Sorry for the left turn

For the past month, during my nights and weekends, I’ve been working on a new fitness web application.  In an experiment on transparency, I’m going to completely over-share on the business plan, design, process, stats and feedback.  Expect to see some code snippits, anguished tirades on money woes, and maybe even a glimmer of hope here and there.

So where to begin?  How about what, and why? As will come as no surprise to any who know me, I’m addicted to gadgets.  Combine that with enjoying biking, running and working out, and I now have at least 3 different “human telemetry” (a term I love, and picked up from a collegue at Sun Microsystems, Tony Kay) devices.  A Garmin Forerunner 405, a Polar RS400, and a Nike+.  I use the Garmin when outdoors, the Polar when inside, and the Nike+ not so much anymore.  The Nike+ was the first device I picked up however, and opened my eyes to what combining human telemetry with a great social experience can do.  

For those who haven’t played with the Nike+ site, it’s quite frankly one of the best uses of social networking I’ve seen.  After each run, you upload your data to the Nike+ site, where you can see how you performed.  More importantly, you can enter into competitions with friends, no matter where they are.  Even strangers.  For example, my sister and I competed to see who could be the first person to run a total of 30 miles.  She could run on one day, me the next, and Nike+ would let us see how it’s going.  It’s motivating, fun, and interesting.

Eventually, my toy addiction meant I outgrew the Nike+.  It’s notorious inaccurate, there’s no HR or other real-time data, and it requires that you have an iPod Mini with you.  As I moved on to my other devices, I missed having the social aspects. There are vendor specific sites, like Garmin Connect, but if you have a Polar, I have a Garmin, and Tara has a Nike+, there’s no way for us to get the competitive juices flowing.  From that simple disconnect, Zed9 was born.

Zed9 is like mint.com for fitness.  The idea is to aggregate data from as many sources as possible, provide you with meaningful analytics, and compare and contrast your performance with others in your network, demographics, and interest groups.  I’m planning on launching a private alpha this week to start getting feedback.  

As I develop and launch this, I’m planning on blogging about the experiences, technical hurdles, marketing and product management challenges.  Next topics specifically will be around balancing hobby vs. job, moving forward (or not?) in the face of overwhelming competition, setting milestones for determining just how much of my damn time I should put into this, and what does success even look like.  If there’s anything you want to know, from trivial to intimate, let me know!  And if you’ve got a Garmin of Polar device, go sign up for Zed9!