GET REWARDED FOR STAYING HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE!
My Idea : My startup idea is an amazing one! Basically it directly rewards people if they complete the goals they have set and just stay healthy and productive. It works like this: People complete the goals they have set, stay fit by doing certain activities and not eating unhealthy foods, sleeping properly, also spend less time on social media and basically on the internet hence stay productive, and in the end get rewarded for it by getting to buy high-quality products for a lesser price. They will have to do all these tasks for 1 month which would be properly tracked and verified to ensure that they aren’t cheating or lying. After they have completed their tasks, at the end of the month they will be able to buy good-quality products from local-manufacturers and producers who aren’t that well known and who also need a platform to sell their products. The products would range from edibles to even electronics such as earphones, clocks etc. basically the products manufactured in India by small Indian local brands. My startup would be a combination of software and a few electronic devices.
Market Demand : A huge population of India is really unfit especially in urban areas. Also, people waste a lot of time and their work performance goes down because of being unproductive and unhealthy. This thing even affects students. See, let’s be honest here, people rarely do things without an incentive even when those things directly benefit them like maintaining their own health and staying productive! People need a materialistic incentive most of the times, and my startup is the solution for that. Also, small-scale manufactures/companies and producers are being crushed down by low-quality made-in-china products and even by large companies. They also need a platform where they can sell their things to people and earn money. I’m basically killing two birds with one stone here.
Relevant Products in the market : Honestly, there aren’t many relevant products in the market. Yeah, there are some fitness apps, or some apps that can even track your fitness activities and your screen-time maybe, but most of these apps don’t give any incentive. My solution is much better because it provides an incentive to people to stay fit, productive and to follow their goals. Plus it also helps small-scale industries to sell their products and earn profits. Yeah, some things do exist for this, but most of the time they aren’t connected to any incentive like mine.
Target Customers : Target customers are unfit individuals, or people who know they are being unproductive and are unable to follow their goals. Age group of the individuals mainly would be regular office workers, i.e. 20s to 50s mostly in Urban Areas. Though, the customer has to be like really wanting to achieve their goal but just aren’t able to because of lack of motivation or an incentive. Small manufacturers or companies are also sort-of target customers because they’ll be able to get a platform to sell their products and my company would be extracting a bit of a profit out of them by selling the products at a slightly higher rate on our own in-built store. See, in the end my startup is only for those people who are willing. You can’t do anything about people who aren’t serious about their life. This startup would be for people needing that extra push to be fit and productive.
Required Knowledge or Expertise : There would be mainly 4 components to my startup. An Android and iOS application, a PC and Mac software, a smartwatch with many in-built fitness trackers and features / a simple fitness tracker, a set of small motion sensors to be placed on the body. The fitness tracker and the motion sensors will connect to the app on mobile via Bluetooth. The motion sensors have to be put on the body on the specified points only while exercising. They will detect the type of physical activity and verify whether the person is exercising properly no matter at gym or at home. The PC and Mac software will not exactly measure the screen time, rather will specifically measure the time on distracting websites such as YouTube and maybe how much time the person spends on entertainment like playing games, browsing social media etc. and the mobile apps will also do the same. Most importantly the software will use special algorithms to filter educational videos or websites from counting as screen time. This all will benefit programmers or people who need computers to do their work. Also, the office hours or the hours in which people need to work from home in present Covid-19 times, would be excluded. The hours for leisure and relaxation would be fixed at a maximum value, and person’s location would be synced through their Google location to ensure they don’t waste much time outside. Special days can be excused if a person has to maybe go somewhere or something but on an average day, the user has to stay fit, sleep properly and spend less time relaxing and more time working. The software on PC can be made with Python 3 / C++, and for Mac it can made with Objective-C. The android app can be made with Java and the iOS app with Swift. The smartwatch / fitness tracker can be be made with a base of a printed circuit board(PCB). It can further be coded on Python, Node.JS, C/C++. The detection features on the fitness tracking band and the motion sensor kit will work using Internet of Things(IoT).
My Solution : The software for PC can be coded in Python or C++ and for Mac in Swift. The software will measure screen time for distracting websites but will easily filter out educational programs / websites using special A.I. algorithms. The screen time for relaxation will have a value which can be tweaked by the user but will certainly have a maximum value. This all will be recorded by the software.
The Android / iOS application can be made by using HealthKit / GoogleFit APIs. Further for Android, the application can be coded in Java and for iOS in Swift. Now, my mobile will connect to the wearable using Bluetooth through the app and will synchronize all the data. Using the accelerometer and gyroscope built in the SoC of the mobile device, the device will use special algorithms to estimate the calorie burn value, rest will all be done by the fitness band. The application would also have an in-built store where if people stay fit they can purchase high-quality goods at a lower price from small-scale businesses.
For the fitness band, we will use base as a PCB. The required devices, the Temperature Sensor, 3-axis Accelerometer etc. will have to be connected to that. Also, the Bluetooth and the small display, and a WiFi will be connected. After that, the fitness band will be coded to send all this data to the mobile device using Bluetooth.
The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling technology is transferring PARM(Physical Activity Recognition and Monitoring) studies to open and connected uncontrolled environments by connecting heterogeneous cost-effective wearable devices and mobile apps. The motion sensors will be used to measure the type of physical activity which will be further used to determine the type of exercise a person is doing and the number of calories they are burning.
The kit would have inertial sensors (e.g., accelerator, gyroscope or barometric pressure sensors) and physiological sensors (e.g., spirometer, skin temperature sensor or blood pressure cuff) + motion detection using these sensors and then estimating the calories burned using special A.I. algorithms.
Any open-source IoT cloud would be used in the initial stages like InfluxDB, Apache Cassandra etc.
Now, after we are done measuring the steps, sleeping hours, exercise done / calories burnt in a day, this all we synchronized to the person’s account regularly on their app. Initially, while setting up an account, the user would be asked to enter their details like Weight, Height, even the job they do, then after this a proper plan would be prepared for them to increase their fitness and productivity. At the end of the week, if they are able to fulfill the prepared plan for them i.e. slept properly, exercised, spent less time on distractions, then they will be given credits to spend on the in-built store, which will connect through a delivery service with local small-scale businesses. The products they can buy would be food products like vegetables at a lower price or even sauces and spices manufactured by small brands. Some small brands also make low-cost quality electronics like headphones, clocks etc. There quality would assured by our experts.
Estimated Budget : For Human Resources(HR), the company initially can use an HR software solution provided by other companies. In the advancing world, HRs are slowly being replaced by their digital counterparts. Example is Keka, which provides HR & Payroll solution starting at ₹6,999/month upto 100 employees and ₹60/month per additional employee.
For the hardware purposes, initially for the fitness band and the motion sensing kit, ₹2000 can be given for 1 unit. The budget can be increased further based on the demand for the product.
The software can be developed by probably hiring some freelancers initially and then hiring interns as part-time software developers and testers. Plus the online IoT database. For this, including everything and considering an initial of 10 interns, ₹ 10 Lakhs can be allocated which includes the salaries of the part time software developers for the company plus the cost of all the other staff in the office.
For Marketing purposes,₹ 2 Lakhs can be allocated initially for ads online, in Newspaper etc. Plus ₹50000 can be allocated to hiring a delivery service to and from the small-scale businesses to deliver things from the in-built store. Also, a small office space to be rented depending on the location.
Product Pricing : The app would be free everywhere. But once you create the account, it will have different plans.
Free Plan: You can keep using the app for free to track only your steps and the software on PC and Mac will record your screen time. This won’t be an Extensive plan. Also the credits you will get at the end of the week would be much less compared to other plans. Also, it will have Advertisements. The delivery from the in-app store would also not be free.
Premium Plan: By paying extra ₹ 999 / year, you will get the fitness band delivered and you will get access to all the features of it. Sleeping tracker, a better calorie calculator etc. and best of all more credits to spend in the in-built store. Plus, this version would have no ads and also it adds the portability feature. You now don’t have to carry your phone everywhere, the fitness tracker will measure everything for you. The delivery from the in-app store would be free. Obviously it is ad-free.
Platinum Plan: By paying extra ₹3,999 / year, you will get the Motion sensing kit which increase the features 10 times. Now, no need to spend money to go to the gym to exercise, as these sensors will accurately predict your motion type and will also add a feature to the app to suggest exercises which you can do to stay fit. Plus it has much more credits than the Premium Plan to spend in the in-app store. Also, the delivery would be free from the in-app store and it would be ad-free.
Marketing Plan : We would first market our ads through online websites. Websites where people go to search productivity tips, or fitness tips would be targeted. Also, we will put our ads within other fitness apps on the stores. Social media can also be used to promote our app, and we can send e-mails to people. Ads can also be shown during fitness videos on YouTube maybe.
Also for new customers, for the first 14 days, Platinum plan will given as complimentary.
Risk Analysis : There could be many risks and hurdles in our pathway. Mainly if our product doesn’t sell as much. If people don’t find our idea interesting, and if they aren’t willing to pay for it, then our company would go in loss. Also, there are risks like the quality of the products we are selling in our in-built store goes down. There can be technical risks as well, there can be bugs in our software and our apps, or the fitness band/motion sensor kit could stop working. Also, as these things work using radiations, there could be safety concerns. There could be numerous more risks.
All of these risks would be tackled carefully and precisely and special people would be appointed to tackle even if it means reducing the company’s profit. Regular checks would be conducted to ensure the quality of the products.
Milestone and Timeline : After the planning has been done beforehand, the coding of the software and the apps will take around 4 weeks. Then their testing would be done for at least 2 more weeks. Meanwhile the setting up of the in-app store will be done and the local businesses willing to sell will be contacted and a delivery service would be set up. This all would be done by Week 8, and a milestone would be achieved. Now, we would release the software and the app. This would basically be the free version of our final product and it would just be released to check if people are interested in our idea or not. The marketing would begin and people’s responses will be noted and accordingly we will move ahead. After we are done with manufacturing the initial number of fitness bands / motion sensing kits, by week 12 the final product will be released to the public in all it’s glory!
I hope you liked my blog and my startup idea!
Thank You
