HEALTH & FITNESS | PROFILE INSPIRATION When putting in sweat equity while building a new tech company that brings fitness lovers together around the world, it helps to start out in a vibrant city filled with people who are enthusiastic about health and exercise. Fortunately for Josh Lloyd, Chief Technoloy Officer and co-founder of FitMetrix, his company kicked off in Atlanta. BY JOHN SCOTT LEWINSKI PORTRAIT BY EMILY WILSON FitMetrix (fitmetrix.io) is an exercisecentric, engagement-driven technology platform spreading throughout international gym chains and boutiques. It allows users to book their gym time, rendezvous with friends, and schedule training sessions or fitness equipment as easily as they would book seats at modern movie theaters or tables at online-savvy restaurants. Fitness devotees can set goals, track their performance, compete in gymwide competitions, as well as receive more in-depth direction from personal trainers. They can even engage in remote exercise classes anywhere, from the comfort of their linked-in home gym or wandering around the city. Exercise is everywhere! “We’re allowing technology to become your personal trainer around the world,” Lloyd says. “The fitness segment had been stagnant for a long time, and that presented an opportunity. Gyms were struggling to increase customer retention because they can’t just rely on charging money and letting people work out.” In 2008, Lloyd entered the major entrepreneurial scene after co-founding the e-commerce platform ShopVisible. After selling the company, he transitioned into fitness tech by teaming with co-founder Monica Dioda on FitMetrix. He describes the system as leading the “Amazon-ing of training” by centralizing fitness services and empowering personalization. He credits Atlanta for providing a hearty launching pad: “It’s a strong city for startups. With my experience here, I find Atlanta attracts high-quality, capable people. This is a young city full of people who value fitness,” he says. After rolling out FitMetrix at Atlanta venues, the technology advanced almost entirely by word of mouth to 21 countries in both major workout chains and individual boutiques, including Life Time Fitness, Gold’s Gym, CycleBar, US Fitness and others. Perspiration 84 MEN’S BOOK | FALL 2017