Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Koretsky.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Rachel. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a college student, I grew increasingly frustrated with the campus recreation center. The wait times for cardio equipment were too long. I could only sign-up for programs onsite and group classes filled up too quickly to ever get into them. Plus, I never knew how crowded the gym was going to be until I got there.
All of that interfered with my fitness routines and destroyed my motivation. Ultimately, the inconveniences eclipsed the benefits, and I stopped going to the gym altogether. In talking about my experiences with my friends and classmates, I discovered I wasn’t alone.
I started doing hundreds of informational interviews and realized just how widespread the problems were. That’s when I knew mobile technology would be the key and I started upace to help students like me, and fitness-goers in general, stay on their path to wellness.
As upace started to take off, we met members of gyms, YMCAs, Jewish Community Centers, and Parks and Recreation Departments who told us that their facilities also needed an app like ours. We also met those facility operators, who not only wanted our app for their members but also needed our administration portal to streamline operations. It’s been very exciting expanding from serving our first campus recreation center to helping all types of fitness and community facilities.
Has it been a smooth road?
In the beginning, the struggle was finding the right developers to make my vision come to life. My knowledge of technical development was very limited and it took many months of reading books, listening to podcasts, and searching for mentors to build the right team and technology roadmap.
Throughout that time, I learned to not be afraid to ask for advice and look for mentors willing to share their experiences. The old saying is true: It never hurts to ask. The worst that can happen is someone says no. And that’s totally OK. You just move on to the next potential mentor. There are plenty of people who want to share the lessons they’ve learned and helped guide you, because – once upon a time – someone did the same exact thing for them.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Upace is a customizable mobile platform for gyms and recreation centers to engage, motivate and build communities for their members while simultaneously improving their operations.
Members get a whole new level of control over their fitness routines and center interactions. They can use the app to make reservations for classes and equipment, personal training, spa services, and other programs; receive related alerts and push notifications that they choose, and view real-time occupancy.
On the operations side, the platform provides seamless data collection informs decisions like hours and staffing. It also helps inform effective marketing strategies like how and when to communicate with members. The platform automates data collection analysis that helps facilities continually enhance the member experience. And that builds loyalty and long-term membership.
I’m really proud when users tell us how the app has helped them meet fitness goals, feel confident in the gym, and become more engaged with their facility and its member community. Hearing those stories and watching our gyms and centers increase member engagement and retention inspires us to keep refining and expanding our capabilities.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
I would pay more attention to my intuition. Since I was a young entrepreneur, I didn’t give my intuition credibility when I first started. I now realize that was wrong and that no matter what stage you’re at as an entrepreneur, your intuition is always a powerful tool that you should trust.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.upaceapp.com
- Email: info@upaceapp.com
Image Credit:
Upace
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