– NB FIT turns 5 this year. Let’s look back at how it all started.
– During the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup where I worked as a product marketer and my husband Nurgazy worked as a product designer shut down, leaving us without jobs. Around the same time, we met Nurila Barpieva — the future co-founder of NB FIT. She had already filmed several of her workouts and was selling them through social media, but wanted to scale the idea into a full-fledged online fitness platform.
We didn’t have deep expertise in such products, but we decided to test the hypotheses. We realized that customers were willing to pay for online workouts and that we could scale into other Russian-speaking countries. In May 2020, Nurgazy Ordobaev and Stanislav Kazantsev joined the platform, and we began developing the MVP. Within a couple of weeks, the prototype was ready.
– Initially, you focused exclusively on online workouts. What does NB FIT offer now?
– That direction remains: the NB FIT library contains more than 300 workouts. Users also get access to 1,000+ video lessons from psychologists, nutritionists, endocrinologists and other women’s health specialists. In addition, personal consultations with experts are available.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, we introduced an AI consultant that provides answers to women’s health–related questions. We only integrate chatbots that work on verified scientific data and established methodologies.
The most valuable component is the interest-based community. As it turned out, the ability to connect with like-minded people is incredibly important — especially for new mothers on maternity leave, who often stay home with a child 24/7.
– What sets NB FIT apart from other online workout services?
– First and foremost, our systemic approach. We don’t overwhelm the user — instead, we gradually guide her to a state where she enjoys the workouts and improves her wellbeing. We also promote a supportive approach to sensitive issues in women’s health. Very often, women are judged for certain problems — in our work, this is never the case.
– Do you still operate only online?
– We are also developing the offline direction in Bishkek. Two fitness studios currently work under NB FIT programs. We also collaborate with doctors: we organize in-person conferences and meetings with physicians and specialized experts.
– What challenges have you faced over the years?
– The project was profitable from the very beginning — up until the moment we set ambitious scaling goals. At the end of 2021, we wanted to enter the MENA market because we were receiving traffic from the region. We test-launched advertising in the UAE and Qatar and conducted numerous customer development interviews. We spent a significant amount of money but weren’t able to capture a large audience. We do have users from the UAE, but not as many as, for example, in the United States.
– What went wrong?
– We didn’t account for localization and had a poor understanding of the fitness and medical markets in the region. We realized that demand exists, but without deep analytics and contextual knowledge of the region, we may have simply wasted money. But you never know until you try.
Next, we wanted to test the United States. At first, we tested hypotheses using our own funds and even went into the red. That’s why we later began seeking investment and participating in research programs to secure a larger budget for experiments.
More details available at Digitalbusiness.kz.
– NB FIT turns 5 this year. Let’s look back at how it all started.
– During the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup where I worked as a product marketer and my husband Nurgazy worked as a product designer shut down, leaving us without jobs. Around the same time, we met Nurila Barpieva — the future co-founder of NB FIT. She had already filmed several of her workouts and was selling them through social media, but wanted to scale the idea into a full-fledged online fitness platform.
We didn’t have deep expertise in such products, but we decided to test the hypotheses. We realized that customers were willing to pay for online workouts and that we could scale into other Russian-speaking countries. In May 2020, Nurgazy Ordobaev and Stanislav Kazantsev joined the platform, and we began developing the MVP. Within a couple of weeks, the prototype was ready.
– Initially, you focused exclusively on online workouts. What does NB FIT offer now?
– That direction remains: the NB FIT library contains more than 300 workouts. Users also get access to 1,000+ video lessons from psychologists, nutritionists, endocrinologists and other women’s health specialists. In addition, personal consultations with experts are available.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, we introduced an AI consultant that provides answers to women’s health–related questions. We only integrate chatbots that work on verified scientific data and established methodologies.
The most valuable component is the interest-based community. As it turned out, the ability to connect with like-minded people is incredibly important — especially for new mothers on maternity leave, who often stay home with a child 24/7.
– What sets NB FIT apart from other online workout services?
– First and foremost, our systemic approach. We don’t overwhelm the user — instead, we gradually guide her to a state where she enjoys the workouts and improves her wellbeing. We also promote a supportive approach to sensitive issues in women’s health. Very often, women are judged for certain problems — in our work, this is never the case.
– Do you still operate only online?
– We are also developing the offline direction in Bishkek. Two fitness studios currently work under NB FIT programs. We also collaborate with doctors: we organize in-person conferences and meetings with physicians and specialized experts.
– What challenges have you faced over the years?
– The project was profitable from the very beginning — up until the moment we set ambitious scaling goals. At the end of 2021, we wanted to enter the MENA market because we were receiving traffic from the region. We test-launched advertising in the UAE and Qatar and conducted numerous customer development interviews. We spent a significant amount of money but weren’t able to capture a large audience. We do have users from the UAE, but not as many as, for example, in the United States.
– What went wrong?
– We didn’t account for localization and had a poor understanding of the fitness and medical markets in the region. We realized that demand exists, but without deep analytics and contextual knowledge of the region, we may have simply wasted money. But you never know until you try.
Next, we wanted to test the United States. At first, we tested hypotheses using our own funds and even went into the red. That’s why we later began seeking investment and participating in research programs to secure a larger budget for experiments.
More details available at Digitalbusiness.kz.
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