Ep.103 - Khalil Zahar: Building community in the Peloton of boxing.

With FightCamp, Khalil Zahar has not only created an incredible product that’s valued by MMA, boxing and martial arts athletes worldwide, but he’s grown his venture to build and nurture a community like no other. This ‘Peloton of boxing’ is a martial arts-centric, full body workout programme backed by world-leading technology to bring physical and mental benefits to anyone, pro fighter or family fitness fan. 

 

Watch the full episode on YouTube – https://youtu.be/7EMCebwnlzo

 

FightCamp is a story of evolution following Khalil Zahar’s personal journey in learning how to box. He fell in love with the sport and saw quick progression and improvement until he reached a plateau.

 

Not being able to find a dedicated way to efficiently track his boxing progress and see tangible improvement, Khalil originally founded Hykso, a company that produced sensors and software to track punches and effort metrics – number or type of punches and speed – during boxing workouts.

 

Through continual development and not being scared to release early versions for valuable feedback, Khalil has improved his offering time and time again, building his FightCamp business around a genuine need from both professional athletes and the fitness community in general.

 

 

Khalil’s initial venture was a product but he’s since built a community. At first, his Hykso punch sensors and app didn’t have anyone telling you what to do; there were no tailored workouts and there was no social ecosystem. Hykso was tailored to the pros looking to improve over time. With FightCamp, it’s a whole different experience. Building on the Hykso functionality, you can track your own metrics but also compare results with other members who have completed the same workout. There’s a sense of gamification that comes with the leaderboards, and engaging workouts.

 

The FightCamp Gym puts the best elements of a world class boxing gym directly into your home. Powerful and motivating workouts, expert-led instruction and elite trainers combined with premium equipment and the same training tech used by the pros.

 

For more information visit www.joinfightcamp.com

 

 

 

[EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS – FOUR OR FIVE BULLET POINTS (TIMINGS?)]

 

• Why choosing the right name is vital to your business success, especially making sure potential customers and partners can spell the business name correctly, easily.
• How a business can evolve from a personal need or requirement to pursue a passion efficiently.
• The journey of progressing the efficiency of algorithms in data sets and why it’s important to compare them with known quantities to ensure that you’re learning and spotting trends that will benefit your offering.
• How to translate physical movement – in this case hooks, jabs, and straight punches – into data, even when it can be confusing to the human eye. Similarly, how the tech may not be the problem, it may be the ambiguity of a definition.
• Why it’s so much more effective to build a community and implement elements of gamification in a business venture instead of purely providing a service or single product for athletes.
• What changes have occurred in the home fitness market compared to around a decade ago, and how trends have changed behaviour to transcend age groups.
• How to define the next generation of fitness companies, and how they diversify into media, entertainment and other markets well beyond fitness alone.
• Why historical and current stories surrounding your core business proposition’s culture and community can add the extra value on top of your offering.
• How you can convince investors in the value of your product, even if you’re one of the first to market with a venture that hasn’t been proven before.
• Why more companies are controlling distribution as much as possible because of the raised expectation of brands, and how there’s more onboarding needed than ever.
• How Facebook ads and social media commerce can still be very effective for your business, even if you’re not concentrating on the day-to-day activity on your platform profiles.
• Why no data indicates the definite direction to take in business, and you can’t always rely on user feedback, but both can complement your gut feeling about taking the next huge leap for any venture.
• The future of fitness in the home, and how technology is leading the way for both digital workouts and physical events around the world.

 

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Khalil Zahar…