For the unitiated, terms like monster snatch and the jerk can sound funny or insulting but for the Crossfit community, those moves are just part of the fitness enthusiast lifestyle. Jason Chisholm is the co-founder of early stage business Perspyre, and a crossfit enthusiast himself. The fitness social network is launching an app within the next couple of months to connect the crossfit community, as well as athletes who take running, cycling, swimming and triathalons much more seriously than the majority of people who stop by the gym a few days a week.
The Boston-based company was bootstrapped, but recently raised funds from friends and family to support a name change and app launch. It follows a year in which the company did a beta test of a network it grew to 4,000 members. Originally it was called AMRAP4Life, which stands for As Many Rounds As Possible.
It’s designed to a be a forum for people to share insights on workouts and pose questions on things such as nutrient supplements to the dos and don’ts of training and how to recover from an injury. They also post photos and can virtually compete with each other. Having an app that enables the network to be mobile was critical since most members bring them everywhere, particularly the gym.
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The pivot reflects a conclusion by the company that there is such a thing as too niche a social network. Chisholm said it decided to broaden its target audience to include the kind of people whose workout is a high priority and part of their lifestyle who also have overlapping interests and concerns. “If you are serious about working out, you sweat,” said Chisholm. “Perspyre is about who you are, you live it all the time.”
He added: “We have shown there is an audience for this and we believe we are riding a wave. We didn’t invent anything brand new,” but Chisholm said its approach is a bit different to what other entrepreneurs in the space are doing. PumpUp, for example, has built a community of 1.7 million and raised $2.4 million last year to support its network and app, which encourages members to share selfies of workouts, healthy meals, and track their personal fitness program. But he thinks that Persypre will resonate with people who identify with more hardcore fitness programs.
Chisholm said members are informed that it’s a public forum so their information is shared with vendors but there are also private areas for ways for members to communicate with each other. It is also aimed at trainers and facilities that cater to the crossfit and intensive fitness communities.
The kind of vendors the company hopes to attract include fitness apparel companies, wearable developers, and equipment manufacturers — companies with direct relevance to its community who are also interested in tapping a target audience they can tap for who can offer feedback on their products.
