New technology from startup ventures is transforming the sports industry. The mission of this series is to introduce startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience and allow Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story. This particular startup is taking part in the Hype Global Sport Innovation Competition In Rio De Janeiro on August 24th, 2016.
Company Name: The Physique Factory
Founders: Alex Weekes, Tom Doe and Luke Bellamy
Headquarters: Watford, Herts
1. Elevator Pitch
Imagine if you were able to train in the same way as your favourite athletes. Searching online for Mike Tyson’s boxing routine wouldn’t be any good for you because you’re probably not in the same kind of shape as Mike Tyson! But what if you could use the same processes that top athletes use to make sure that they have the perfect training program for their ability at any given time?
The Physique Factory has developed a system that allows athletes and sports people to grade their ability using standardised tests in every area of physical ability and then our interactive system generates a personalised training plan based on their ability. Personalised plans, objective scoring and sports specific profiling means that not only can you make consistent progress in your athletic development but you can compare your progress with your peers and top athletes around the world, improving the athletic ability of sports people from grass roots right through to elite level.
2. Problem and Solution
People who train for the purpose of fitness and physical performance rather than just to look good, have no way of knowing what kind of progress they are making or anyway to tailor their training around their ability. Random results and no way to measure progress can lead to injuries, plateaus and eventually shortened careers or loss of interest. Athletes simply aren’t reaching their full potential because they aren’t measuring their progress or being specific enough to their ability when they are training.
Our platform gives standard tests in each area of athletic ability – strength, speed, power, agility and endurance – and lets athletes know objectively how they score. It then uses that score to create a training program that is specific to the ability of that athlete. We have even created a way to profile athletes by their sport so that we can select the most appropriate areas for them to train and then test them on those, and use their scores in that area to improve their athletic ability specifically for that sport. Our users never have to use cookie-cutter, random training programs again as each time they improve they retest and get a new training plan.
3. Target Market
Our target market is 18 to 30 year olds who play competitive sport at least once per week, primarily university students, amateur athletes and low level professional athletes
4. Business Model
We work on a freemium model – strength testing and training (the basis of everything else) is always free and athletes can pay per cycle for other areas or get a monthly subscription to get sports specific plans with nutritional guidance as well. Our athlete networking platform called “Hex” allows us to grow by athletes inviting teammates and friends to compare with.
5. Management Team
Alex Weeks – Managing Director – setting company vision, building strategic partnership and deals and monetising the system in other way
Tom Doe – Operations Director – Setting the training plans, looking after the athletes and running any offline training sessions
Luke Bellamy – Technical Director – facilitating the system through the apps and any other online systems
6. What else do you want the audience to know about the venture?
If you are an athlete or a coach and you want to utilise our testing and training system then email luke@thephysiquefactory.com . We are currently in beta testing for our iOS app and will be launching the full version later this year. We also have some features coming where coaches can use the system for their existing athletes
