult. Lastly, there is no current solution that provides users with a trainer-quality workout that is personalized just for them.

There are a few fitness platforms and apps out there now, what is your secret sauce?

Our secret sauce is providing our users with a trainer-quality, personalized workout in a beautifully designed web and mobile application, all for free.

Who is your target user?

Our target users are 18-30 year-old males and females who consider themselves at the beginner or intermediate level of working out. They either currently workout or are interested in starting to workout, but need more direction on what to do.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned in the startup process?

The best lesson that we’ve learned during the startup process so far is that is it crucial to focus on the core product and ensure you build a beautiful experience that adds value for your customers. It is easy to get lost while endlessly adding features to the application. It is essential to build a high-quality product. We believe that quality is essential in keeping our customers satisfied and coming back.

When are you launching?

We are launching our Alpha version on the web within the next two weeks. Following our Alpha web launch, we will be releasing our mobile application as quickly as possible – we are aiming for mid-end of June. Sign up for access to our Alpha launch at http://PumpUp.co.

What’s next for PumpUp?

As mentioned, our next step is launching our mobile version as soon as we can. Following our mobile application, we plan on adding additional social features to enhance the appeal of the application.

Linkage:
Check out pumpup.co at their website here
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