STRETCHIT

How Two Sisters Built STRETCHIT into a Leading Fitness App

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About
Business

Natasha Nikolaeva

Founder, STRETCHIT

Founders

STRETCHIT

stretchitapp.com

from New York, NY, USA

started January 2014

Founders

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Founders

Profitable

Yes

Days To Build

730

Year Started

2014

Customer

B2C

Founders

Profitable

Yes

Days To Build

730

Year Started

2014

Customer

B2C

Who is Natasha Nikolaeva?🔗

Natasha Nikolaeva, originally from Russia, is a former corporate and M&A attorney who transitioned to entrepreneurship after discovering the personal health benefits of stretching; she co-founded the STRETCHIT app alongside her sister, Marina, to promote flexibility and mobility training globally.

What problem does STRETCHIT solve?🔗

STRETCHIT solves the problem of limited access to structured flexibility training by providing convenient, high-quality video classes that help individuals improve their mobility, relieve pain, and achieve personal fitness goals, allowing users to feel healthier and more connected to their bodies without needing to find specialized instructors locally.

How did Natasha come up with the idea for STRETCHIT?🔗

Natasha Nikolaeva's journey to creating STRETCHIT began during her time as a corporate attorney when she struggled with inflexibility and persistent back pain. While pursuing her master’s degree in New York, she decided to attend a stretching class at a local dance studio. To her surprise, her flexibility significantly improved, her pain diminished, and she experienced better overall health. This personal transformation was not only inspiring but also eye-opening.

Realizing the profound benefits of stretching, Natasha wanted to share this positive impact with others. She noticed a lack of accessible, high-quality stretching programs, even in a place as resource-rich as New York. Together with her sister Marina, who also experienced her own flexibility journey, they recognized the potential for an app that could provide structured flexibility training to a broader audience.

The duo’s ideation process involved extensive research on the fitness app market. They realized that, although there were numerous fitness apps, very few catered specifically to flexibility and mobility training. This insight, paired with their personal experiences and the challenge of accessing good stretching resources, drove them to refine their concept. Despite technical hurdles and the need to learn about app development from scratch, Natasha's belief in the benefits of stretching guided them through creating a platform that could help transform lives worldwide.

How did Natasha build the initial version of STRETCHIT?🔗

Natasha Nikolaeva and her sister Marina Skladchikova took two years to build the first version of the STRETCHIT app, primarily due to technical challenges and the learning curve associated with app development. Initially, they hired coders to create the app, but they ran into significant issues with the coding language choice; they used cross-platform coding, which resulted in numerous bugs. This extended the development time significantly, and they had to reset the project using native code to better manage functionality across platforms. Their vision necessitated follow-along videos and a seamless user experience, which required iterative improvements and collaboration with professional videographers and flexibility instructors to capture high-quality instructional content, ensuring users felt guided as if they were in a live class. Despite difficulties, Natasha's persistence and passion for the product fueled the intricate build process, laying the foundation for what became a leading app in the stretching and flexibility space.

How did Natasha launch STRETCHIT and get initial traction?🔗

Instagram Community Building🔗

The founders of STRETCHIT started growing an Instagram community about 18 months before launching the app. They reached out to communities interested in pole dancing and flexibility, as those groups were initially hard to find quality stretching resources. They consistently posted content, engaged with their audience, and conducted challenges to foster community engagement.

Why it worked: Instagram allowed them to build a targeted audience that was already interested in stretching and flexibility training. By engaging with the community and showcasing the app's benefits early on, they had a pool of ready and waiting users on launch day.

Beta Testing and Early Visibility🔗

Before the official app launch, STRETCHIT conducted beta testing and made some of their classes available on a niche platform designed for pole dancers. This not only provided valuable feedback to refine their product but also made their future customers aware of the app's offerings.

Why it worked: Beta testing helped in refining product features and ensuring the app addressed users' needs. The visibility on a niche platform also created a pre-launch buzz, ensuring potential users knew about the app before its official release.

The founders actively engaged users through Instagram by sharing not only their stretching journey but also engaging with their community about which countries to launch next. This direct engagement helped create a sense of belonging and urgency around the launch in various countries.

Why it worked: It gave potential users the feeling of being involved in the launch process, adding an element of anticipation and investment in the app's success. Directly engaging with the audience helped the founders prioritize markets where demand was highest.

Manual Initial Revenue via PayPal🔗

Faced with financial constraints, the founders resorted to manually processing transactions for subscriptions during a makeshift Black Friday sale via PayPal. They announced the offer on Instagram, inviting users to message them for an invoice. Each transaction was handled individually at that time.

Why it worked: This approach allowed immediate cash flow and highlighted the founders' willingness to engage deeply and directly with their community to make the product accessible and generate early revenue.

What was the growth strategy for STRETCHIT and how did they scale?🔗

Instagram🔗

STRETCHIT leveraged Instagram predominantly for their initial customer acquisition and community engagement. They began by building a dedicated follower base well ahead of their app launch. Through consistent and engaging content, including challenges with the pole dancing community, they cultivated a niche following that had a strong interest in flexibility training. This grassroots approach enabled them to build anticipation and a ready audience for their launch. Their strategy of showcasing user-generated content and addressing the specific needs of their target audience was instrumental in converting followers into app users once it became available.

Why it worked: Instagram provided a visual platform perfect for demonstrating the app’s benefits, such as increased flexibility and health improvements. By focusing on community-driven content and leveraging a niche market, they effectively created authentic engagement. The visual nature of Instagram was ideal for demonstrating both user stories and the app’s tangible benefits, drawing interested potential users into their ecosystem before the app even launched.

Word of Mouth🔗

Word-of-mouth was a crucial strategy for STRETCHIT, especially in the early days. Users who benefited from the app's stretching routines naturally shared their experiences with friends and within niche communities, like dance and gymnastics. The app provided value by filling a gap in the market for structured flexibility and mobility training, which naturally led to personal recommendations.

Why it worked: The power of word-of-mouth lies in its credibility. When existing users share their positive experiences and tangible results, it garners trust among potential users. STRETCHIT’s delivery of effective and results-driven content meant that users felt confident recommending it to others who might benefit from enhanced flexibility and reduced body pain.

User Acquisition through Partnerships🔗

STRETCHIT partnered with Union Apps to expand their app’s marketing and reach. This partnership allowed STRETCHIT to focus on product improvements while Union Apps managed marketing and advertising, indirectly boosting user acquisition through expert strategies tailored to app growth.

Why it worked: By collaborating with experts in app marketing, STRETCHIT ensured that their marketing strategies were both contemporary and effective. This partnership optimized their user acquisition by efficiently targeting potential subscribers across various platforms, allowing STRETCHIT to focus on honing the product itself, which further increased user satisfaction and retention.

Retention and Engagement Features🔗

STRETCHIT incorporated motivational features within the app to boost retention. This included personalized notifications reminding users to stretch, community challenges, and progress tracking with photos. These features created a habit-forming loop, encouraging users to continually engage with the app beyond the initial download.

Why it worked: The retention strategies tapped into creating habitual usage among users, a critical aspect for subscription-based apps. Personalized reminders and community features boosted user engagement and accountability, making users more likely to renew their subscriptions. By focusing on consistent user experience improvement and feedback, STRETCHIT maintained a loyal customer base that valued continuous health benefits.

What's the pricing strategy for STRETCHIT?🔗

STRETCHIT offers a 7-day free trial followed by $13.33/month and includes free classes, focusing on flexibility and stretching goals.

What were the biggest lessons learned from building STRETCHIT?🔗

User-Centric Design Matters: STRETCHIT emphasizes simplicity and user-friendliness in their app design, which helps ensure users can start workouts quickly without getting overwhelmed.
Listen to Your Customers: Feedback from users drove significant changes in STRETCHIT, such as creating more beginner-friendly classes and maintaining a user-supportive environment.
Adapt and Test: The company initially faced technical setbacks with app development but pivoted by hiring a new team and using native code, showcasing the importance of adapting and testing.
Build Community Pre-Launch: Prior to launching STRETCHIT, the founders built a community through Instagram, generating interest and ensuring they had an eager user base from day one.
Value-Driven Support: A focus on excellent customer service and responding promptly to feedback helped STRETCHIT maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and positive reviews.

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