A Kansas City Startup Partnership: BodeeFit & PaleoFit Meals

As any experienced entrepreneur knows, the key to success is all about the connections, partnerships and relationships you make throughout a startup journey.  Whether it’s an introduction to a new mentor or attending a networking event to find your next client or customer, it is the people that make the startup world go ‘round.  

In the instance of Think Big’s startup venture BodeeFit, the key to success is through partnerships.  Lucky for BodeeFit, Kansas City is full of other passionate, driven and health-oriented entrepreneurs and startups.  One of these startups is PaleoFit Meals.  BodeeFit and PaleoFit recently struck up a strong local partnership in order to improve one another’s businesses and provide more benefits for clients and customers.

The campaign that BodeeFit and PaleoFit Meals put together was simple enough: receive a 25% discount from PaleoFit Meals through the BodeeFit platform.  The week-long campaign created exposure for the newly developed PaleoFit business, thanks to BodeeFit’s ever-growing customer base.

The partnership was a no-brainer.  BodeeFit is a health and fitness application that provides daily body weight workouts and weekly Paleo recipes, meal plans and shopping lists.  PaleoFit Meals provides both Paleo snacks nationwide and prepared Paleo meals to the Kansas City area. 

“Both BodeeFit’s and PaleoFit’s goals are to help people live fit lives,” explains Graham Ripple, co-founder of PaleoFit.  “This campaign was a great success for us.  We shipped our PaleoFit products all over the country.”

PaleoFit is very new to the Kansas City area, launching in 2013.  The health-focused startup ships clean jerky and Paleo Pouches (a “trail mix” of sorts) across the nation (their biggest buyers include Kansas City, Oklahoma City, New York and Florida).  In addition, PaleoFit provides a wide variety of healthy, prepared meals to the Kansas City area (and plans to expand to more cities in the future).  Although PaleoFit is a brand new startup, Ripple has big plans for PaleoFit throughout the year and into 2014, including more partnerships.

“We are building our infrastructure and are hoping it turns into new partnerships with nutritionists, gyms and doctors,” he explains.  “We want to be partnership-friendly as we build.  That’s going to be our focus as we move forward."

Think Big Partners and Denver-based Entrepreneur Officially Launch Bodeefit Fitness App

Startup accelerator and business incubator Think Big Partners has teamed up with Adam Griffin, Denver-based serial entrepreneur, to create, develop and launch Bodeefit, a new type of fitness app that incorporates Crossfit-inspired movements and Paleo nutrition plans.

Bodeefit, unlike any other fitness app on the market today, is a free application that sends daily Crossfit-inspired workouts, healthy Paleo-inspired recipes and tips to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  The app sends Crossfit and bootcamp-style workouts to a user’s email inbox or mobile phone every morning and therefore, does not require expensive gym memberships or workout equipment that other exercise plans do.

“I have always had a belief that there are too many barriers to people and their fitness,” explains Adam Griffin, founder of Bodeefit.  “Gym costs, trainer fees, confidence barriers, time in the day.  Bodeefit was created to remove those barriers.”

In addition to providing an easy, at-home exercise plan for users, Bodeefit also sends healthy recipes to a user’s email inbox or mobile phone courtesy of PaleOMG, owned by Bodeefit team member, Juli Bauer. 

In order to see his dream for Bodeefit come to life, Griffin sought out Kansas City-based startup accelerator, Think Big Partners.  Griffin and his Bodeefit team have outsourced Think Big Partners as the “tech talent” behind the build-phase of Bodeefit. 

“The natural evolution of Bodeefit is into the app marketplace, whether that be web-based or mobile,” says Griffin.  “Given Think Big Partners’ relationship with Microsoft, Blake Miller [partner at Think Big Partners] approached me about getting an app into the Windows 8 app store and the opportunity was a great fit.”

“We have used this not only as an opportunity to build a killer app, but also to explore the Windows 8 platform,” says Blake Miller.  “We want to build on it, experience it and then help others do the same.  This is a tremendous opportunity for both Bodeefit and Think Big Partners for discovering a new distribution channel.”

Although Bodeefit has only been live online for a few days, the startup currently boasts 6,000 email list sign-ups as well as over 3,000 Facebook “Likes”.  The Bodeefit Facebook page has become a community for fitness enthusiasts and fosters hundreds of messages and comments from Bodeefit athletes.    

Griffin’s plan is to continue to grow the Bodeefit community organically and introduce new products along the way.

“I am incredibly motivated to reach as many people as possible with Bodeefit,” says Griffin.  “We genuinely improve someone’s life in a way that carries far beyond fitness.  I am regularly receiving emails and messages from people thanking me for Bodeefit and what we provide, and there is literally no better feeling in the world than knowing we touched a person’s life in a small way.”

Miller of Think Big Partners agrees: “Bodeefit isn’t just about the workout or even the food.  It’s a lifestyle.  It’s a mindset.  It’s a community of people that are all striving to be the best.”

Follow Bodeefit! @Bodeefit   

Think Big Partners and Denver-based Solopreneur Launch Bodeefit Windows 8 App

P90X.  Crossfit.  MyFitnessPal.  They’re all great fitness solutions, but none of them address a problem that many workout-enthusiasts look to solve—the problem of workout barriers.

You know what we mean:  the costs of gym membership, the high price of personal trainers, the motivation to get to the gym, the lack of education about nutrition, time to work out...the list goes on and on.  These are all barriers that prevent us from providing ourselves with healthy lifestyles.
Lucky for us, Adam Griffin, Kansas City native and Denver-based solopreneur is looking to eliminate all fitness barriers with one simple solution—Bodeefit.

Bodeefit is a free application that sends daily Crossfit-inspired workouts, healthy Paleo-inspired recipes and tips to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  The app sends Crossfit and bootcamp-style workouts to a user’s email Inbox or mobile phone every morning and does not require gym membership or workout equipment.  Bodeefit also incorporates a daily nutrition guide and sends Paleo-inspired recipes, courtesy of PaleOMG owner, Juli Bauer.

Griffin has also teamed up with Think Big Partners and has outsourced the startup accelerator as the “tech talent” behind the build-phase of Bodeefit.

“The natural evolution of Bodeefit is into the app marketplace, whether that be web-based or mobile,” says Griffin.  “Given Think Big Partners’ relationship with Microsoft, Blake Miller [partner at Think Big Partners] approached me about getting an app into the Windows 8 app store and the opportunity was a great fit.”

“We have used this not only as an opportunity to build a killer app, but also to explore the Windows 8 platform,” says Blake Miller.  “We want to build on it, experience it and then help others do the same.  This is a tremendous opportunity for both Bodeefit and Think Big Partners for discovering a new distribution channel.”

Bodeefit launched last week and currently has about 2,000 users.  The startup also boasts a solid, early-on following with almost 1,500 Facebook followers.  Griffin’s plan is to continue to grow the Bodeefit community organically and introduce new products along the way.

“I am incredibly motivated to reach as many people as possible with Bodeefit,” says Griffin.  “We genuinely improve someone’s life in a way that carries far beyond fitness.  I am regularly receiving emails and messages from people thanking me for Bodeefit and what we provide, and there is literally no better feeling in the world than knowing we touched a person’s life in a small way.”

Bodeefit is currently looking for users to try the free application by joining at www.bodeefit.com.  The startup has been bootstrapped by Griffin himself.  To connect further with Griffin or to learn more about Bodeefit, be sure to connect on Twitter @Bodeefit.

How does Adam Griffin, founder of Bodeefit, Think Big?  “I Think Big by thinking little. Companies need dreamers, but arguably more than that—they need do-ers. People that can take an idea, figure out the steps needed to bring that idea to life and execute on those steps. Because ideas don’t work. People do.”

@BodeeFit
@AllisonThinkBig

If the App Fits, Download it: Introducing peerFit

This is it—your year to get fit.  You purchased your new tennis shoes, you joined the local gym and you even gave in to buying those outrageously priced $22 dri-fit socks that the salesman at the Nike outlet somehow suckered you into.  Now, it’s finally time to take a look at the gym’s fitness class schedule and pick your poison.

And then you reach a state of pure panic.  Your eyes skim the gym’s online class calendar with confusion. Zumba...what the heck is that?  Instructor Michael McThrowdown...is he going to kill me?  Yogalates?...I can’t even pronounce that!

After questions such as these, you might give up on the fitness classes all together and opt for the monotonous 45 minutes on the elliptical.  Bummer.

Ed Buckley, President of peerFit.

Ed Buckley, Ph.D. student in the department of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida experienced this same problem...only he decided to fix it.  As a group fitness instructor in Gainesville, Buckley knew he taught a great fitness class, yet no one seemed to show up.  To draw people in, Ed decided to start writing exercises on the whiteboard in the classroom so gym passerbys could take note of what to expect during classes.

This small, seemingly insignificant change drew in more people than Buckley was prepared for.  Suddenly, people in the Gainesville gym wanted to be social while working out.  Ed Buckley immediately saw a need...and that need became known as peerFit.

peerFit is a free online and mobile app designed to allow users to quickly search and filter through workout options to find a class that best suits their individual needs.  The peerFit program has been developed in order to give users a more interactive platform for discovering and researching new workout classes within a particular area.  The app alone has not only helped gyms go social, but has inched users closer toward their fitness goals.

“Thirty percent of people are more likely to keep working out if they get into the right class,” says Buckley.  “We want to help people find the right class and then allow them to share the classes that they like with others.  People like to share their workout experiences—and prove that they went to classes!  It empowers them and it’s one of the greatest parts of the health realm.”

In other words, peerFit helps perpetuate the fitness “circle of life” that makes most apps (not to mention fitness regimens) so successful.

There’s more to peerFit than meets the eye.  The app and mobile site incorporate an interactive calendar, workout uploads, instructor reviews, class reviews and overall class recommendations too.  Currently, the app is in Beta launch with a full peerFit marketing campaign to launch September 1, 2012.  The campaign will take place in Tampa, Atlanta and Jacksonville, however, any gym in any city is able to download and give peerFit a try today.

The founders of peerFit.
Source: Gainesville.com

As part of its mission, peerFit has helped to make gyms more social and connect people to one another through fitness.  So it comes to no surprise that Buckley immediately brought on three business partners (which also happen to be his good friends) to help launch and grow the app.  The peerFit team is currently made up of four partners including Buckley, Rex Tullius, Matt Redinger and Scott Peeples as well as public relations specialist, Anastasia Revzina.

The team has been working tireless hours (on top of fulltime jobs, grueling swim practices and never-ending graduate school lectures) in order to see that peerFit is the best app it can be.

“I think the coolest thing about this process is that it has been beyond a fulltime job for us, but we are still able to run it as students and professional athletes,” says Buckley.  “We love to be busy, we love going 100 miles per hour and we love meeting people.”

Ed Buckley and Rex Tullius came all the way from Florida to visit
 Think Big Partners and to learn more about Kansas City's startup resources.

During the app’s build phase, the peerFit team somehow found enough time to survey over 10,000 potential users about the impact that the app could have.  According to results, 77% of surveyors believed they would be more motivated to try a new class if they could read about the workout ahead of time.

“It’s important for us to take a step back and look at peerFit from an outsider’s perspective,” says Rex Tullius. “We are all about picking people’s brains.  Those potential users know how to make the product better.”

What can we expect from peerFit in the coming months?  Other than its mega marketing campaign hitting in the southeast in September, we can also expect a rollout of the full mobile app and website at the beginning of September.

“I am proud of the process we have built,” says Buckley.  “We love meeting with different gyms and getting to know people.  That’s what makes us unique.  But the truth of the matter is great athletes, great musicians and great entrepreneurs just aren't ‘normal’.  We are obsessive.  Running a startup is difficult, but we love it.  We may get criticisms 10, 20, 30 times over, but we always come back with more passion to move forward.”

Keep an eye out for peerFit, the fitness app that’s making major waves, this fall.  To learn more or to get your gym involved with the app, visit www.peerfit.com.


Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig