Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”. Maybe keep this in mind, three students Kalon Boston, Leo Belyi, and Blake Hatch launched their website, named Vastus. They are from Northeastern University and have created an online platform where users can compete in fitness challenges to win prizes, and connect with personal trainers. Their goal was lowering the cost of personal training and making it easier for people to get workouts built by experts.
The idea behind their website is simple: Users complete fitness challenges on video and the best video wins a prize. Prizes include workout apparels, free sessions with personal trainers, and monthly memberships at gyms in Boston. The challenges are posted on the website for 3 weeks and include workouts such as pull-ups and push-ups until failure, cardio exercises, and weight lifts. They see the website as an app for both users trying to get fit, and for marketing purposes of personal trainers and gyms in Boston. Businesses can partner with Vastus to offer employees a chance to use the platform as a way to promote healthy behavior in the workplace.
Kalon Boston and his co-founders were assigned a mentor from IDEA, Northeastern University’s student-led venture accelerator, which helps student entrepreneurs grow their ideas and pairs them with a business-savvy mentor. “Vastus is a platform for users to get fit and do real workouts posted by personal trainers, as well as creating a new modality for brands to market themselves,” says Boston, a sophomore majoring in philosophy and physics. They want to promote a bunch of different trainers so that users can connect with a trainer whose philosophy aligns with their personal goals.
Radhika Boruah