Behind the Strategy: How We’re Building JIM With Purpose

For the past year, we’ve been building JIM differently. Not with a loud hype launch. Not with paid ads. Not with millions in venture funding.

We’ve built intentionally — by testing, learning, and evolving alongside real trainers, not assumptions. It’s not always glamorous, but it is real. And it’s working.

🚧 The Reality of Building a Marketplace (with no shortcuts)

Marketplaces are hard because of the classic chicken-and-egg problem: You need trainers to attract clients. But clients won’t book until there are trainers.

Instead of forcing growth, we asked a different question:

What if we created so much value for trainers that they would join — even before we bring the clients?

That became the strategy.

JIM exists to democratise fitness — whether that means enabling trainers to build profitable careers or helping anyone achieve a life-changing transformation.

To democratise anything, you start with the people who power it. That’s why we built the platform around trainer value, not transactions.

🛠️ What we’ve built so far — intentionally

Over the past 12 months we have:

• Soft-launched instead of “launching big”

• Built, tested, broke things, improved

• Listened to feedback — especially the blunt feedback

• Released new features every week (literally!)

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We partnered with Fit Africa, an incredible global fitness community, and learned what trainers actually need.

We now have trainers in 30+ countries across 6 continents, and the app continues to evolve every week.

This isn’t growth by accident. It’s growth by intention.

🎥 Founder learning curve (transparency moment)

On a personal level, I (Josh) also had to learn how to become the messenger.

• Learning to speak on camera

• Learning what content resonates

• Learning what trainers care about (and what they don’t)

No marketing department. No big team.Just commitment and community.

💸 Limited budget. Unlimited creativity.

We aren’t trying to outspend anyone.We’re out-learning them.

Instead:

• I’m talking directly to trainers

• We’re building features based on real usage

• If a feature doesn’t help trainers grow their business, we don’t build it

🚀 The strategy now

We’re flipping the traditional marketplace model:

1️⃣ Build massive value for trainers→ Free business tools, ratings, reviews, client management, portfolio

2️⃣ Grow the trainer base→ Founding Trainer scheme (exclusive perks for early adopters)

3️⃣ THEN bring the clients→ When demand hits, trainers are already established with reviews and rankings

✅ What’s next: clients — at scale

We’re now entering the second phase.

Once we’ve built a strong ecosystem of high-quality trainers, we switch on demand:

→ Marketing campaigns

→ Strategic partnerships

→ Client acquisition

We’re already in conversations with globally recognised education and certification providers — which brings credibility, visibility, and traffic.

Clients will come into a marketplace that is ready, not empty.

And when that happens, the trainers who are already here rise to the top:

• More visibility

• More reviews

• Higher search ranking

• First access to demand

The early trainers don’t just join JIM —they benefit from being first.

⭐ Introducing the Founding Trainer Scheme

We’re opening limited places for trainers to become Founding Trainers.

Founding Trainers get:

✅ Exclusive profile badge

✅ Higher visibility in search rankings

✅ Early access to new features

✅ Direct influence on the future direction of JIM

And importantly:

You can bring your current clients into JIM, gather reviews, and build your presence before we market to the public.

This is your fast track to getting discovered.

P.S. FT status stays on your profile permanently, even as we scale. 

🎓 Coming soon: Courses and qualifications

We are working with top training providers to bring courses, qualifications, and career development directly into the app.

No more hunting for where to upskill — it will all be in one ecosystem:clients + education + income.

🔥 The ask

If you’re a trainer:

➡️ Download JIM➡️ Create your free profile➡️ Bring your current clients into the app

You won’t just be using JIM. You’ll be shaping it.

This is the beginning.

We built intentionally so we can scale decisively. Thank you to every trainer who challenged us, gave feedback, and stayed with us through the learning curve.

We’re ready.

Let’s grow together.

Josh & Matteo

Founders, JIM