I am building HobbyFi - a Hobby Platform which helps you find Hobbies ( in space of sports, fitness & Performing Arts ) at nearby vendors or even online like (playing sports , buying a gym membersship or an online live guitar learning class ). It’s basically a book my show for hobby businesses offering pay as you go model or membership based subscription model for both offline and online vendors.
I have pitched to multiple investors & some have rejected saying multiple startups failed in this space. I want to know those reason - what would make this marketplace mobile app fail - is it lack of trust due to being a new app, or hobby owners avertness to paying commision for booking ? We are just trying to find reasons with which we can eliminate these problems.
Sorry maybe a naive view, but I think people are averse to installing one more app to find activities. They can easily find these on Bookmyshow etc already perhaps? What do you think?
But I think you can run a small MVP around how this will work, in small groups of customers who are really looking for this service. Figure feedback and then build an app etc. To run this experiment as a MVP, you can just do it over a whatsapp group, coordinate activities, and see what you find out.
I completely agree with @Pai
We followed a similar approach with NutriMap for two years—starting small, learning from the users, and iterating on the solution. This would give u invaluable feedback and insights that will help fine-tune the service, positioning, and features .
So that has been our learning from last 6 months. We are basically trying to experiment with - focused group study for teaching hobbies to special kids online, apart from vertically building going out platform to play sports ( currently ) - which doesn’t makes sense at all.
Atlhough, theoratically this does not aligns with my goal of creating a going out platform in space of health, fitness & PA. We are trying to create a meaningful product - which now seems to becoming a live learning platform for special kids ( although I love the thing it stands for), but now i see this becoming from a going out platform to becoming into opening a hobby centre for special kids ( cult like ) ( because running it online is not scalable when you have batch size issue for an online class ) . One of the examples ( just trying to double down on my learnings ).
Anyways thanks for the feedback. Let me put it out, the android link soon - let me know you though on the same.
There is no moat. Once they book with you for the first class, they have no reason to come back to you.
Hobbies are typically not supposed to be expensive. Think of the last big spend on a hobby you made? Some people may but India at large may not.
Your hobby is one (not many). You want one guitar teacher and don’t want to see 1000 of other coaches etc etc. And for guitar teacher, a simple google search or an insta recommendation will solve.
BUT, like most other entrepreneurs, if you believe in what you are building, no feedback ever matters.
As Dinesh mentioned, few have already setup their foot strong in dealing with sports. There is Playo, Cult, Game Theory… Machaxi is now trying to make their presence larger. And there is Superprof trying to tackle the non-sport hobbies online.
One thing that’s often missed when building for kids is the time left for a kid in a day. Their days are usually filled with academics and routines that their parents have setup in a way that supports their own jobs and lifestyle.
My understanding has been that it takes a community-driven lifestyle change to grow this market. And the pace of growth is unpredictable.
@Shalem We kept that thought in mind while building about children - ( but you need something like game theory or machaxi ) to work with children since, quality always plays a big role.
We couldn’t afford to spend on facility since capex is Involved & we are lil poor in bank, we thought let’s streamline for everyone. "
Btw how does this sounds - You put - Playo ( pay as you go model ) , Cult Fit ( membership model )& superprof ( live online learning ) all into 1 platform & make it about Vendors via offering SaaS solutions so they can run their business ( both offline and online ).
Do you think something like this can be attractive. Although I still need help with GTM for 1st model with 50 test vendors & customers. Please be a part of the test beta group and let me know your thoughts.
Hey @Pai , based on the feedback we are working o the basic principles of building, would you be interested in checking out our MVP. I would really appreciate your feedback.
@Vinod appreciate your opinion. Would love If you could checkout our MVP & lay your thought over the same
So, you’re talking about becoming an aggregator? Did you get to figure out their interest in being listed on an aggregator?
Maybe figuring out vendor pain points can be a good start. Also, with the competition like Playo and Cult aggregating game spaces and gyms, how much of the vendor market will be left for you to deal with…
Shalem, yes we aim to become an aggregator - Already noted feedback, built & onboarded 50 vendors, 160 in pipeline. We are doing a closed group testing with these vendors in Jaipur. with 50 Users to test, before going operations heavy.
We can onboard every vendor - who is listed on playo or hudle. Since there are no exclusivity contract, vendors are happy to get booking from anywhere they can. We are building on the short comings of these platforms. Since they haven’t innovated yet, there is room to capture some.
