The best kept secret in Gainesville is a little staircase between Spankk and Speakeasy in Downtown Gainesville on 2nd Street. Up those stairs and to the right is an office (with a gym) where a group of UF students and alumni have quietly been building the next biggest thing in fitness for the last two years: a mobile and web scheduling app for group fitness classes, the single biggest draw at any gym.
“Customers can see when the classes are happening and which of their friends are going, gym owners can see which classes are working, and instructors can see who’s signing up for their classes.” That’s just the first big initiative, of three, for peerFit in its first two years, and it’s already running at gyms across the country, with two more product launches also debuting this Spring. One wonders how the company managed to remain under the radar in a small town with a close-knit entrepreneurial circle. The truth is, peerFit avoided the Gainesville fundraising scene.
“I didn’t want to wait,” said Ed Buckley, President of peerFit and UF Health Sciences alum, on why his company has managed to stay out of the limelight and gained most of their funding from outside of Gainesville. “We chose to be proactive and not wait for investment to come to us.”
Now, operating out of an upstairs office Downtown with their own makeshift gym and countless entrepreneurial sayings and business roadmaps strewn about the office, it seems that they have a lot they could teach other startups about getting off the ground quickly. “The waterhole wasn’t full.” Ed describes being disappointed with the investment scene in Gainesville, so he had to leverage every connection, his own network and other networks, in order to find the funding sources. A military brat and born networker, Buckley quickly made his way around the Gainesville scene while casually plugging the company wherever he could. “Sometimes it wasn’t asking for funding, sometimes it was just telling people about our app, and they randomly knew someone who was interested in funding us. It was entirely built through our networks.”
I completed my studies here at UF, and while I was a fitness class instructor at Gainesville Health and Fitness, I got the idea for the App.
There’s another reason that peerFit has remained largely under the radar in Gainesville: they’ve been hard at work. Begun two years ago, peerFit recently closed a deal with MindBody, the largest gym management software company in the country. But getting there was anything but glamorous.
“I completed my studies here at UF, and while I was a fitness class instructor at Gainesville Health and Fitness, I got the idea for the App. Group fitness classes are the number one differentiator for gym decisions according to independent research.” While at Gainesville Health and Fitness, Buckley also sought the help of gym owner, Joe Cirulli, a relationship that will make GHFC a testing spot for one of peerFit’s major new initiatives.
It’s a giant touchscreen kiosk mounted on the wall of the gym that allows gym members to sort through and choose gym classes. The program is the first of it’s kind, a result of a partnership with Zevelo touchscreens, the most prominent kiosk touchscreen technology company in the country. And if the gym touchscreen does well at GHFC it will be offered to other peerFit gyms across the country.
The final major initiative, for which the company is turning heads (and moving bodies), is called Passport. “If you look at the gym industry, there are two models: the subscription model that typical gyms use, and the studio model, where trainers and classes are held in private for a special fee.” Buckley said Passport is the best of both worlds: try a variety of classes from a variety of gyms and trainers, regardless if you have a membership there or not. He calls it “Unbundling.”
Yes, women are the bulk of group fitness members, but Buckley says that Passport has actually taken off with men. “We hear from so many guys who want to try things like CrossFit or Body by Vinny, but they just can’t afford to do it regularly. The average private studio fitness class costs $25 a session. So do one class in Passport, and the program has already paid for itself.”
It’s been a fast two years, and the next two are certainly bright: in the wake of the MindBody deal, peerFit has received a new opportunity for capital and marketing.
“My advice to local entrepreneurs is to plow ahead. Put your product OUT rather than wait. We’re a big believer in that you don’t have to be an expert at first. In fact, we’re now considered the experts because we’ve tried things. The experts are the people who’ve tried things.”
“Put something out there and figure out what works. Figure out the problem, put it out there, and then you’re not going on opinion anymore. Don’t go on opinion ever again. Go with what works.”
