I moved my workouts community from Slack to Whatsapp

When I started my workout group, I chose Slack. It seemed like the best place: you get channels, you can have different places for arranging runs vs gym visits. It will scale so well!

Well, guess what: no-one outside of tech wants to use Slack. 

Some reactions: 

"I use Slack for work. I don't want to use this app in my personal time"

"You'll need to show me how to use Slack"

"What's Slack?" 

I was getting lots of people signing up Get Workout Buddies but then there was a huge drop-off when it came to joining the Slack. So I added a question on my signup form: what platform do you want to join? And guess what: 80% of people wanted Whatsapp.

So I did the smart thing, listened to users and gave them what they want.

I think this is a common pattern founders fall into: make something they want, not what other people want.

Since I've moved the group over to Whatsapp, more people are moving from signing up to joining the group, people are chatting way more and most importantly, workouts are getting arranged.

My takeaway: give people what they want.