College Friends to Co-Founders: Breaking into Digital Fitness
2020 has been the year for the fitness industry to go digital. From wearable gadgets and at-home workout programs, and new apps, workout fanatics are finding new digital ways to stay fit, especially as gyms face restrictions. Today’s women dreamers, Anna Bilha and Sarah Tarta, share the story of launching their upcoming app, Activly. They share what it was like going from two best friends in college, to co-founders in the rising fitness tech world.
What inspired you guys to build this app? Tell us the story behind it?
Fitness has very positively impacted both our lives - we both started working out to ease the pressures of college and found stress relief and greater self confidence through going to the gym together. We had friends ask us to be their gym buddies and share our various workouts, but sharing workouts has always been difficult since there are really not any easy methods to do so. You usually have to either write or type it down, or send links to YouTube videos… But it’s not really easy to workout while watching YouTube videos, neither was for us to help each one of our friends.
I (Anna) had always been super passionate about finding a way to help at least other college students to get into a more active lifestyle, but it was only when I went to spend a semester in San Francisco that I had the time and opportunity to fully dive in and understand the industry. I already knew that there were thousands of fitness apps, and millions of workout videos and photos on the internet, but I realized that this decentralized overload of content was making exercising seem much more complex and confusing than it needs to be. That’s when I started to build the prototype of an app that not only would centralize workout content in one place, but that would also allow users to combine workout content from different sources into their personalized workout plan.
The fitness industry has seen huge shifts due to technology, such as with wearable gadgets, workout apps, etc, where does Activly fit in to this? What did you see the industry lacking?
From the beginning we have been aware of how crowded the workout space is, whether by the amount of videos on YouTube, or media on Instagram, or fitness apps and online workout plans. We did not want Activly to be just another fitness app, and that is why Activly is a brand agnostic platform so we can serve as a hub & spoke for all of these different sources of content mentioned earlier. It’s time for people to have a hub for fitness - a centralized space where they can always go no matter where they are on their fitness journey.
With Covid-19, the gyms are operating at low capacities. People are also scared to go to the gym. Do you see apps and technology playing a bigger role in personal fitness in the long-run?
We definitely see apps and tech becoming a large part of the fitness experience. As more and more people begin to take fitness into their own hands and reduce gym time, they will turn to apps that help them achieve their wellness goals from the comfort of their own home. Activly is positioned to help everyone whether they are going to gyms, or working out at home, no matter where they are in their fitness journey, and if they are just someone who occasionally exercises or has a trainer.
Picture Activly a Few Years from now: what is your dream vision, “We made it” look like?
We want Activly to be a fitness hub where people can go to create workout plans, explore fitness apps by their interests and workout plans from other users, find trustworthy fitness products and connect with their friends, teammates, trainers, family, and other active and aspiring active people.
Who is a female entrepreneur you sincerely admire? Who is someone in fitness you admire?
Reshna Saujani - founder of Girls Who Code. I (Anna) really admire her. She has created an amazing program to encourage more women to go into tech, which is with no doubts very male dominated, even more when in relation to the development and engineering side of things. She also has had Ted Talks and books in which she talks about the need for women to stop trying to be perfect and just be brave. These are so inspirational not only for women in tech or women entrepreneurs, but any woman in the world.
I (Sarah) admire Lauren Simmons. She is a former equity trader for Rosenblatt Securities, and she is both the youngest and the only full-time female employee to hold that position at the NYSE. Despite having a major in genetics and facing the challenge of a very male-dominated career, she worked hard to pass the Series 19 exam, a test with a 20% pass rate. It is inspiring to see a woman who ignored the naysayers and went after what she liked and what she wanted - she proves that women can do anything they aspire to regardless if the job is ‘for men’ or ‘for women.’
In regards to fitness, it’s a more complicated question because the reason why this woman inspires me (Anna) might not be the same for other people. I always had a harder time to identify with the other women I would see working out on social media who were always blonde, tiny, had huge hips and muscles. Not that Karina Elle is not muscled, but as a tall woman, her body is much different than the shorter women I was used to. She has also always inspired me with her yoga moves, and made me laugh with some of her goofy posts.
Krissy Cela is a fitness trainer & Instagram influencer that inspires me (Sarah). Her body type is something I feel that matches my fitness goals and her content is always high quality. Her videos are easy to follow and replicate. She also has a fitness app so it has been interesting to see how she has been promoting that on her page.
What is it like working on a venture with your best friend?
Sarah: Working on Activly with Anna has been such a fun experience - I think that when you work with your best friend, it's easy to be communicative and understand each other’s work and lifestyles. Also, I know Anna’s strengths & she knows mine, making it very seamless to divide up the work between ourselves and the team for maximum efficiency.
Anna: Definitely! Initially when I was planning on asking Sarah to be my co-founder, I thought a lot about how it could possibly impact either our friendship or the business, but I know that not only Sarah and I are able to communicate with each other very well and make a very strong team, but I also knew that as a business partner, I could count on Sarah to be able to separate personal and professional matters. It is also much easier to trust someone who I trusted long before Activly.