On April 26th, we held a webinar on innovation and entrepreneurship in the fitness sector where we had the opportunity to interview Oscar Repiano, one of the Co-founders of Vitruve.In this pleasant talk, he not only spoke to us about his Sports encoder (the tool used by hundreds of elite athletes to achieve their maximum performance), I also shared the details you should take into account when innovating or undertaking with your project. So with that said, get ready to take note! Surely, if you came to this article, it is because you are also looking to innovate or undertake in your area.
#1 How did Vitruve come about?
The story of Oscar and Iker, co-founders of this incredible project, begins with the daily lives of both of them, because not only did they study Engineering but, in turn, they went to the gym together. Both of them were very interested in the world of performance, strength and powerlifting and were always looking to improve their latest brands, but it came to a point where they stagnated because they didn't see great results and that's when they decided to look for a solution. They met David Marchante from Power Explosive, with whom they not only started training but also to learn to correctly manage loads, fatigue and to measure daily performance. David had a VBT device, an encoder, but since his was very expensive Oscar and Iker decided to create their own. Iker created one in a shoebox, then they made a more robust model with a 3D printer, an Android application and so they scaled up the product.After a while they realized that a lot of trainers and athletes had this same need and that's when they decided to pre-sell the product and open an Instagram account to promote it.They succeeded receive approximately 300 orders and from there they scaled up to what they are today... a large company or with a product of great value for athletes and athletes.
#2 What barriers exist when it comes to innovating or entrepreneurship and how can we overcome them?
- El Capital
We all know that in the beginning many projects start with little capital, but there are several things we can do to properly manage and distribute the money. Oscar shared two ideas that could be great for you to start introducing your project to the market:
- Pre-sell to receive the money with which, later, you will manufacture the product (product to order).
- Perform the tests in the most useful and economical way possible.
- Knowledge
Nobody is born learned, much less knowing how to set up a startup or business, but it is clear that there are currently multiple resources, tools and professionals that you can guide yourself to embark on your own path. Here we are going to advise you not to invest in unnecessary resources or intend to “invent the wheel” in the management of your business. Without going too far, in Harbiz we have a very complete and intuitive platform that could allow you to easily manage your project and the clients you start to have. From the web, you can choose the plan that best suits the volume of your business or start carrying out a Free trial of the same to organize yourself.
Returning to knowledge, when we decide to launch a business or project, training and continuous reading are the key to keeping up to date both on consumer changes in the sector and on the problems that arise for our target audience. For this case, we recommend:
- Follow entrepreneurs or professionals who have a similar approach to yours and who are successful in the sector.
- Attend events, webinars or training or networking activities such as those offered by Harbiz.
- Subscribe to newsletters or newsletters that deal with your topics of interest or daily news from the sector.
- Read a lot... especially books on business management, finance, marketing, sales and personal branding.
- Join communities of fitness and health professionals. In them, you will not only be able to create alliances but also to continue learning and growing with the rest.
- The Product or Service Itself
This is a point that should not be misunderstood because, when we refer to the product or service as a possible barrier, we refer to those business ideas or projects that have not been created based on the demand or problem of a specific audience.
Your product or service should not only be what you like or what you know how to do best, it must, in turn, respond to the needs of those people who know need your help and who you know you want to help.
#3 Is it essential to have a big budget and a great idea to innovate?
On this question, Oscar told us that this depended on what we understood by innovation... Innovation can be bringing something to the market that didn't exist before or improving the way in which we do or offer something, such as a product or service. If our focus of innovation is going to be to launch something never seen before on the market, the answer would probably be yes, it can be an indispensable condition to have at least a good budget; But on the contrary, if what we are looking for is to improve something that already exists or we offer, then only we will need a tool or resource to help us do it and even to facilitate our objective. At this point Oscar also shared some words that can undoubtedly help you to innovate:
...” What we have to understand is that entrepreneurship is not just about money... in our case, if we had started with a lot of capital, we would have burned the money on things that we should not have done out of ignorance. The fact of starting from low to high made us stick to cheap, small ones, but now looking back I realize that great things can be done starting from the bottom”.
#4 What are the mistakes you should avoid making when starting or innovating
- Get complicated in things where you can't add value. This is what we mean by wanting to cover a niche that you don't master or that you only have notions of. It's better to refer a customer to another colleague in the industry than to try to fit them in any way with your services.
- Use expensive resources or tools When there are thousands out there that are cheap or even free
- Enter the market with a product that promises more than it proves (or really is). It's better to launch something small first and then go for more.
- Trust anyone's feedback and not that of your target audience. If you're going to release soccer shoes, there's no point in asking a basketball player for feedback, right?
- Sharing the same content as other professionals and not having your own style. Find content that you master and that you know you are different from (that content that you know they won't find on Google)
#5 What are the best ways to communicate your project
If it is true that right now the social networks that top the list of largest users and daily activity are Instagram and TikTok, however, the answer is simple and perhaps the least expected for many people who are starting out... You should focus on the media where your potential client is and not on the one that you or those around you like the most.
#6 How you can reach your target audience
“By the data and by word of mouth”...
If you start to notice a different trend than the one you had proposed at the beginning, direct your communication efforts to that “new” target audience. Maybe the need is there and not somewhere else.
#7 What is the best advice for those who are thinking of innovating or entrepreneurship
Here are the most important quotes from the interview with Oscar Repiano, to encourage you to start today with that project you have in your hands
We are going to set out to innovate in what we already offer. Innovation isn't a matter of inventing the wheel, it's about improving what you already offer or turning it around to make it look better, it's about detecting problems and solving them through a product or service (which is worth paying for). In fitness there are still possibilities...
