Why Austin Cohen Built The Uber For Fitness Flexit - 20 Minute Fitness Episode #084

Today on the 20 Minute Fitness podcast we have Austin Cohen, a two-in-one VC and entrepreneur with an MBA from Columbia University and a strong track record of leading early-stage startups. While the VC side of Austin might always be on the hunt for the next Facebook & Uber out there, his entrepreneur side seems to have found its true mission, which is to make fitness more accessible.

Austin founded a company called Flexit, an a-la-carte digital fitness solution that enables users to work out at whatever facility they want to, wherever and whenever they want to, and pay only for the time that they actually spend at the studio. Even though Flexit has only launched in 2018, the company has been scaling at the speed of light and already has over 500 gyms that users can choose from.

Listen to this week's episode to learn more about Flexit's success and what you, as a Flexit customer, will get if you sign up today! Psst, if you listen to the episode, a special surprise might be waiting for you!

Three Things You Will Learn

1) Revolutionizing Your Gym Experience

Have you ever walked into a traditional gym and had a smooth first-time experience?  Me neither. Which is the number one reason for downloading Flexit right now.

Flexit is an app that provides the most frictionless access to its users to any of their partner fitness facilities. All you have to do is open up the app, create an account, walk in to any gym on the platform, check-in with your app and enjoy your workout. No front desk interference and absolutely no commitment. And besides the flexibility of training in any gym that you like, you only pay by the minute. Meaning that you'll only be charged after your active, sweaty hours.


While Flexit's core offering is traditional gyms, they also have CrossFit gyms, boutique studios, spin studios and a lot a more. Press play to hear all about the variety of options and how their pay-by-the-minute system really works!

2) Flexit As A Marketplace

To create true value, Flexit has to attract two sides: the users and the fitness facilities. Hence, Austin had to built an appealing offering for both sides.


For the users, Flexit created an experience unlike anything a consumer has had before. Flexit empowers the user with the flexibility to travel from one city to another and simply walk into any gym on the Flexit platform without any paperwork.

And unlike other emerging fitness trends, Flexit is actually pulling new customer for traditional gyms and lowering the acquisition costs. Just like the perfect marketing extension, Flexit focuses on bringing the right people to gyms via their smart targeting efforts.

All in all, according to Austin, everything they do at Flexit is to help the gyms that sign up to be their partners. Listen on to learn more!


3) How Flexit Was Born

During one of his business trips only a couple years ago while sitting in his Uber and ordering from Postmates, Austin was wondering how and where he was going to work out during the trip. Which is when an idea hit him.

He decided to create a model for gyms to capitalize on current consumer trends and for users to access gyms like other consumer verticals. Or in other words, the Uber for fitness.

On the short-run Austin's goal with Flexit was to share his passion for fitness with others and make it accessible for everyone. And in the long-run, he set out a mission for Flexit to become the ultimate means for consumers to discover, try and join new fitness facilities.

Listen to this week's episode to hear about what Flexit has achieved to this day. And what exciting things we can expect to see in the near future!