The young Munich startup SOLOS achieved a real surprise success at this year's ISPO: In the elevator pitch, the four founders were able to prevail against their competitors with their interactive mirror, which is intended to replace the fitness trainer in the future, and from now on they can adorn themselves with the title "ISPO BRANDNEW Digital Winner 2017".
The origin story of SOLOS sounds like something out of a textbook Technical University of Munich: The four TUM students Vladimir Kondic (Electrical Engineering), Giorgi Khubua (TUM Business Administration), Georgi Anastasov (Computer Science) and Dimitar Magurev (Computer Science) meet in October 2016 to take part in the program Think.Make.Start — organized by the TU Munich and the UnternehmerTUM — to participate. Student teams will first come up with an idea, implement it within two weeks, and develop a prototype. Giorgi Khubua told:
"That's where our idea was born. But after the two weeks, we continued with the idea, participated in various exhibitions, and also received great support from the UnternehmerTUM."
And the support continues: SOLOS has recently been included in the Accelerator Program of the UnternehmerTUM TechFounders The founders tell us that interest in the product is generally high, with inquiries coming from as far away as South Africa.
More motivation to train with SOLOS
Why this great interest? Because SOLOS is intended to develop a mirror that not only recognizes and analyzes every single movement of a trainee, but also documents their progress. Giorgi Khubua:
"The digital assistant, SOLOS, analyzes the user's progress, provides constant real-time feedback during training, tells the user what was done wrong, synchronizes with other devices, and is easy to use."
SOLOS also increases motivation to exercise through the implementation of gamification features: Users receive bonus points and can compare themselves with their friends. The founders envision potential applications in fitness studios, health centers, or sports centers in general. The interactive mirror could also be used here to support on-site trainers in their work.
Private customers should also be given the opportunity to install an interactive mirror in their homes. According to Vladimir Kondic, the market potential here is enormous.
Big challenges and a big vision
Despite positive feedback, enthusiastic support, and their first award, the four founders still face major challenges. One of them is balancing their studies and their own startup. This means they sometimes have to write their bachelor's thesis while traveling on the subway.
Nevertheless, the four have already started three pilot projects and are taking First pre-orders from March 2017 In order to be able to finance SOLOS, the four founders are currently looking for investors. With the award IWith the SPO BRANDNEW Digital Winner 2017 behind them and the drive of the founders, the signs are good:
“Our vision is to revolutionize gyms and the way people look in the mirror there.”
