How Stryde went from beta to production in under 12 weeks
Stryde is a connected fitness company using tech to bring a premium home workout right into customers' homes. Stryde's founder, Pavlo Chikosh, called on Polymaths to create a software solution from scratch. It needed to work with the existing product hardware, seamlessly integrate business processes, and delight the customer with an engaging user experience - all without the need for babysitting. How did we do it? Our START™ team provided a step-by-step path to fruition - all in less than 3 months.
Katana Fitness Inc.
Stryde offers a high-performance indoor exercise bike designed for immersive at-home workouts. The bike features an open tablet, allowing users to access not only Stryde's diverse workout classes led by top instructors but also other fitness and media apps. With its sturdy build and smooth ride, the Stryde bike delivers a premium fitness experience, combining strength, cardio, and beat-based choreography workouts for all fitness levels. The bike is available without requiring a subscription, offering flexibility to users.
The Stryde customer wants it all - a wide range of workouts, a choice of instructors and instruction styles, and a variety of competitive and non-competitive modes. The gap in the market was clear. There was plenty of single-use, walled-garden style subscriptions available. But nothing like Stryde, which allowed customers to design their own fitness experience inclusively and affordably.
The Challenge
Stryde had assembled a team of the best, including a German industrial designer briefed with building the sensor-laden bike, plus a team of engineers responsible for the large-screen Android companion tablet. They needed a software partner with a deep understanding of how these elements could fit together and the ability to integrate physical and digital experiences seamlessly.
How we helped
START™ is our step-by-step MVP (minimum viable product) development program, nurturing new ideas from ideation to launch. With START™, we ask the essential questions, then act on the answers: optimizing at every opportunity with Cloud-native solutions that are scalable, adaptable and fast to deploy.
We worked with Stryde to determine the set of features required in an MVP.
We identified the ideal customer experience for Stryde users and then worked backward to realize it. We created a website to showcase the bike, integrated with Shopify for payments, eCommerce, and fulfillment, with an account profile function to reduce friction and keep users engaged.
We created a seamless and simple user experience. Customers could log in using their existing purchase account credentials. Once logged in, the app design is intuitive, with a real-time progress meter, leaderboard, and gamified elements to keep riders engaged, plus a post-workout survey to capture user feedback. The tablet also runs a wide range of approved apps, like Netflix and browser-based streaming services.
We created a robust, purpose-built, and scalable backend, using serverless Cloud-native architecture to maximize ROI. This included a CMS for bespoke content, customer tracking, analytics, and performance tuning.
We configured Stryde’s technical stack with React Native and React for the tablet app, customer web portal, and CRM portal to incorporate a seamless upgrade path, with 100% control retained. We configured the backend with Serverless AWS Native Cloud: it’s fast to market, cost-effective, and scalable. Over four months, we executed iterative design sprints with the client wherein they defined the customer journey for both tablet and web, created clickable design mockups for client sign-off, and oversaw detailed user testing prior to build. By design, our team’s skill set spans both software and hardware, so we were able to handle any unforeseen complications that arose as the prototype progressed from a cycling simulation to actual hardware without losing any momentum toward the MVP completion date.
We sat with Stryde in iterative design sprints to define the customer journey, design mockups, and user testing. Our team’s software expertise kept the process smooth and rapid.
The Result
Thanks to the serverless Cloud-native architecture we developed, Stryde grew from beta testing to full production without needing backend alterations. On launch, Stryde outsold its initial run. From there, growth has been rapid, with an aggressive projected trajectory for 2021. Our role post-launch has been intentionally minimal: we helped the Stryde team recruit an internal product, design and engineering department and transitioned code, notes and processes over to them. Today, they’re flying solo - positioned for both independence and success.
Successful launch and growth
Stryde positioned for independence
Cloud Native expertise delivers high ROI