一家健身公司如何贏得千萬投資
????不久前一個周一,帕耶爾?卡達奇亞左手輕扶芭蕾把桿,右臂抬起,手指尖指向天空。她一襲黑衣,頭發(fā)后梳,輕巧地用雙腳點地又收回,像大多數(shù)人描述的那樣,舉手投足之間充滿了女性的優(yōu)雅。 ????這個四面都是鏡子的寬敞房間位于舊金山市中心,是健身公司Avant Barre的教室。對卡達奇亞來說,待在這樣的地方舒適自在極了。作為提供每月健身課程預(yù)訂服務(wù)的ClassPass公司的共同創(chuàng)始人,她經(jīng)常在這些房間中與健身房經(jīng)理暢談,會見公司客戶,當(dāng)然,還有健身。 ????她隨后捧著一杯綠茶,說道:“我基本上每時每刻都穿著健身服?!?/p> ????31歲的卡拉奇亞并不是簡?方達或特雷西?安德森那樣的健身達人。她不在乎ClassPass用戶在健身后是否擁有緊實的大腿肌肉或線條優(yōu)美的腰身,她只想讓人們離開辦公桌和電子設(shè)備,做一些運動讓生活更加充實,如果能出點汗就更好了。 ????她表示:“有些人抱有成見,認(rèn)為健身很乏味,我們要做的是讓它更有趣、更有挑戰(zhàn)、更吸引人,讓它變成一種享受,而不是必須完成的枯燥動作。借助技術(shù)和數(shù)據(jù),我們正在改變這種體驗。” ????ClassPass的運作模式是:用戶每月支付99美元,就能在紐約、洛杉磯和舊金山等特定城市的數(shù)十個健身中心上課(該公司計劃在明年擴大可選城市范圍)。作為幫助健身公司找到新客戶的回報,ClassPass能夠獲取這些課程的批量折扣,部分折扣甚至高達每人35美元。 ????位于舊金山的健身公司Avant Barre創(chuàng)立于今年6月,創(chuàng)始人尼尼?格列柯表示:“我們的健身中心增加了許多粉絲。由于健身房不在他們的社區(qū),或者看起來不能隨便進入,他們原來可能根本不會進來看看?!彼x擇了與ClassPass在Groupon和Living Social等團購網(wǎng)站上進行合作,因為卡達奇亞的公司“能吸引到真正對健身課程感興趣的合適客戶。” |
????On a recent Monday, PayalKadakia placed her hand on a ballet barre, lifted her right arm, and pulsed her fingertips skyward. Clad in all black, hair pulled back, she moved with the grace of a woman who points and flexes her feet as effortlessly as most people text. ????Airy, mirror-walled spaces like this Avant Barre classroom in downtown San Francisco feel like home to Kadakia. As a founder of ClassPass, a monthly subscription service for fitness classes, she finds herself in them often, talking with studio managers, meeting ClassPass users, and, of course, working out. ????“I basically live in workout clothes,” she says later over a mug of green tea. ????But Kadakia, 31, is not an exercise enthusiast in the mode of Jane Fonda or Tracy Anderson. She doesn’t care if the users of ClassPass end up with trimmer thighs or carved-out midsections. She simply wants people to break away from their desks and devices and do more life-enriching activities. If they happen to work up a sweat, that’s icing on the proverbial (perhaps gluten free) cake. ????“Some people have that school of thought where fitness isn’t enjoyable, but we’re making it enjoyable, I think, by making it more fun, challenging, and engaging, rather than this boring thing that you have to do,” she says. “It’s about using technology and data to change this experience.” ????Here’s how ClassPass works: subscribers pay $99 a month to be able to take classes at dozens of different fitness studios in a given city, like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (ClassPass plans to expand to more metropolitan areas next year). The company receives a bulk discount on classes—some of which can go for upwards of $35 each—from their providers in exchange for helping them reach new customers. ????“We’ve gained a lot of fans of the studio who would never have tried it because it wasn’t in their neighborhood or it didn’t seem accessible for them,” says NiniGueco, founder of San Francisco’s Avant Barre, which opened in June. She chose to work with ClassPass over group discount providers like Groupon and Living Social because Kadakia’s company “attracts the right individual, someone who is actually looking to discover classes.” |