This Mumbai-based startup helps get you in shape, and earns you goodies as well

We all want to get fit and stay healthy. And as part of the plan, we even manage to get a membership at the gym or get those walking shoes out. But the toughest part is – getting out of the bed every morning.

For childhood friends Misaal Turakhia(28), Abhay Pai (27), and Shivjeet Ghatge (28), fitness was always on their mind, but they lacked the motivation to hit the gym or training classes every day. The trio spotted an opportunity in this space and launched StepSetGo in January 2019.

The StepSetGo app aims to get people out of the workout rut and motivate them to get fit, and in turn incentivise the process of walking itself. StepSetGo lets people earn coins after every walk, which they can redeem in the in-app store for free products or discounts. Available on both Android and iOS for free, the app lets a user earn a coin for every 1,000 steps. Shivjeet says:

“People are turning to apps to get simple and easy fitness solutions. However, apps seldom motivate you and expect that you have limitless willpower. It is from this insight that the idea of StepSetGo was born. We started with an understanding that it’s our responsibility to motivate people as well. We arrived at an idea of rewarding them at every step.”

Within two months of launch, the founders claim that the app has seen 1.4 lakh downloads, with over 7,000 new user registrations every day. They say the app download was all organic, mainly through word of mouth.

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How does the app work?

There are five levels in the app. On level one, the user can earn five coins per day by walking 5,000 steps. On earning five coins consecutively for three days, the user gets updated to the next level, where he/she can earn up to 10 coins per day.

In level two, if the user doesn’t earn a minimum of five coins per day, he/she will get a flag. Three flags will take them back to level one.The same procedure applies up to level five.

“At level five, you can earn up to 30 coins a day. But it gets tougher as you go ahead,” explains Shivjeet.

A user needs to get a minimum of 10 coins to avail an offer or discount.But he/she needs to get at least 300-500 coins to get the cheapest free product from the in-app store.

“Products can range from discounts vouchers to iPhone. This range will keep changing. The marketplace will keep evolving over time and introduce new products to engage the users,” he says.

Once the user accumulates a minimum number of coins, the app either redirects the user to the brand’s website or allows them to buy on the app market itself, depending on the tie up with the brand.The team says there is no expiry on the coins earned, and users can redeem it anytime.

To make it more fun and interesting, the app also allows users to compete with their friends from the contact list.

From childhood friends to co-founders

Abhay and Misaal had earlier worked together at Fork Media for around three years. Abhay then moved to BookMyShow, where he worked for a year and a half. Misaal later joined his father’s export business, but soon realised that it was not something he wanted to do. He decided to move to core-tech in which he was interested.

Shivjeet worked for Publicis Worldwide in France in advertising, and then came to India and worked in Umbrella Designs and Grey Group before starting StepSetGo.

Shivjeet says, the idea of starting up came about only six months ago. Abhay and Misaal, who are full stack developers, developed the tech for the company, while Shivjeet handles the business. It took them around three-to-four months to develop the app.

At present, only the founders are part of the StepSetGo team, and they are outsourcing other work such as the design, social media, and accounts.

The founders say, one of the main challenges the company faced was difficulty in attending all users with a small team. The team is currently working to solve these issues.

The market and business model

According to Statista, the fitness industry in India is growing at a CAGR of 6.6 percent and is expected to reach $2,000 million by 2023.

The StepSetGo app competes with Step Tracker, Pedometer, and Curefit among others, and the team claims that its reward system makes it different from its competitors. Shivjeet says,

“What these apps are missing out is the fact that after few days or weeks, users will stop using the app as they may not have the motivation to get out of the bed and workout every day.”

StepSetGo currently gets its revenue from advertisements, which the users can choose to watch in order to earn coins. However, a user can earn only up to four coins per day through this.

“The daily reward is aimed at maximising the coins for a user, and to avail discounts,” says Shivjeet.

The team claims that through these daily rewards, the company aims to earn $2 million dollars by the end of this year. In the coming months, the team also plans to charge the brands in the in-app store.

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Future plans

Bootstrapped StepSetGo is currently focusing only on walking activity, but plans to add cycling, jogging, calorie-based exercises, etc., in the future.

It also plans to hold events based on the leaderboard in the future, where it will make the user compete for high-priced value. The team says it is waiting for brand collaborations for the same.