Founders Friday 003 2m users, $2m Seed Round, 220,000 Instagram Followers with Phil Jacobson, Founder @ PumpUp

In this episode of 20 minutes VC, host Harry Stebings interviews Phil Jacobson, founder and president of Pump Up, an app that fosters a positive community for sharing health journeys. Jacobson discusses the app's pivot from a workout tool to a motivational platform, emphasizing the importance of community and support in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. With over 2 million users and significant seed funding, Pump Up has grown rapidly through content marketing and social media engagement, particularly on Instagram. Jacobson shares insights on fundraising, including building relationships with investors and the significance of community management in fostering a safe and supportive user environment. He also hints at future growth plans, aiming to transform Pump Up into a leading consumer health brand.

• Phil Jacobson is the founder and president of Pump Up.
• Pump Up is an app that combines a motivating community with tools for a healthy lifestyle.
• Over 2 million users, 220,000 Instagram followers, and $2 million in seed funding.
• General Catalyst Partners among the investors.

Because I have the opportunity to interview the incredible Phil Jacobson, founder and president at Pump up, the incredible app that combines a motivating community with the tools to lead a healthy lifestyle over the past two years.

The quote introduces Phil Jacobson and his app, Pump Up, highlighting its community aspect and tools for promoting a healthy lifestyle.

• Initially, Pump Up was a workout app providing custom workouts and exercise guidance.
• After 80,000 downloads, the team learned from user feedback and data.
• They shifted focus from workout direction to motivation, recognizing it as the primary need.
• The app evolved into a health and fitness community over a year ago.

We learned that we were solving really the wrong problem. We're solving the problem of providing users direction, such as what do I do when I want to work out or when I want to be active when we recognize that that was a secondary problem from talking to users, where the primary problem in health and fitness is the want, it's motivation, it's how do I get and stay motivated.

Phil Jacobson explains the pivot from a workout instruction app to a community-focused app aimed at solving the primary problem of motivation in health and fitness.

• Pump Up is a photo-based social network for both iOS and Android.
• It's a positive and supportive community for sharing health journeys.
• The community focuses on both physical and mental aspects of health.
• Negativity is not allowed, ensuring a safe and positive experience.

It's really the most positive and supportive social network or community on the Internet as far as we're aware.

Phil Jacobson describes the positive nature of the Pump Up community, emphasizing its uniqueness and supportive environment.

• The team views changes to Pump Up not as pivots but as an evolution.
• The app still includes tools like weight tracking, activity tracking, and custom workouts.
• The evolution was guided by user feedback and desires.

So we evolved from a workout play to a broader community and social network to share and achieve your health goals.

Phil Jacobson discusses the evolutionary process of Pump Up, transitioning from a workout app to a community-centric platform.

• Phil personally acquired the first 1000 users by interacting with university students.
• Initial growth tactics included direct engagement and collecting emails for launch.
• Social media and content marketing are core channels for ongoing growth.
• Listening to users and iterating the product has been crucial for expansion.

For a couple of days I walked around with my laptop before we had launched our product, and I sat down beside people and asked them, hey, do you have a second? What do you think about this idea we're working on?

Phil Jacobson shares the grassroots approach he took to acquire the first users for Pump Up, highlighting the importance of direct engagement and feedback.## Building Products People Love

• Creating products that users love is essential for organic growth.
• Users naturally share and talk about products they enjoy with friends.
• Love for a product can lead to a self-sustaining cycle of growth, especially in social networks.

"And if you build something people love, it starts to oscillate. And as the social network grows just based on network effects, it starts to generally grow faster."

This quote emphasizes the importance of product quality in fostering organic growth through user recommendations and the amplifying effect of network growth.

• Content marketing is a significant factor in converting readers to product users.
• Blogs, combined with social media, can effectively drive app downloads.
• Pump Up has a substantial social media following, acquired organically through content marketing.

"Social media has been huge for us as well. We have over 300,000 followers across our social media channels, none of which we've purchased."

The quote highlights the success of Pump Up's organic content marketing strategy, which has led to a large and authentic social media following.

• Understanding the target audience is crucial for effective Instagram use.
• Content strategy should appeal to the best users and embody the brand.
• Encouraging users to tag friends and creating likable content can lead to discovery by a wider audience.

"And the link in our bio, which drives right to the App Store, gets clicked a lot every single day. So this is absolutely a strong channel for us."

This quote demonstrates the direct impact of Instagram on driving app downloads through strategic content placement in the profile bio.

• Providing a safe, positive, and supportive space is key to user engagement.
• Positive reinforcement is transformative and leads to a sticky user experience.
• Community management investments have been crucial to maintaining a positive environment.

"A positive, safe and supportive space to share and achieve your health goals. And that has enabled us to have strong engagement."

The quote explains how a supportive community environment contributes to user engagement and retention for Pump Up.

• Pump Up does not moderate every post due to the volume.
• The community self-polices and quickly reports inappropriate content.
• Community management teams take prompt action when necessary.

"If someone posts something inappropriate or someone posts a negative comment on someone's post, the community is so strong at this point that we'll know probably within like 30 to 90 seconds."

This quote describes the efficiency of the community-driven moderation system in maintaining the positive environment of Pump Up.

• Social media remains a core part of the growth strategy.
• Pump Up focuses on building products that users will advocate for and share.
• The company does not rely on paid advertising but on organic, user-driven growth.

"We're really focusing on building products that our users love and that encourage them to share more about those externally on their other social channels, inviting their friends."

The quote underscores the commitment to creating shareable products that naturally encourage users to promote Pump Up within their networks, sustaining growth.## Product Development and User Engagement

• The company is focused on continuing what they've been doing: building products that appeal to users and encourage increased usage and word-of-mouth growth.
• They've observed strong growth rates for some time.

same time, really just keeping up with what we've been doing so far, building awesome products that appeal to our users and get them to use it more. And they talk about it more and it grows faster. I mean, the growth rates we're seeing are pretty strong and they have been now for quite some time.

The quote emphasizes the company's strategy of improving and creating products that not only attract users but also retain them and stimulate organic growth through their satisfaction and referrals.

• The company's main competitors are utility products in the health and fitness space.
• They differentiate themselves by focusing on social and community aspects on mobile, which lacks direct competition.
• People seek positive support for health on platforms like Reddit and Instagram, and these places are seen as indirect competition.
• The strategy is to build awareness in channels where potential users are already seeking health and fitness support.

When it comes to social and community in the health and fitness space, there really isn't something on mobile doing what we're doing specifically. So we view our competition as where else would you look for positive support around your health?

The quote identifies the unique position of the company in the mobile health and fitness space, focusing on the social and community aspects that are not addressed by direct competitors but are sought after in other online communities.

• The company raised a $2.4 million seed round led by General Catalyst Partners.
• They are in a strong financial position and are not actively seeking a Series A round, although they receive inbound interest.
• Building relationships with the right partners ahead of fundraising is crucial.
• It's important to raise enough capital to reach the next milestone and to include a buffer in financial projections.
• Speaking with other founders and mentors is invaluable for guidance and learning from their experiences.

So we raised a $2.4 million seed round just under a year ago led by general Catalyst Partners. Nico from general Catalyst led it. He's a fantastic mentor.

This quote provides information on the company's seed funding details and highlights the importance of having mentors during the fundraising process.

• Building relationships with investors well ahead of fundraising is important for success.
• The right amount of capital should sustain the company for about 18 months and include a buffer for unforeseen circumstances.
• The experience of other founders and mentors is a key resource for guidance.

I learned you need to build the right relationships with the right partners who really get what you're doing well ahead of fundraising.

The quote underscores the lesson learned about the importance of establishing strong relationships with potential investors long before the actual fundraising begins.

• The most challenging aspect was the time taken to secure the first investment check.
• Momentum shifted after the first check, and subsequent funding came together quickly.
• The pivot to a social network for healthy and active living significantly improved investor engagement and interest.

How long it took to get the first check and how fast the rest of it came together.

This quote reflects on the fundraising experience, noting the initial difficulty in securing funding and how the process accelerated after the first investment was received.

• The company is keenly focused on user retention, which is seen as a critical issue in the health and fitness space.
• They aim to avoid the fate of other fitness products that have seen low user retention rates.

We're really focused on this. I think this is the most important thing to focus on for anybody playing in the health and fitness space.

The quote shows the company's awareness of the importance of user retention in the health and fitness industry and their commitment to prioritizing this aspect in their strategy.## Community-Driven Approach

• Community is the core of the business and product, with a focus on user motivation.
• Data indicates community involvement is key to user retention.
• The strategy involves converting users into active community members.
• The product development is guided by what the community seeks and requests.

When we get a user involved in our community, we keep them.

This quote highlights the importance of community involvement in user retention, emphasizing that active community members are more likely to remain engaged with the service or product.

Every user who signs up and focusing on building products for our community, that keeps them engaged, that adds extra things they can do or extra things they can share based on what they're looking for and asking for.

This quote explains the company's strategy to keep users engaged by developing products tailored to the community's needs and desires, thereby fostering a more engaged and active user base.

• "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" is highly regarded for its real and actionable lessons.
• The book provides decision-making frameworks for tough company-building decisions.

The hard things about hard things was great.

Phil Jacobson endorses "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" for its practical lessons on navigating difficult decisions in the startup world.

• "Fight Club" is appreciated for its raw take on individual identity and commentary on consumerism.
• The book and movie have been revisited multiple times, indicating a strong personal connection.

I love Fight Club, both the book and the movie.

Phil Jacobson expresses his admiration for "Fight Club," highlighting its rawness and thematic exploration of identity and society's focus on consumption and branding.

• The most challenging aspect of being a founder is maintaining focus.
• Founders must prioritize tasks that are crucial for the company's immediate and future success.
• Growth and engagement are key focus areas for business.

There's so many things to do and so many things that you can do. And what you really need to do is cut through the noise.

Phil Jacobson states that a founder's challenge is to prioritize effectively among numerous potential tasks by focusing on what is most important for the company's progression.

• Vision and goal orientation are crucial for productivity.
• Evernote is used for organizing different to-do lists and notes.
• Tasks not focused on growth or engagement are considered a misallocation of time.

You have to have a vision in a direction you're going and be focused on goals and do everything you need to do to get there.

Phil Jacobson emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and set goals to guide productivity and ensure that efforts align with company objectives.

• Elon Musk is considered a successful founder due to his ambitious projects and transformative impact.
• SpaceX is the project of Elon Musk's that excites Phil Jacobson the most.

Elon MusK for sure. I mean, elon's the MAn.

Phil Jacobson identifies Elon Musk as the epitome of a successful founder, citing his ambitious goals and significant contributions to global challenges.

• The Mattermark newsletter is valued for its curated content from the startup scene.
• It helps filter through the daily influx of information.

It's just a good summary of a few different links you should read from the startup scene every day.

Phil Jacobson appreciates the Mattermark newsletter for its ability to condense important startup-related information into a manageable format.

• The goal is to dominate the health and fitness space by building a leading consumer health brand.
• The company is mission-driven with a focus on growth and positively impacting users' lives.
• The aim is to leverage mobile distribution and the power of community to expand the health and fitness category.

It's all about growth and dominating the health and fitness space.

Phil Jacobson outlines the ambitious goals for PumpUp, emphasizing growth and the desire to create a significant impact in the health and fitness industry through community and mobile technology.