"Fail more", advised David Stapleton, BUA FIT's Founder & CEO

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

I’m born in Dublin but grew up in Kildare, Ireland. I loved all sports as a kid and played rugby to a semi-professional level. Set up my first tech brand (project) at 19 while studying for my BA and MSc in university. I moved to London in 2011 to start a career in sales as an FX Broker.

What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

BUA FIT, it means victory in Gaelic. BUA is a platform for group outdoor and online fitness classes. We connect fitness professionals to consumers for live classes but we do it with social, e-commerce technology.

What is the origin story?

I was very unhappy in financial sales and at times miserable in my career. Exercising in a gym was the only thing that got me through my day. There I saw the gap in the market. Trainers were self-employed and paid crazy rents. Consumer struggled to book indoor classes due to limited space, gyms can be a very intimidating environment for a lot of people which is why active members are low. Lastly, being a lover of all outdoor sports, I couldn’t find a variety of outdoor classes in London anywhere to book into as a consumer.

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

At our stage, we have to hustle every day and spin several plates. I love this about our team and how transparent we are. We’re obsessed with helping trainers succeed while inspiring people to live a happier and healthier life. I’m using my connecting skills as a broker and sales experience in finance while following my passion in fitness so I feel nothing can stop me.

If you weren’t building your start-up, what would you be doing?

Building another start-up.

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

As a business, ‘classes serviced’ is our North Star KPI. Our economics for connecting is working and our unit economics for growth is looking exciting. We’ve successfully connected supply and demand well over 3,000 times by raising very little money. Personally, working on a problem you are obsessed with solving. It’s a great feeling!

What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

Our social technology has 275,000 engagement pieces with supply and demand making connections. It’s all about scaling our engagement right now.

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

I’m not really worried about the competition that much as we are playing the infinite game. I’m most excited about seeing VR develop in the fitness and wellness space.

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

A cool brand with a great competition.

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

Encourage failing more to learn more. Work on yourself everyday.

What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?

Thankfully, we survived the crisis. As a start-up fitness brand, it’s been a super tough time to stay in business. We have been successful at growing quarter on quarter since our first funding round.