Mike Heitz, Brennick Hendrick-Fox, and James Morrow found themselves in a position familiar to many startups in the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
The three University at Buffalo graduates officially launched their fitness app – Redprint – two years ago and actively worked on it outside of their day-to-day jobs.
“But it was slow,” Mike says. “As a startup, we have limited resources and can’t really pay a lot of technical talent. We were developing the idea, trying to figure out what it was going to be, made a lot of iterations.”
In search of help to take the next step, the trio found it back at their alma mater in the form of UB Professor of Practice Alan Hunt and students in his CSE 611 graduate course, which puts an intensive focus on real product development for real people and businesses. Over the past year, Redprint has been able to gain momentum and expand from a half dozen clients to 18 facilities that are scattered across the country.
“When you’re young and starting out, it’s impossible to find a group of people who can work together to create a product you’re trying to get into the market,” Mike says. “So for us, we would be in a very different position if we didn’t have access to some of the great students we’ve worked with.”
Redprint already had an app designed to enhance the gym experience through interactive and instructional videos accessed via scannable tags placed on equipment, but the co-founders were looking to add a product that would bring value to the gyms that showed interest in adding this member experience.
So in the spring 2024 semester, students started by building a web interface that translates the user data collected through the equipment tags and shows in real-time how the facility is being used, “which is data they haven’t had before outside of just observations,” Mike says.
This fall, as more feedback was collected from potential clients, a new set of students added a few more features that will be ready to launch this winter. The new capabilities now allow for trainer submitted videos, mass communication to members, and user-generated equipment maintenance reporting.
“Working with them has been great,” James says. “We have a weekly meeting so we can touch base and see where everyone’s at. We have a Slack channel, which we’re all very active on. It’s been just like a full-time team, where we’re all in this together. It’s been awesome to see how hard these guys work and how talented they are.”
Industry-school collaborations like this benefit both sides. While the students gain valuable real-world experiences, participating companies receive a product as well as the opportunity to gain insights from and work hands-on with the next generation of tech talent.
One student made such an impression on the Redprint team that Mike says they’re planning on making an offer once they graduate. And now with a clearer path toward expansion, they continue pitching major universities and commercial gyms with the goal of expanding to 40-50 facilities by the end of 2025.
“I’m still amazed at the connections we’ve made and the people we’ve met,” James says. “Once you start going down that path, you start meeting other people who are on the same path or who have had success, and then suddenly that projects you forward.”
