I follow keyword sets through our HubSpot social media monitoring tool around “women in tech, #womenintech, etc” so that I can come across cool women doing great things in tech. It helps me to find women in tech and women in startups who should be highlighted here on my blog so you all can learn about them as well. Learning about other women doing great things in tech and creating cool startups is a great way for all of us to stay motivated and continue to learn from each other. It is all part of spotlighting more women in technology roles so that women not in tech can learn about the types of jobs that women can have in tech. We have to expose more women to tech if we want to get more women to be involved in technology.
So what is ClassPass?
The other day when I was scrolling through my feed I came across ClassPass. The funny thing is that I had heard about ClassPass some other way a few days before so I was excited to learn more about what this company was all about and what the company was solving for in the workout space.
My first reaction to their concept was YES! YES! YES! I am a working woman in tech and so that means that I can work long hours and often times odd hours. That means that working out can be tough to do regularly. I like many of my other women in tech friends want to work out. It’s not that we don’t want to, it is that the times that classes that we want to take are usually at times where we might be still at work or just doesn’t work with our schedule. For a long time I would try gym after gym, after new hot gym, after new hot workout, after, etc, etc, you get the point… I like many other women who want to workout regularly but don’t want to get bored of their workout sign up for many different classes throughout the city they live in.
As a woman who wants to workout with a tough work schedule I had these options before I found out about the ClassPass concept:
- I could commit to one gym and just hope that their class schedule worked for me. I would have to hope that I actually liked the classes they had and that I could actually go to the times they had offered.
- I could not commit to one actual gym or studio and go to many different studios or gyms paying one time class fees or bundling some options together.
- I could look on GiltCity, Groupon, etc to find new gyms that are coming out in my city and subscribe to things like 5 workouts for X dollars.
I have done all of these things over the time I have lived in Boston. I have always wondered why can’t we go to multiple gyms or studios and not have to commit to just one. Good thing Payal Kadakia came out with this concept where you can subscribe to her ClassPass concept and you can go to classes at many different gyms or studios throughout your city.
That means that we can try new classes at new studios, we don’t have to commit, and we can figure out what classes work with our unique schedules. You can learn all about how ClassPass works on their ClassPass FAQ page on their website.
I had Payal submit her answers to the spotlight women in tech form and here is what she had to say.
What should women know about your role as a founder of ClassPass?
When you’re a co-founder, your startup is your baby (except there is no blue print for what you’re trying to build). You go to sleep thinking about your company and you wake up thinking about it. It’s more than a job, but it also gives back to you more than a job. And as CEO, I think it’s important to make sure your company’s mission and values are set early on. Those fundamentals rarely change even though the business goals might.
What do you enjoy about working in a startup and building your startup ClassPass?
Everything! There is nothing better than surrounding yourself with passionate, hard working people. We constantly inspire each other to break down boundaries and help one another make our vision/s become a reality. Any one day at a startup is not the same so you’re constantly challenged and growing.
Why do you think we need more women in tech and exposed to what it like to work as woman in tech?
Tech and startups are all about solving problems to make people’s lives easier. As women, we have lives and experiences that are inherently different than males. The only way to really build companies that solves our issues, is to have more females in the entrepreneurial world. Whether it’s about being a better mom, working out, being more productive, we need tools and products that can help solve our problems in a way that speaks to us.