Start-Up Idea HEAD to HEAD #2: Grappling Wearable vs. STRegs.com
In this series, I put two start-up ideas against each other and YOU get to vote for which one you think is a more viable idea.
Here we go with the second edition of Start-Up Idea HEAD to HEAD.
The last article in this series, our inaugural H2H article, pitted Mission RX3 against SkyFit, with SkyFit (a concept for an airport gym chain) proving to be the more viable idea according to the readers of this blog.
I prefaced our first article by saying that these ideas can range from elaborate to barely cooked, and from outrageous to “why doesn’t this already exist?” Some are nothing more than a fleeting thought that I jotted down in Notes, others I wrote entire blogs about on my private personal blog. I think that variety makes it interesting. As I write about the two, I’ll try not to show any bias or favorability toward either idea so that you can cast an honest judgment on which one you would be more likely to get behind.
Without further ado, let the games begin.
Idea #1: A Grappling Wearable
This is an idea that I first started thinking about probably a year ago. The concept is simple, the execution seemingly is not. As I write this, it seems like everybody and their brother has some sort of fitness tracker that never leaves their wrists.
They’re either tracking steps, workouts, heart rate, mileage, or some other fitness metric.
They can swim, bike, run, play basketball, climb, row, and do about a dozen other things while wearing it. There is an activity, however, that you can not wear the fitness tracker during… grappling. Or any sort of martial arts in general, for that matter.
I do Jiu Jitsu as often as I can, and there are days during hard rolls where I get gassed. I think back to my days wrestling in high school, too - to this day, the live go’s in my high school wrestling room are some of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done. I feel like sports like wrestling and grappling are universally revered for their difficulty - but, as far as I know, there is no way to track the metrics associate with the physical exertion that happens during these activities (heart rate, calories, etc.).
You can’t wear a wrist tracker, your opponent needs to be able to grab your wrists. You can’t wear one on your ankle for the same reason. You can’t wear one around your chest to track heart rate. So what can you wear during these activities that could accurately track your fitness?
I’ve thought of two ways I think this COULD work: under the skin or maybe on the upper inner leg/groin area, along the femoral artery. In my experience, those are really the only couple of places that wouldn’t get jostled during a roll - and even with a good partner and proper on-mat etiquette, the groin area is certainly not immune to being jostled, IYKYK.
Bottom line - I would love to be able to track my fitness metrics while rolling, and I think a lot of other people would love that, too.
Idea #2: STRegs.com
I’ll caveat this idea by saying my buddy, Pete Hetzel, first came up with it - and I just ran with it a little further and started building it out (still far from a finished product though - shelfed it for a future date).
Another relatively simple concept that doesn’t require a ton of elaboration, STRegs.com would be a site that curious aspiring short-term rental hosts and investors could type in the location where they want to buy or host a short-term rental property, and our site would spit out what the local rules and regulations are for investing there. That’s it.
In practice, it would look something like this:
[Search] “Denver, CO”
[Result] To short-term rent a property in Denver, the property must be the host’s primary residence, and the host must pay an annual $25 fee for a short-term rental permit.
I thought it was a pretty good idea when we brainstormed it up two or three years ago, but now, in the AI-age, you can literally just search in ChatGPT or Copilot or anything else and get the same effect.
It might not be as viable now… who knows how many people would use it.
Alright, time for the fun part. Vote here for which idea you like more, believe to be more viable, or want to invest or partner on and build it out with me.
As always, thank you for reading.
Small life update for you loyal readers in the nature of full transparency - if it wasn’t obvious by this series, I am by nature an entrepreneurial person. I’m currently developing a SAAS application that I think could really be something, and I just started in a pretty credible (and intensive) accelerator program to really see if we can make something of it. The accelerator is brutally demanding on top of my already full life obligations, requiring around 20-25 hours each week.
I’m going to do my best to be proactive with the deliverables and use my time most efficiently, but if push comes to shove, this blog will be what I choose to shelf while I focus on the business. If it comes to that, I’ll publish one last short blog to let you all know that I’ll be putting it on pause for the foreseeable future. WE’RE NOT AT THAT POINT YET - I’m going to try and juggle it all, but consider this a WARNO that that could happen if this accelerator really picks up.
Until next time,
Reid