
FitFu (YC W11): Stay active anywhere - JofArnold
http://blog.fitfu.com/2010/12/17/fitfu-is-go-stay-active-with-your-iphone/
======
ErrantX
Right.

I _really_ want you to sell me this product because this solves (I think?) a
problem I often face. The product page (and the blog) makes a big thing about
the social aspect and so on. Which is fine; but I still have no idea what
exactly it does.

It tracks my movement. When? How?

What exactly does it do?

Clearly your are hip and cool, which is great. But I've clicked every link and
I am still none the wiser as to the product... sorry.

EDIT: Right, I noted the TC link ([http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/fitfu-
wants-to-get-you-exer...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/fitfu-wants-to-get-
you-exercising-at-your-desk-and-everywhere-else/)) posted elsewhere. That was
much more explanatory, now I understand a lot more. In fact (and, man, I never
thought I would say this!) the TechCrunch copy is pretty solid explanatory
text, you should take careful note of it and consider at least a page that
says something similar about what the product is.

~~~
kmfrk
I also had no idea what it basically did, but, as I often do, I bought it from
a developer and designer standpoint to learn what they had done.

To be honest, I still find it a bit weird after purchasing it. The sound in
the app is particularly annoying.

I can't wrap my head around it, but the fact that they've received funding
from YC suggests that there's more to it.

~~~
JofArnold
Could you clarify what sounds you find annoying. There's only two: 1/ The
music - which you can turn off from the home screen 2/ The counting... which
we can improve of course, but having it count is pretty useful :)

~~~
kmfrk
When I started up the app the first time, there was a prompt with the mascot
saying something. It was very loud, but fortunately, I wasn't wearing my
headphones at the time.

I think there was one later on, when I chose to start an exercise, but it
wasn't as loud, so I guess that one's fine.

I feel with sound in apps like I do on websites: it shouldn't start
automatically when you visit something for the first time. There should be a
clear contract about when you'll hear music.

~~~
JofArnold
Totally understand where you are coming from - thanks for elaborating.

------
steveklabnik
Looks awesome guys, congrats! One small bit of feedback: I had a really,
really hard time parsing this sentence:

> Activate some you time, fit in some fu time

By the time I got to the comma, my brain was totally halted.

~~~
chime
That's called a <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence>

~~~
smalter
no, i don't think it's a garden path sentence, because prior to the comma,
it's just gibberish. a garden path sentence leads you down one path of meaning
before turning the tables on you. it's quite possible that i'm being pedantic
or just wrong, but i think the op's point stands: it's badly written copy and
needs to be changed. it can't be justified as a poetic device.

------
superjared
"Ever get the feeling there's more to life than sitting around: sitting at
work, sitting in the car, sitting in front of the TV? Do you want to get
active but haven't time for the gym?"

Stop watching so much TV.

~~~
kmfrk
Or get a desk you can change the height of so you can stand up when you're
near it.

This app does not save you time - quite the contrary. It's a motivational,
social tool - not a productivity tool. The marketing is off.

~~~
JofArnold
Standing up is insufficient. Translocation of the trunk is what you need.

Of course if you do squats with your Macbook then it's alright.

But yeah, we need to hone the marketing. Any particular areas that are fixable
with copy changes or are the required changes bigger than that?

~~~
kmfrk
The aspect of "time" relates to productivity. I consider this a motivational
tool using game-ification and social media. The reason I love interval
training for running and getting into shape is that it gives me a tangible
sense of progression. When I am able, I can move on to the next tier of my
running program, which is tougher than the former. "Accessible", "Tangible
progress", "Mobility", "Social", "Motivitational".

I wouldn't equate doing the FitFu exercises with working out in the gym. Sure,
if you do the same exercises there, but I assume that working out in the gym
is more intense. The exercises don't strike me as cardio- nor weight/strength-
heavy.

You could promote it as a Wii Fit for iOS or a mobile version at that. Break
down what makes Wii Fit entertaining and popular (to those who do) and try to
apply it to your product.

~~~
JofArnold
The main use-case is to ease people into regular exercise, but even though I'm
a fairly serious gym-goer myself I find that doing a few reps here and there
throughout the day is really helpful to keep my mind refreshed.

What happens in practice (if the testers are anything to go by) is that they
start pushing themselves further and further so actually this break time kinda
becomes productive in its own right.

Something like that!

Hopefully we'll get better with the marketing with time as we receive feedback
from a wider audience

------
kmfrk
That mascot is really scary.

Amazing design, though. Really sets you apart from the competition.

~~~
jon914
The mascot is cool, but am I the only one to think it looks a little close to
Toucan Sam (Fruit Loops)?

~~~
JofArnold
Someone else said that too - not such a bad thing though I guess? We don't
have Toucan Sam over here, so was a coincidence.

We'll post about the evolution of the mascot at some point. He once looked
somewhat different.

~~~
jon914
Nothing wrong with that. It was just the first thing that popped to mind when
I saw it.

I'd love to see a posting about the evolution of the mascot and overall design
of the app. It's pretty slick.

------
LargeWu
The one thing I found missing from the pitch: Is it effective? Of course
that's implied in any marketing, but I thought the specifics were a bit fuzzy;
just some vague statements about moving around and tracking using the
accelerometer.

~~~
JofArnold
Thanks for the input. Yeah, we became aware this was missing relative late in
the design process. Also, as you'll hopefully see on the blog we did pivot
partway through from a more heavy workout schedule to something relatively
modest.

There's a lot of evidence to back up the APPROACH (WHO, Surgeon General, etc
etc) but what we need is more solid evidence related to our actual users.
Other than the fact that BenjieGillam now has pecs :P

One of the interesting things we discovered fairly late in the game was how
effective the old apps were at helping weightloss. But the problem with the
fitness industry is it's too full of these sorts of claims. We thing there's
some much more credible ways of presenting this stuff, and we plan to... just
as soon as we have the data.

~~~
BenjieGillam
That and the amount of exercise I do each day is increasing (from zero before
I started using FitFu...) and I actually WANT to do it now, which has never
been the case before!

------
jonmc12
I have a fitbit and an Android phone. Personally, I'm in the segment of this
market that would like my workout activity tracked in the background. I'm not
likely to change my routine based on an app, but if I had an app that could
automatically track the details of my exercises at the gym, I'd use it
endlessly. Fitbit does this for running / walking, but not for individual
exercises yet.

------
ry0ohki
Who does your design? It looks absolutely stunning.

~~~
pmjoyce
Agreed, really beautiful and engaging. <http://despark.com/> are responsible
by the looks of things.

~~~
fingerprinter
Lovely site...but is it really all flash? I have flashblock on and it said
entire site was flash. Perhaps an HTML5/JS version would be more appropriate?
I was hesitant to let that much flash load on my system given what flash does
to my sessions ;)

~~~
Groxx
Yep, it's all flash. Pretty easy to tell when scrolling suddenly jitters and
barely works :\

A remarkably _nice_ flash site, and pretty quick to load at that, but I would
love to see it w/o flash.

~~~
colinyoung
Yeah, that site has no reason at all to be flash.

------
datawalke
Congrats on shipping! The application looks great. I am going to give it a try
out later on tonight.

------
cracell
Just tried this out. Very cool start, looking forward to seeing how it
evolves.

I would love to see either an API to pull one's own data to graph it. Or built
in graphing of some sort. Also more activities overall. Looks like there are
only 8.

~~~
JofArnold
Thanks! Lots planned for 1.1 and beyond. Feel free to email us any other
thoughts you have - hard keeping up with the comments on HN.

------
BenjieGillam
TechCrunch announcement: [http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/fitfu-wants-to-get-
you-exer...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/fitfu-wants-to-get-you-
exercising-at-your-desk-and-everywhere-else/)

------
ig1
Has something changed with the YC process, I don't recall ever seeing as many
announcements postfixed with the YC season (i.e YC W11) before that season
actually happened as we do now.

~~~
colinyoung
There are way more companies per class now, from about 10 up to 30 or so. They
also didn't used to have a Winter class.

~~~
ig1
Even taking that into account. YC companies didn't used to describe themselves
as (YC Xxx) until after they went through the process.

AFAIK there's always been a winter class (the second class I believe took
place in Winter 06)

~~~
colinyoung
Ah, I see what you mean. Should have checked my source before saying that. If
I got into YC, it'd be extremely tempting not to do that, though :)

------
MJR
"The more you and your friends are active, the higher your level and the
higher your points. And points mean prizes; unlock new content as you
progress."

What prizes? I don't see any further explanation of this anywhere on the site.
What are the point values for these prizes? What kind of content am I
unlocking? Advanced exercises, tips, what?

It's really not clear what happens after I do the exercise, tell my friends
and get some points, but apparently something will happen.

~~~
JofArnold
How'd best to clarify that. Should we clarify the prizes inline e.g.

"Unlock prizes such as content x,y,x"

Or would it be better to have another page that delves into those features in
more detail.

We don't have much experience of doing that whole user-journey bit on a
website so all input welcome!

~~~
biot
Why not just say "Use your points to unlock new content" which does away with
the concept of prizes altogether.

------
judegomila
This is cool. Now my iphone has a built in gym as well...

------
kyenneti
My respect for the YC increasing with each passing batch. I was under the
impression that its only possible to come with some software apps for such
small investments (in terms of money) - But YC is showing the world that there
are no boundaries and no limits on what one could come up with . I only wish
if someone can replicate YC to our Healthcare industry.

------
zende
I love the the whistle character! I also like applying game dynamics and
competition to exercise and losing weight

------
crad
Is this targeted specifically to women? All the screenshots and avatar photos
are female. Doesn't seem like it is functionally but I wouldn't want to make
the faux pas of installing it like I did when I tried Nike Training Club
instead of Nike BOOM.

~~~
crad
I must have been distracted, I did find a photo of a guy in one screenshot so
I'm thinking it's safe for male consumption.

~~~
JofArnold
It's safe for male consumption - do not worry ;)

------
holdenk
Any plans for an Android port?

------
cullenking
Nice work! Let us know if you ever want to explore integration with
GPS/mapping at some point, we are working with several other mobile fitness
app developers to provide integration with our service.

~~~
JofArnold
Consider yourself emailed! Thx!

------
nwmcsween
Damn I was going to do this, I had the plan on paper around 2 years ago but
with a few more features to engage users. Such as competitions worth $ and
speed runs using the camera for live competitions

~~~
kmfrk
There is still time. Don't be discouraged.

The early bird gets the worm; the second mouse gets the cheese.[1]

Edit: Guess I agree with Sukotto. :)

[1]: [http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2009/05/first-mover-
advant...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2009/05/first-mover-advantage-
about-compound-interest-not-market-share.php)

------
jlees
Great idea - I'd love to help you guys out with copywriting, especially as it
seems to be a big problem for HN-ers. Sadly, I don't have an iPhone so I can't
even try the app. Meh.

------
mattberg
any early testers have any thoughts on how this compares to Fitbit? i am a big
fan of Fitbit and their customer support is pretty amazing.

------
yesimahuman
Any chance you guys are from the UK? I think I met you before the YC
interview. Congrats!

~~~
BenjieGillam
Yes, we're from the UK :)

------
ladon86
Good job, I've already bought both PushupFu and CrunchFu.

Is this like a combination of those two and more?

~~~
JofArnold
It's more advanced in some ways, but misses a few features in other ways. For
now anyway... 1.1's nearly ready for submission and 1.2 will follow shortly
after... We're moving fast.

------
jkahn
Are you the same guys that made PushupFu for the iPhone? Or is that purely
coincidental?

~~~
BenjieGillam
Yes, that was us :)

------
revorad
Nice to see game mechanics applied to productive activities. Good luck guys!

------
heyrhett
Why is the FitFu mascot the alien version of Tucan Sam?

