Kevin Dawidowicz, Co-Founder of CoachMePlus

This is Capitalism: Up Close, Inspired, Explained

Patricia O’Connell interviews Kevin Dawidodicz, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of CoachMePlus. They discuss the CoachMePlus product in its market, the limitations of fitness apps used alone, and how CoachMePlus developed from a high schooler’s workout notebook.

Listen in to learn more about fitness training accountability for athletes and clients.

Key Takeaways:

[:26] Patricia O’Connell introduces serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of CoachMePlus, Kevin Dawidowicz, to talk about the fitness tool CoachMePlus.

[1:18] CoachMePlus is a tool for coaches and trainers of athletes and exercise program clients to improve fitness outcomes. CoachMePlus started with professional athletes, providing in-person and remote experiences. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the app was used remotely also by personal trainers and their clients.

[3:55] CoachMePlus uses various connectivity tools to manage the relationships of coaches and trainers with their athletes or clients. The tools include texting, fitness programming, nutrition and hydration tracking, weight tracking, and integration of the clients’ wearable fitness devices.

[6:44] CoachMePlus is working with the National Guard and the Reserves to embed a culture of fitness in these branches of the military and deliver fitness programming when they are away from the base.

[8:21] Kevin defines fitness as a holistic mindset that includes sleep, nutrition, and mindfulness as well as physical fitness. Coaches can use CoachMePlus to engage the athlete or client in all aspects of fitness and wellness.[9:09] Kevin explains how CoachMePlus is more of a tool than an app. There is no accountability with an app. With CoachMePlus, there is somebody on the other side to hold the athlete or client accountable.

[11:12] Wearable fitness devices constantly stream information into the system and that becomes available to the coach in a usable way. How the coach uses the information depends on how the relationship between the coach and the athlete works.

[12:24] The information collected from the athlete is for the coach and the athlete. CoachMePlus does not mine the data for advertising purposes.[12:53] Kevin tells the evolution of CoachMePlus starting with making training CD-ROMs for Coach Doug McKenney of the Buffalo Sabres.

[16:27] Kevin and his co-founders spent years brainstorming ideas and rapidly prototyping apps for a scalable company. He advises entrepreneurs to get out of the analysis mindset and start doing. Get it into the hands of customers, get feedback, modify, iterate, and repeat.

[18:14] Before CoachMePlus, Kevin tried online retail and a site to track collectibles online. Discovering their limitations in these projects helped them go in a different direction.

[19:54] Kevin has a well of optimism and energy that keeps him going. He’s also pragmatic and realistic about his projects.

[21:43] Kevin was surprised when he got into the market space, that within a couple of years, he had three or four competitors that all started right around the same time. If he had delayed launching until his product was “perfect,” he would have been behind. Get out there as quickly as possible.[23:07] CoachMePlus with its remote use case had an advantage over the fitness market during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the fitness market was located inside the gym. The pandemic broke that model. This year, the number of gyms and personal trainers that use CoachMePlus has doubled and is accelerating.

[24:30] Kevin has other ideas percolating in the middle of the night. He’s never short of ideas; everything’s just a matter of resources. The job is to be nimble enough to accept the new tech as it comes in and make it useful. It’s an interesting challenge.

[25:52] Patricia thanks Kevin for joining This is Capitalism CEO Stories.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Kevin Dawidowicz

CoachMePlusTwitter @CoachMePlusApple WatchWhoopBuffalo Sabres

Doug McKenney

Philadelphia Eagles

Stephen Ostrow