Lakeland web company incentivizes people to get moving

Yes.Fit, the brainchild of Scott Parker and Kevin Transue of Lakeland, enables users to participate in virtual races.

“The user pays an entry fee to an event; then we can map their progress using exotic or historic routes,” Parker says.  “Whether someone walks a mile a day or runs 10 miles a day, every time you record a workout. We figure out a street view from Google, and can show you this is how far you went, and this where you went and here is a picture of where you would be. It’s a unique, interactive experience.”

In addition to the novelty of virtually running areas such as the Redwood forest and the Pacific Coastline, Parker says there is strong motivation component that users love about the application.

“Once you complete a race, a medal is shipped to you with a congratulations letter, and people celebrate with you on social media,” he says.

It is this type of motivation that Parker says has led to some dramatic transformation by some of his users.

“On our Facebook page we have a large community of support between our users in that group, there is story after story of people who have said they’ve never won an award, or they’ve never been able to lose weight, but now they lost 40 pounds,” he says. “We are truly making an impact on people’s lives, which we didn’t even know we would have when we started.”

Yes.Fit integrates with most fitness devices including FitBit, Garnett, RunKeeper, MapmyFitness by UnderArmor, Misfit, Jawbone and others. Parker says that he has seen his product increase steps and movement in these devices. He also points out that it doesn’t matter whether you walk, run or cycle -- any movement can be tracked.

To help get their product launched, Parker and Transue sought out advice from the Tampa Bay Innovation Center. Parker credits the advisers there for helping him and his partner grow their company.

“The Tampa Bay Innovation Center helped by high-level view of our organization while me and my partner were in the trenches, they have provided us with insight to think three months, a year and two years ahead, to think look at the big picture and forecast.”

The insight given has helped, as the company has grown quite a bit since it began a year-and-a-half ago. Today Yes.Fit employs six full-time employees, and five part-time employees. There are 55,000 users of the product, up from 19,000 in January of this year. Parker says this is just the beginning.  

“We still have a lot of growth coming, and many new exciting features on the horizon,” he says. “We’re just getting started.”