Raw Gains
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Raw Gains was a fitness app founded by Jack Ellis, modeled on a bodybuilding-focused MyFitnessPal: software for cycling calories, planning macronutrients and workouts, and giving users access to a coach, monetized through subscriptions and affiliate revenue.
02 / Raw Gains FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Founder Jack Ellis quit his full-time job and worked alone on Raw Gains, self-funded, for over a year before launch. His own account is blunt: the launch was meaningless because he expected users would just turn up, and he stopped working on it. Marketing was limited to loosely managed social media with no real direction; with no distribution strategy and a solo builder lacking experience, the app never found users.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Jack Ellis quits his job to build Raw Gains, a bodybuilding and coaching app.
- Product launch
After more than a year of solo work, the app launches to little response.
- Closure announced
Raw Gains is wound down; the founder moves on, later co-founding Fathom Analytics.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Solo, self-funded bodybuilding app; a year to launch
- 02
Expected users to just turn up; marketing had no direction
- 03
No distribution, no traction
- 04
Wound down; founder later co-founded Fathom Analytics