All posts tagged Social media

Hot Startup Profile: bodyADDICTS

Company	bodyADDICTS
Location	New York
Website	bodyaddicts.com
Twitter	bodyADDICTS
Sectors	Health, Social Media
Key Employees	Jacob Gunther, Daniel Terc
Elevator Pitch	“Train ANYWHERE”

If there’s one thing an Internet Startup and Personal Training will have in common, it will be “development”. Of course, this word has different meanings within the two unrelated fields but the basic concepts and goals are the same.

Founded by Jacob Gunther, bodyADDICTS takes the two fields and brings them together, unifying them through the common goal of development. That is, development of an emerging market and development of personal well-being. That emerging market is one where personal training is no longer being confined to the brick and mortar fitness gyms. Conceptually speaking, bodyADDICTS is not dissimilar to the Yoga, Pilates and “bootcamp fitness” classes that are using studios and empty spaces around North America. The difference however is that bodyADDICTS is bringing all of these together through its platform and depending on your fitness needs, bringing the gym to you.

“No one saw Netflix coming. Look what happened to Blockbuster!”
– Jacob Gunther (Founder of bodyADDICTS)

As more people realize the importance of staying healthy and fit, bodyADDICTS brings yet another twist to the fitness revolution happening across Canada and the U.S. No longer is it a case that to get fit, you need to go to a gym and lift weights or run on a treadmill for an hour. There are numerous methods to bettering your health and bodyADDICTS understands that.

FITNESS TO GET SEXY, NOT BULKY

Yoga, Pilates, TRX Suspension, Kettle Bells, (Mixed) Martial Arts, Resistance training, Toning and Conditioning… These are just some of the different methods that bodyADDICTS brings to the user and fitness community. At the same time, it is doing it through providing a low-cost solution to the masses. Not everyone can justify paying over a thousand dollars a year for a gym they use two or three times a week – and that’s if a person is lucky enough to squeeze in some gym time.

By bringing a low-cost solution to those wanting to maintain their health and bringing it to them directly, bodyADDICTS has developed a platform that’s sure to make Fitness Gyms afraid. After all… bA is taking their clientele away from their brick and mortar locations and bringing them into parks for bootcamp fitness sessions and more.

And they aren’t stopping just there! Fitness isn’t just a matter of pushing your body for a set amount of time. It’s also about eating right and sleeping plenty. While bodyADDICTS can’t help you sleep more, they can help you sleep better (knowing you paid less for your last session with them than you would have through your old gym).

Core to the success of any fitness regimen, is nutritional counselling – know what to eat, when to eat it and why. With emphasis placed on good, clean organic foods, the organic experience bodyADDICTS introduces is further enhanced, with connections to healthy food options. Moreover, these connections are not just links to health food stores, but are to healthy restaurants to eat at when you don’t have the time to cook something good at home.

If you’re not ready to push-up this startup, then maybe you should know who already is: Dr. Oz. In May 2012, bA and Dr. Oz teamed up for the Highway to Health Festival. Dr. Oz isn’t alone either. Dolce and Gabbana model Adam Senn trains with bodyADDICTS.

Other coverage: bodyADDICTS Interactive Fitness Site Launches on Yahoo (via PRWeb) and Mr. Dapper.

Because Personal Training and Fitness is such a vast field, it’s difficult to name bodyADDICTS closest competition, but similar platforms and ideas come from YuFit, NavaFit, TrainingMobs and BodyRock.TV

So, are you pumped up about this startup? Show us! Go to cdling.com and give your opinion on bodyADDICTS.

Hot Startup Profile: NoteSolution

Company	NoteSolution
Location	Toronto
Website	notesolution.com
Twitter	Notesolution
Sectors	Communications, Media
Key Employees	Kevin Wu, Jack Tai, Jackey Li
Elevator Pitch	“Notesolution is an online note sharing platform for post secondary students.”

No one should be surprised that NoteSolution formed two years ago. Founded in September 2010, their team has built a platform for online note sharing specifically for Students. No longer students themselves, the NoteSolution team spent their summer vacation revamping the website, giving it a fresh new look and placing on their landing page a simple message to greet students and users:

“Boost your grades with the best notes and study resources”

Based on a “freemium” model – an element sure to attract students more than just periodically – NoteSolution allows students to search for study notes complementary to their courses, paying for the notes through NoteSolution’s system of credits. Students can earn more credits by uploading their own notes to NoteSolution, adding to the resource pool of notes.

As a “freemium” service students also have the option to buy more credits from NoteSolution. They also have the option to exchange their credits for cash rewards – a bonus for the keeners and honour rollers.

NoteSolution’s team composes of recent graduates who understand the needs of university and college students. Driven by a simple wish that they had the same kind of service when they were in school. It’s hard for us to avoid the school-based entendres and puns, but their little after-school project deserves a high GPA. [Editor’s note: I think a 4.0 should do nicely 😉 ]

Notes written about the startup have all been favourable, with coverage throughout the halls of the Internet including sites like TechVibes (which you can read here and here), Building43’s John McKenna, Canada’s Business News Network (BNN), CP24, Yahoo (via PRWeb) and MacLean’s Magazine.

Have some opinions you want to share with the Cdling class? Bring them to the front to share on NoteSolution’s profile.

1 Comment

by cdlinghq on September 7, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Digital Media, Networking, Social Media, Software as a Service, Startups

Tagged BNN, Building43, Business News Network, Canada, CD$, Cdling, college, Communications, Credits, Education, Freemium, John McKenna, MacLean, Media, Notes, NoteSolution, Post-secondary, School, Sharing, Social media, startup grind, Students, Teaching, TechCrunch, TechVibes, Toronto, Twitter

Posted by cdlinghq on September 7, 2012

https://cdlinghighlights.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/notesolution/

Hot Startup Profile: EventHoller

Company	EventHoller
Location	Toronto
Website	eventholler.com
Twitter	@eventholler
Sectors	eCommerce, Social Media
Key Employees	Jamil Khan
Elevator Pitch	“Promoter Powered Event Management”

While there are many event services available, EventHoller stands apart by taking a different approach. Through EventHoller, event promoters can network with each other, in addition to managing their own event.

Looking at existing event management systems, Founder Jamil Khan identified a couple of problems with how those systems work for promoters. First was that ticketing systems are expensive. Second was that event promotion is expensive and the results can be uncertain.
His solution involves combining an event management system with a social media network, while giving promoters access to control of ticket prices and consequently, ticket commission.

Through their platform, promoter’s events are posted to their social media outlet and users are directed to the ticket sales page. Signing up for and using the service is 100 per cent free and the promoter has complete control over the ticket prices. As an extension to ticket sales, through networking, a promoter can use affiliate promoters to help sell their tickets and the affiliate is given a portion of commission, after they help sell a ticket.

Promotion through affiliates also brings the benefits of more cohesion within the promoting community, but more importantly to any promoter is the opportunity to reach larger audiences.

Event management being big business, EventHoller has a large market to work within. With the market of online ticket sales being $3.3 billion and growing, their platform is well positioned.

Receiving favourable attention already from BlogTO, iTWorldCanada and TechVibes, EventHoller is a startup on the rise.

Solid pitch in hand, EventHoller will be featured at [IN]cubes Demo Day on September 12.

If you have any comments or opinions that you think can help promote EventHoller, why not do so on EventHoller’s profile?

Hot Startup Profile: Swaag.it

Company	Swaag.It
Location	New York
Website	Swaag.it
Twitter	@swaagit
Sectors	Social Media, eCommerce
Key Employees	Peter Chun Mark Bufalini Alex Burgel
Elevator Pitch	“Lifestyle community where users express and share their brand interests”

Merging the worlds of fashion, lifestyle and social media communities, Swaag lets users share photos, comments and experiences in fun new ways. While analogous to OpenSky, Pinterest and Instragram, the Swaag platform takes their user experience to the next level by adding new layers and bringing photos to life.

Focusing on fashion and lifestyle, Swaag’s app brings a new layer of discovery and engagement to its users. Participation and engagement in media sharing is expanded through a couple of unique features: photo annotation, vote casting, “Liking” and “Battling”.

Consumer Product Advocacy

As an expansion on the tagging idea, Swaag’s annotating lets users label the products and fashions within a photo. After using annotations, they can then share brands and styles with others in the community.

Continuing with the sharing of brands and styles, users can also decide to make a photo available to the community for everyone to cast votes on.

Swaag’s system for “likes” introduces sartorial badges. These badges let users apply what they think of what a person is wearing or displaying in their photo. Such badges can be as simple as “Nautical theme,” “Multiple hats” and even “Hipster.” And while there are existing badges and labels within its system, nothing is automatic. All tags and annotations are user declared making the experience organic.

Quite possibly the most interesting feature Swaag brings to the user experience with their app is “Battling.” An idea no longer exclusive to fashion magazines, users can choose pictures for the battle mode, comparing what they’re wearing to someone else. The battle mode isn’t restricted to just complete outfits and personal style; anything goes: shoes, hats, shirts, pants, etc.

Swaag’s app is free for all iOS devices.

While Swaag is a lifestyle and fashion app, it already has a small percentage of items that are not fashion related, clearing the way for an easy expansion into other verticals like tech gadgets, cars and more.

As mentioned earlier, Swaag is analogous to OpenSky, Pinterest and Instagram, but faces competition from Go Try It On, The Sartorialist and Stylebook, just to name a few.

Launched two months ago, Swaag has already gained favourable attention in the media from outlets such as Refinery29, Digital Trends and BetaBeat.

In hopes of making a statement, Swaag will be at Ignite Fundraiser’s New York City September 4 Demo Day, fashioned by the folks at PeopleConnect.

Have any insights or opinions on Swaag and want to share them with us? You can do so on their profile on Cdling.com, by clicking here.

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