The last six months have been one great roller coaster ride for us. We want to thank everyone for the great feedback we have been getting. We couldn’t have done it without you guys. It’s astounding to think that a conversation Jon and I had in a garage has, in such a short time, gotten us here. CrossFit changed our lives, as it has for so many. From the garage we started in, to our Affiliate gym today, CrossFit has taken our idea of fitness to a whole new level. We realized, as many CrossFitters and Affiliate gyms have, that the whiteboard is limited by memory, space and depth. We wanted to capture the data and display the results, both past and present, in various ways, on the fly. We built a framework that Affiliate gyms could use to track, display, analyze and improve their members’ progress. It was made by CrossFitters, from our project managers to our web developers. Our mission was simple: Go beyond the whiteboard. Over the last six months we have taken the first step to achieving this mission with users posting over 100,000 results, and now, with our users’ help, we plan to take the next step forward.
Starting August 1st, Beyond the Whiteboard will be out of beta. Users and Gym Affiliates that register after this period will be given a promo period to check out the site and decide if it’s right for them. We originally built the site for our own affiliate and it has grown into something much bigger. The reality is, we need resources to keep the site going at the pace it has been. Without a steady revenue, the site will eventually get stale due to the amount of time we can dedicate to it. We also want to expand our feature base to offer more services that will benefit all our users, and hopefully the entire CrossFit community.
Why we aren’t putting up ads
- The majority of ad networks display ads dynamically, so the ads shown on beyond the whiteboard could be non-crossfit supported items. For example, unhealthy training supplements or “globo gym” ads. We decided, when we first started getting popular, that we would never bother our users with useless ads that would waste their time and hurt our integrity.
- We would need a high volume of daily unique visitors to make enough revenue to keep the site going. Most ad based sites make money off volume, which is not what beyond the whiteboard is about. We are a niche, just like CrossFit, and, to be honest, we like it that way.
Pricing
- All military base affiliates and non-profit/club affiliates can use beyond the whiteboard free of charge.
- We added pricing information on beyond the whiteboard a few months back and have gotten great feedback about it. Our pricing model is straightforward and simple; no tricks. $3 dollars a month.
- There is also an option for affiliates to cover their members’ cost at a bulk rate. View Gym Pricing
Free Trial Period
- Users will get one month to test out the site.
- Affiliate gyms will be given a promo period that will include 10 members and up to 300 workout posts for free. Any of our current gyms that our under this threshold will be added to the promo period.
We want to thank everyone for all their support and encouragement. We have big plans for the next few months and we are hoping you will stick around and be part of them.
are there any plans to put something small together that can be put on a blog that will update as we update our beyond the whiteboards? like a wordpress widget that shows the most recent workout or something?
When is the soonest I can pay for my gym?
Do you guys have any plans to make a “friend” option on beyond the whiteboard’s site, similar to facebook? That way we can track what all of our workout buddies are doing and still compete, in a sense. I have guys I workout with down in Baghdad when I’m there, and guys I workout with up here in Tikrit when I am here. If we could someone link our profiles, it would be cool to be able to take a look and keep up with each other’s times, reps, etc.