Fitness brands commonly pitch shortcuts to results, such as a quick programs that guarantee the best body or top strength. The reality, however, is that one must put in the reps - do the work - over months and years to see real results. To truly win the game, fitness is a lifelong pursuit.
Similarly, common startup advice in the last decade has suggested founders operate their businesses to grow as fast as possible, while utilizing shortcuts such as growth hacks, launch and leave MVPs, hastily entering new verticals and burning cash.
Our approach to company building mirrors our fitness philosophy: sustainable growth occurs over an iterated process of being better than yesterday. This consistency compounds over time to deliver results. Taking shortcuts to hit big milestones comes at a tremendous cost that often sets you back in the long run.
This essay describes the framework we’ve used to scale our subscription business to $25M+ ARR with only 40 employees while maintaining cash-flow breakeven.
Our growth framework centers on driving retention gains in our existing customers, and conversion gains in our trial users. With a quick ratio of 1.9, our retention is excellent for a consumer fitness company.
This focus allows us to sustainably onboard new, adjacent customer segments. Additionally, stacking new, high-retention cohorts on top of existing cohorts compounds our growth over time.
Smaller gains can add up quickly, compounding into large outcomes. With the following growth framework, the opportunity surface significantly expands in a short amount of time.
Customer retention is the foundation of Fitbod’s growth. By measuring the retention of different user segments, we assess the degree to which we have found product-market fit for each of those segments.
Below is a representation of our current customer base next to our total addressable market, divided by retention segments.
Retention differences between our segments highlight need gaps, where our current product offering does not completely solve a given user’s problem set.