Christmas and the New Year are coming and with that comes an end to 2021. How people will look back on this year depends on whether you prefer a glass half full or half empty. For us business-wise, the glass is certainly half full and probably more.
The beauty of our product is that it is tangible and easy to understand for people. It looks so simple, but in terms of development, it is disappointingly not true. Favorably, that has its advantages concerning copying (we wish everyone who wants to copy the hardware good luck). What matters is the implementation of our vision in the platform. The hardware itself won't relieve our users of their pain, but our entire platform will.
Precisely with relieving this pain, we have made good progress. Since the summer we have been testing our prototype with users nonstop and the reactions have been simply amazing: “the app motivates me enormously”; “I follow the colors in the schematic representation [ed. body map] to do a full-body workout”; “it's nice that the app tells me what to do”, “training is so much more fun”, etc.
This feedback is important to us and a confirmation that we are making the right choices.
Another highlight was October 1, the day that we worked full-time for our own company for exactly 1 year. The first two years (2018-2020) we worked part-time next to our other jobs to cover our bills. So, the moment when you can quit and fully focus on your work is magical.
It was made possible by the 200k funding we raised last year. Without revealing too much, we can share that we recently have again collected a similar amount. More details will follow in early 2022. Furthermore, we plan to do a follow-up round before the summer that will be used to propel our growth.
We had one more special numerical milestone this year: a few weeks ago the 10,000th session on our platform was registered. I hear you thinking, what is a session? When I go to the gym to train (and do a workout) I do between 8 and 12 exercises. Each exercise tracked on our platform is one session, which means we have had 10k tracked exercises! The next milestone will be 25,000!
With the approaching end, this is the last story of the year in which we tell a little more about our team, our choices, and our progress. Therefore, we hope to thank everyone who has played a part in our success thus far. We have made huge strides, but next year will be the year that we will prove our product. Without the help of our partners, we would not have made it this far.
So, thank you, Jordy, Marjolijn, and Urban Gym group for your unconditional support.
Thank you, Leron, Cadin, Yeva, and Clubsportive (including the rest of the team) for your time, knowledge, and the fun we have.
Thank you, Lisa, Anouk, Frans, and Marco, the TU Delft, and the VU for your knowledge and skills and for running a great project.
Thank you, Diderick, Wouter, and Meijburg for supporting and answering our tax questions so quickly, your expertise, and your great collaboration.
Thank you, Robert, Hugo, and Spark Design and Innovation for your willingness and support.
Thank you, Raf and WBSO software for obtaining grants. Thank you, Melissa and Sara, for helping us with our accounting issues. Thank you, Robert and ACE for the always nice conversations and good questions.
Thank you, to all the others, friends, and family who have helped us day and night and made time for us but who were not mentioned. We appreciate it!