“Fitness, for a very long time, has been done and promoted in isolation, it could never become a culture, it could never become fashion” – Squats founder Jitendra Chouksey opens up in an exclusive interview with DKODING Media.
Squats is an online fitness platform based in Pune. Within a period of 3 years, Squats has come a long way into becoming one of India’s major communities in the vertical of Health & Fitness. The fitness platform functions through its website, mobile application – FITTR, and offline centers in some of the country’s major cities. The startup was recently featured by YCombinator in the list of top 200 startups.
Squats began with seven initial members investing 5000 each and a few of the members have already made 1000 times profit in 3 years, that too by only selling a portion of their equity. The current valuation of the company stands at INR 300 crore. Bollywood actor Sunil Shetty has also invested an undisclosed amount in the startup.
Jitendra Chouksey, Founder of Squats Fitness Pvt. Ltd., started helping people through a WhatsApp group. However, riding on his impeccable fitness techniques and grasp of health and nutrition, almost every person achieved his goal. Soon the word for Jitendra’s exceptional skills spread like fire in the forest. People were even willing to pay him for his personal services. Jitendra began receiving more requests than he could accommodate. Finally, he decided to launch Squats – an online fitness platform.
Jitendra Chouksey recently opened up with DKODING media to share his future plans and aspirations for the company.
Exclusive Interview with India’s Fitness Savant – Jitendra Chouksey
DKODING: How many people have achieved their fitness goals with the help of Squats?
Jitendra: We have more than 100,000+ successful transformations. Out of which we have 93,000+ paid clients. Our facebook group Fittr and our app provides enough free information for anyone to transform for free without the need for any paid plans.
DKODING: What makes Squats so effective when it comes to making people fit?
Jitendra: Our approach is 100% scientific, we emphasize on Quantified nutrition and resistance training. Our experts are compassionate and know what it takes to help people change fitness from a hobby to a habit. Our focus is on incorporating fitness as a lifestyle.
DKODING: What makes Squats different from other fitness platforms?
Jitendra: It was and it always will the community. Fitness, for a very long time, has been done and promoted in isolation, it could never become a culture, it could never become fashion. We intend to change that, Fitness must become a part of our culture.
DKODING: What is the plan going forward? Where do you see yourself in the next five years? and any major announcements that people can look for in the coming months?
Jitendra: We want to take Fittr to the world, as of now, 30% of our customers are outside the country, around 12% from the US, 6% from Australia and rest from 36 different countries. We’re working on some amazing stuff that’ll hopefully change fitness in its core format, we’ve filed two patents but I can’t talk about it just yet. So you’ll have to wait and see.
DKODING: Your company recently made it to the YC list of the top 200 startups. How does it feel to come so far from a Whatsapp Group?
Jitendra: It feels good when you have a validation from one of the best and the biggest guys in the world. Definity got us more eyeballs, it’s a milestone, the mission is not complete yet, so a lot of work to do.
