The Tiny Startup
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars” is written on my favorite coffee mug, reminding me daily to chase after my biggest dreams. Kind of ironic when the place I’ve decided to start my latest venture is a town called Tiny in southwestern Ontario — population 11,000.
As I began GymNext in my garage, I often thought about what sacrifices I would have to make or what difficulties I would encounter as my company tried to get off the ground because of where I was located. Having started companies previously in Waterloo and in the GTA, I knew those vibrant ecosystems have great benefits for tech entrepreneurs such as myself — incubators, angel groups, seed funds, networking events, and beyond. What I never realized or even contemplated was that my company could succeed because of where I launched, not in spite of it.
During this journey, there have been so many instances where being part of a close knit community in North Simcoe has helped me tremendously. As my company has progressed through different startup phases, I’ve always wondered if this next stage was going to be the one where my location would be too cumbersome and I would be forced to abandon my plans and my hometown. But what has happened is truly remarkable — for every concession I make, there are three advantages to counteract it.
Here we are, eighteen months after the company was founded and GymNext is growing quickly. We’ve gone through the idea and prototyping stages and brought our product, the Flex Timer, to market. We’ve been through a successful crowdfunding campaign, sold over 1000 units through various sales channels, signed distributors across North America, and even had a small recall (not everything goes to plan you know).
We’re proud to say our product is in use in 56 of the 60 states/provinces in Canada and the US (and a few countries in Europe as well). We’ve received rave reviews from many trainers, coaches and athletes including professional sports teams, well known CrossFit affiliates, highly regarded personal trainers and many others. Our growth is impressive and our bottom line is improving every day. I’ve had to move out of my garage and into a ‘proper’ facility in neighboring Penetanguishene (pop. 9000) and it’s no longer just me answering the phones, building timers and shipping out the product. We are perhaps the biggest startup in Penetanguishene — and likely the only startup as well.
Having started multiple companies in my past (qualifying me for the esteemed title of ‘serial entrepreneur’) and even having a successful exit under my belt, I am floored with how much I have learned on this latest endeavour. It has been the most rewarding, challenging and scary journey of my professional career and I’m still only at the one mile marker.
But that’s also why I’m starting this blog. After a year and half, I have received so much support and mentoring from others that I feel compelled to share my story and hopefully educate, inspire, or motivate others who like me, dream of building something cool, something new, something innovative — no matter where they reside.
I’m aiming to post once a week about many of the various lessons and experiences I’ve had and will have. I’ll discuss many different topics including crowdfunding, import/export, prototyping, development, MVPs, hiring, marketing, metrics, direct sales, managing co-ops, app stores, refunds, customer support and so much more — all from the unique perspective of an IoT startup in non-traditional market.
So, if you’re building a startup, prototyping an IoT device or just have an idea that you’d like to pursue, then hit that follow button and I will share everything I’ve been through.
Now check out my first real post: Small Town Advantage.
