HCM PEOPLE
We see a world where every major city has access to Solo 60
Ben Alderton Founder, Solo 60
Tell us about the venture Solo 60 is a unique alternative to the conventional gym. We lease small, unused offices and retail units and transform them into high-end private micro-gyms that can be booked to work out solo or with friends or for PTs to train clients, with slots starting from 60 minutes. We have three brands – Solo 60 Sessions, which are pre-booked workouts, Solo 60 Studio for group exercise and Solo 60 Stream, our virtual offering. All bookings run end-to-end via technology so the first step is to download and register an account on our mobile app, which guides the user to find a space, select a time, duration and group size before confirming the booking. We send instructions and a PIN code so people can access the gym and enjoy it exclusively.
How did you come up with the idea? I was running a PT business from April 2015 until selling it to pursue Solo 60 in November 2019, so effectively, I was my own customer. The business had eight trainers and 350 clients and I was looking to expand out of the gym we were using so I could test new locations, scale and find new clients, but I faced constant rejections from gyms that wanted me to sign up to pay monthly fees and/or bring my whole team of trainers and clients to that gym. I was looking for flexibility and so were my clients, who were being forced to sign up to the gym to train with me. The lightbulb went off in my mind and I started to develop the concept for Solo 60. How many sites do you have and what are your expansion plans? We currently have two sites in London – Shoreditch and Tower Bridge – but our expansion plans are huge. We aim to grow 10 times over in the next year and then set our sights on entering the rest of the UK and then Europe. We see a world where every major city has access to Solo 60.
Alderton has plans to roll out Solo 60 locations in the UK and globally
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Issue 5 2021 ©Cybertrek 2021
PHOTO: SOLO 60
Who’s advising on investment? When it comes to investment, I’ve done it all myself and learned a lot about raising finance through angel investors and venture capitalists. We’re currently closing a US$1m seed round which has been another huge learning curve.