Austin, TX (17 Sep 2024). FTNSS (ftnss.fit), the fitness marketplace building on-demand gym access for travelers worldwide, today announced that it has been selected for the inaugural cohort of Spark Lab, a new accelerator program from StartOut.
StartOut is a national nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs through mentorship, community and access to capital. Spark Lab is its first structured accelerator, and FTNSS is among the founding cohort.
It started on a dance floor
The idea for FTNSS did not begin in a gym. It began at WorldPride in Madrid in 2017, on a dance floor surrounded by people who had traveled from every corner of the world to be in one room together.
Watching thousands of people find somewhere they belonged, in a city that was not their own, is what put the idea in motion. The same trip produced the problem the company set out to solve. FTNSS's founder had lost a significant amount of weight in Toronto and built a training routine around it. Travelling broke that routine immediately.
"I'd lost the weight at home in Toronto, and I had a routine I genuinely cared about," said Jordan Robinson, CEO of FTNSS. "Then I got to Madrid and there was nowhere that would sell me a gym membership for a day, or even a couple of days. Everything was built around signing a year-long contract in a city you already live in. Once you notice that, you notice it in every city you visit."
That is the gap FTNSS exists to close, and the community on that dance floor is who it is being built for. LGBTQ+ travelers already cross borders to find each other, and already think carefully about which spaces are for them. A fitness platform serving that community has to be inclusive by design rather than by afterthought.
What the program provides
Spark Lab pairs founders with operators and investors for a structured program of mentorship, company-building workshops and introductions across StartOut's network. For FTNSS, the focus is on sharpening the marketplace model that underpins single-day and short-term gym access: supply partnerships on one side, traveler demand on the other.
Why it matters for FTNSS
Building a two-sided marketplace means getting both sides right at once, and a cohort of founders solving adjacent problems, alongside operators who have solved them before, is the fastest way to shorten that learning curve.
But the fit runs deeper than the mechanics. Building this company inside StartOut's first cohort, among founders who have lived the experience the product is designed around, is the point rather than a coincidence.
Our mission is clear: to use technology and design to improve wellness and decrease loneliness around the world.
About FTNSS
FTNSS is a fitness marketplace dedicated to leveraging technology and design to improve wellness and decrease loneliness worldwide. With its app, FTNSS empowers travelers to easily book single-day and short-term gym access anywhere in the world, ensuring access to premium fitness amenities and fostering a sense of belonging on the go. Find a gym and book access at ftnss.fit.
About StartOut
StartOut is a national nonprofit dedicated to empowering LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. More at startout.org.
Media contact
FTNSS Communications: press@ftnss.fit