After receiving a free personal training session when he joined a gym, Michael Piermont wanted to book a follow-up session.
Then he noticed that his trainer’s online presence needed some muscle.
“I had no way to follow up from the workout, had no place to schedule my next workout, had no place to contact the trainer,” Piermont said. “I was like, ‘Bingo.'”
Piermont, 29, of Lincoln Park, created amStatz, an online marketplace, scheduling platform and more for personal trainers.
Other online platforms, including MindBody, offer fitness studios an online place to manage booking, scheduling and more. Piermont said he created amStatz as a place for personal trainers to do two-way scheduling with clients and to keep track of payments — plus track clients’ workouts, upload clients’ fitness photos and goals and stay in contact with clients.
More Top Picks Best Network Streamers For Audiophiles
“It allows me to stay connected with my trainer even when I’m not at the gym,” said Max Brown, 43, of River North. “I find myself better prepared for my sessions. My trainer knows when I need a kick in the butt, and sometimes will use the ‘nudge’ button, which alerts me that I need to do a workout.”
Piermont founded amStatz in late 2011, he said, while he worked in business development for GoHealth, an online health insurance agency.
The company offers several pricing options, including $29 per month for trainers and $75 per month for studios.
Piermont said amStatz has 16 full-time employees in Lincoln Park and has 2,500 trainers and studios using the company’s system. He said clients include DePaul University and that he recently completed other deals.
He self-funded amStatz before getting funding from friends and family and then getting $415,000 in seed funding from angel investors, he said. A few weeks ago, he said, the company raised $1.45 million from LaunchCapital, LionBird and the Indiana Innovation Fund.
Piermont said he expects the company to be profitable by early 2015.
Josh Palmet, a certified fitness trainer in Chicago, said he started using amStatz shortly after it launched because he wanted a platform to link all aspects of his business.
“Overall, my business is now more organized, which has helped the bottom line,” Palmet said.
UPDATED: This story has been updated to correct the number of trainers signed up to use amStatz.