If at first you fail…iterate.

We’ve been getting some questions on the status of the platform release and we haven’t had many answers for the past few weeks. We are happy to finally have a meaningful update.

We hit a strategic roadblock when we began to decide which brands and locations had the most interest and should be released first.

As you know, the goal of Lifefitter is to bring people together for real offline connections to enjoy a shared passion such as hiking, cycling, diving, etc. In order to accomplish this objective we need to have enough people on the platform to enable these connections. As you may remember, that’s the reason we were working so hard to put together a large beta invite list prior to launching any features.

So, what was the strategic roadblock you ask? Well, we had pretty good response to the beta push on some of our channels. The problem was, when we looked at the database of potential invitees to determine what geographic areas to launch first, we realized that our marketing campaign had not penetrated well enough in many specific locations.

So, our options came down to the following 3 choices:

1) Release the platform in our best-penetrated areas and rely on the early adopters to bring in other members (ie viral marketing) before becoming frustrated with the lack of connections and moving on.

2) Spend more money in specific markets and try to create large enough geographic concentrations to power the platform in select areas.

3) Revise our features to provide something more useful to early adopters that was not reliant on the network effect to provide user value.

After deciding that option A was very likely to fail and option B didn’t make much sense in the current economic environment, we decided on option C.

So, how do we hope to provide something useful to early adopters? I’d like to introduce you to Startlike. It's a browser homepage that has all of the basic features you need like Google search, custom news feeds and quick links to your favorite sites but it also has a few things much more relevant to your interests.

With Startlike you get an awesome photograph and a few links about your passion every day. You can join the discussion with others who share your interests and begin to create new friendships right away.

The response to Startlike has been great and people seem to love it. Our early adopters have shown no signs of becoming disinterested because the core features do not require a large user-base to be useful (ie they don’t rely on that pesky network effect like a social network).

Our immediate plan is to build on Startlike’s early success and increase its core functionality. Then, as it grows, we hope Startlike will realize its stated purpose and funnel users into the broader Lifefitter Social Platform to support our corporate mission of creating friendships.

There are literally tens of thousands of social networks on the web. Quick, name 5!! The reason most people can’t is because so few succeed. Early adopters leave before the network achieves scale and this results in a death spiral. We have always known overcoming this hurdle would be our biggest challenge and we are excited about the journey ahead with Startlike leading the way.

You may have a few questions, such as;

What about the Lifefitter beta I signed up for?
It’s still coming, albeit in slightly different form that we initially planned. For those of you who signed up for the beta to get a free gift of some sort by participating we fully plan to honor that promotion.

The deal was, you use all the features throughout the beta while giving feedback and we’ll send you the gift when the beta is complete. We’ve known all along that only a super dedicated few would achieve this goal and that’s still the plan. We hope you are excited to have Startlike and it’s functions as the first set of feature releases.

Everyone who signed up for the beta will be invited to get started and enjoy a Startlike channel. From there, we will release the social features along the way as the user base scales and hopefully, when it’s all said and done, you’ll have a few new friends.

What happened to my data where I signed up for a beta invite?
Nothing. As clearly stated in our privacy policy your personal information will not be shared or sold. Invites will still be sent to the email address you provided. The only difference is that the process now begins with Startlike.

What if I don’t like this “new direction” and want out?
First, we really hate to lose you. If you are passionate about a channel we hope you will choose to stay onboard and work with us to build a great network. That said, if you don’t want to participate, simply unsubscribe from the member list when your beta invite arrives.


Well, that’s where we are. Startlike is online with a few channels and you are free to take it for a spin. Once we stomp out some bugs we’ll release more channels and move into a broader open beta. From there, we’ll see how it goes.



Post by: Jeff

Mountain Biking 101 - Assume the Attack Position.

Last Saturday was a bit of an adventure to say the least. After a bit of arm twisting we convinced Jim, our CTO to get a new mountain bike, so the following morning we all met at a local trail for some MTB fun. Strapped and ready we brave the 40 degree weather and take off down the sandy paths of Sesqui's bike trail. For the first mile or so everyone cracks jokes about who's going to monkey first or be the first to endo. All of the jokes were funny for the first few miles, but 3 miles into the trail Jim finally confessed that he had just eaten french toast from Sonic and wasn't feeling well (nobody told him not to eat nasty, greasy junk food before biking). I asked Jim why he wanted Sonic, "I was hungry and it was the most appetising thing Sonic had and I didn't feel like going anywhere else." Fair enough, but next time get a powerbar. Jim's weak gag reflex and lack of stomach control is definitely a lesson learned.
French toast free and 10 minutes later we're all back on the trail and flying through sandy single track and pine tree forest. Towards the end of the trail there is a downhill section of steep root-filled twisting single track, nothing too difficult. At the bottom of the his is a small 3 foot drop formed from a web of tree roots which takes you to a fork in the trail. So here's the deal, I've ridden this trail and I knew it was coming up and I decided I didn't want to jump it because riding too fast will land you into a tree immediately after the drop. Instead of assuming the attack position, I do these 3 things in order:

• Hesitate
• Lock my brakes
• Whisper "Oh Sh*t"

Karma can hit you at funny times, espeically when you joke and imagine someone else endo-ing before you. I went over the bars and a tree root jumped out and smacked me in the nose; I was a human torpedo for at least 3 seconds. The end result is a lot of blood, a broken nose and a slight feeling of embarassment:


My lesson: When approaching rough terrain, assume the attack position.
.
Post by: Bobby