The following is a guest post from Jay (MacInsiders user: JaySpills), a recent McMaster grad who had the chance to interview Amad Abdullah who will be pitching on Season 10 of Dragon’s Den.
I recently had the chance to catch up with the Founder of
OneSet, Amad Abdullah. He is a brilliant young entrepreneur who I believe has the potential to change the fitness world. He will also be featured on season 10 of Dragon’s Den.
[Amad, can you briefly describe what OneSet is?]
OneSet is a mobile app where users can find 15 second videos of individual exercises sorted by muscle group or fitness goal. Users are able to like, share and interact with other users as well. Essentially what Vine is for entertainment, we are for fitness.
[How did guys you come up with the idea?]
Well, my family and I have always been entrepreneurs at heart. Wherever possible, we like to pitch ideas to each other - whether this is at family picnics, Sunday barbecues, or just a regular day at the park; we are always coming up with ideas. One afternoon, my cousin and I were talking about fitness videos on YouTube. We are both regulars at the gym and whenever we needed a little bit of motivation or advice, YouTube videos would always take too long getting to the point.
And that’s how OneSet started.
[Let’s talk about the business side. Who is your target audience, your largest competitors and your points of differentiation?]
Our target audience are men and women between the ages of 19 - 34. We chose this niche market particularly because of 3 reasons, 1) their interest level in fitness, 2) their need for convenience and 3) their desire to be part of a community.
Technically, we are first to market, but we do have 2 competitors that we keep an eye on. Instagram, due to their substantial user base and video functionality, and Codyapp, a platform where you can buy workout programs from fitness trainers.
Instagram has a categorization model based on hashtags and because users rarely use one hashtag in their posts, the algorithm has a lot of variables to balance and the results become diluted. If I were to look for videos of “Biceps”, I might get 10 results, 9 of which have nothing to do with what I was looking for.
Codyapp is an app where trainers can sell their workout programs to users. This may come in the form of video, copy or both. The problem with this platform is that there is no real sense of community. You are essentially paying for an online coach.
Convenience and community is what makes OneSet different. We understand that our target audience are busy people who want to keep a healthy lifestyle. They don’t want to sift through hundreds of hashtags to find helpful workout videos. And they don’t want to be alone on this journey. Being part of a larger community is a great way to keep yourself motivated.
[How did you guys hear about Dragon’s Den and get on the show?]
To be honest, it was completely by chance. I had just finished a pitch competition in Waterloo and I saw a tweet from Michael Wekerle (a Dragon on the show) and he invited any entrepreneur to come to his building and present for 5 minutes for a chance to be on Dragon’s Den.
I had already memorized a 3 minute pitch from my other competition and all I needed was 2 more minutes of on the spot ingenuity, what’s to lose? I went with my cousin and my brother and we pitched. We were called into a private room with nothing in hand and we made a 5 minute presentation to a handful of producers. A few weeks later, they called and invited us to be on Season 10 of Dragon’s Den.
[Have you guys prepared for the real pitch and have they helped you in any way?]
You are assigned a producer who will help you with the entire process. They will literally give you guidelines for every aspect of the pitch - from the clothes you wear, the angle of your presentation, the words you use, etc. They are experts at their craft and have been doing it for a very long time. When they ask you to do something, do it.
My wife and I will be on set late April. You have 60 seconds for the pitch and then you will demo your product before they ask you questions. Overall, this entire process can take from 15 minutes to 1 hour. However, you will only be on air for 6-7 minutes or less depending on how the producers edit the films. They are very strict with the storyline on the show and will only air what sells.
Without giving too much away, our pitch will be us telling a story. Put simply, we want to convey a short and relatable anecdote. We are just regular people who enjoy being active and wanted some convenience and a sense of community. Nothing more. Nothing less.
[What is your ask and are you favouring any Dragon?]
Our ask will be under 100K for a fair percentage of the company (we can’t disclose this information because they are very tight with their rulings). While getting a deal from any of the Dragons would be awesome, we do like Michael Wekerle. He has a similar story to us - from working in the financial district on Bay St. and then moving to Waterloo.
[How does the business make money and how do you guys plan on scaling the business?]
The business will make money through a royalty system with our affiliated trainers. While all videos on OneSet are free, users can contact trainers of their choice and ask them to create custom playlists for them. These playlists consist of 5-6, 15 second videos which would be the user’s workout for the day.
The playlist will range from $1.99 to $4.99 depending on the number of videos and we will take a percentage from each playlist sold. However, we will not start monetizing the business until we have over 100K+ users.
And as far as strategies to grow the business, these are the most important ones.
1. Release the IOS version of the app in the upcoming weeks. Currently, it is only available on Android and for apps of our nature, there is usually a 70% IOS / 30% Android split in users. This will allow us to grow our customer base much faster.
2. Continue to bring on popular fitness trainers. Our team personally hand selects who we want to affiliate with and our plan is to have 25 well known trainers on board in the next few months. In fact, we have Andrew Wiggin’s trainer [NBA star from Toronto] coming along with us for the pitch on Dragons Den.
3. Create additional features for OneSet, continue to monitor what features work and better optimize the experience for the user.
4. Integrate different sharing tools and referral systems.
5. Continue to utilize our algorithm which pushes the most popular content to the top. The criteria are based on a few metrics such as views, shares, likes and comments.
[From the initial idea to now, what was the journey like?]
The journey has been absolutely incredible. It has been years of hard work to get to the point where we are now. One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received from my mentor is that there will always be ups and downs regardless of how good your business is. Do not be discouraged during the tough times and always celebrate the wins.
For us, being invited to Dragon’s Den was a major win; it helped validate our idea that much further. To know that we have a chance at securing a deal from successful entrepreneurs who have built their own empires is a great feeling.
[What advice would you give to all the young entrepreneurs out there?]
The most important thing you have to realize is that there is no such thing as overnight success. It is literally years of hard work which leads up to a tipping point that the average person believes to be “an overnight success.” You have to be willing to work your butt off day in day out for many years before everything comes into fruition.
Secondly, you need to focus on building traction early on. Don’t spend all your time developing and refining the “perfect” product. It doesn’t matter how great your product is because if nobody knows about it, you don’t have a business. Really spend time understanding who your customers are, what sort of messaging appeals to them and how to get them to buy into what you are selling. People who have traction win. Period.
[Amad, middle, is happily married with a 5 year old child. He loves to work out, watch sports with friends and family and barbeque whenever possible. Oh and did I mention that he also plays DOTA 2?]
I wish Amad the best of luck on Dragon’s Den and I am confident that he will get a deal. Much love and support for sharing with us and all the best in the future my friend.
If you are interested in an awesome fitness app, give
OneSet a download [I use it myself]. The ability to enjoy, share, and comment on succinct fitness videos….what’s not to love?
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About The Author
My name is Jay and I'm a blogger for students.
During my undergrad, I ran my own start-up business, became an author and met a lot of influential people.
And now I want to share.
JaySpills.com
