Pablo Srugo's last startup, Gym Track, cut its staff from 30 to 8 after a failed near acquisition, and Rob Woodbridge became CEO to lead the turnaround.
Lee Silverstone calls customer discovery the founders' central mistake, arguing that their letters of intent from gyms carried little weight and the team mostly sought validation for what it had already decided to build.
Silverstone now regrets the Ottawa Citizen profile that ran just before layoffs, concluding that customers, not awards, press or funding, are what matter.
Gym Track's founders on building something customers never wanted
Gym Track built an all-or-nothing hardware product from its founders' own assumptions, then sought customers to confirm it. Gyms did not rank it high enough on their own return on investment, and their real competitor was pen and paper. Press, awards and funding gave no protection. Silverstone concludes that only customers matter.
Takeaways
Customer discovery only validated existing plans. The team held 20 gym meetings backed by letters of intent that carried little weight. They produced zero sales and maybe one pilot. Srugo says the team mainly sought to validate what it had decided to build, and rates its discovery three or four out of ten.
The hardware pilot demanded money the company lacked. The Anytime Fitness pilot was expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and needed an install team in Minnesota. Silverstone notes a gym buys equipment and does not buy again for 20 years.
The real competitor was pen and paper. After Gym Track pivoted to a sensor tracking equipment use rather than people, gym operators rarely logged into dashboards. Srugo says customers buy the best return on investment available, so a product ranked tenth on their list keeps losing.
Outsider ideas and track-everything beliefs were red flags. The idea came from frustration with writing workouts on paper, and grew from a QR code into tracking whole workouts. Srugo says ideas from people who know nothing about an industry rarely lead anywhere. Silverstone says the track-everything belief should have warned them.
Press and awards distract from customers. The Ottawa Citizen profile was planned weeks before Gym Track laid off two thirds of its staff, and Silverstone regrets the interview. Board member Janet Banister had warned of distraction. Investor Jeremy Levine says none of his companies announced a Series A.
Pre-seed funding carries little signal. Silverstone pitched a mock 3D-printed smart pin at Startup Fest, and Dave McClure invited the team to 500 Startups. Srugo says pre-seed rounds hold very little signal and serendipity matters. Gym Track became one of the most funded startups there.
Where the founders disagree
Hardware. Srugo argues hardware gives a startup no advantage, while Silverstone sees a moat. Both cite Peloton and Mirror as support.
Luck. Srugo stresses serendipity, and Woodbridge recalls Ottawa investor Pat DiPietro calling such luck shit luck. Silverstone says founders must do hard work to put themselves in lucky situations.
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