Every product has a story.
GymTie didn’t start in a boardroom. It started inside my own gym New Wings Health Club, a well-known fitness center in my village.
In my gym, there are two coaches - Akhilettan and Sarathettan. (In Malayalam, “ettan” means brother. That’s how I call them.) They are more than coaches to me. They are family.
As a software engineer and an active gym member, I was already helping the gym in small ways - managing their Google Business profile, setting up the CCTV camera mobile system, and handling small tech-related tasks.
But one incident changed everything.
The Problem That Sparked GymTie
One day, Akhilettan went to Dubai for training. Saratheetan and a temporary coach were left to manage the gym.
That’s when we realized something important.
Sarathettan didn’t have all the member details in his memory - their names, their photos, their payment status. It became difficult to track who had paid fees and who hadn’t. Asking for payments felt uncomfortable because we weren’t sure about each member’s status.
One day, he asked me:
“Is there any way to solve this issue?”
At that time, I was already experimenting with a gym management idea. I told him:
“I’ll build an app to manage the gym.” And that’s where GymTie truly began.
My Background at That Time
By then, I had already registered my company - Floyet Labs & Technologies LLP.
I was working on multiple ideas:
- Parambath App - a local app for my village
- YoungMenu - a restaurant management tool
- Techomoro.com (later renamed to CodeARIV.com) - my tech blog
- Kuty.me - a URL shortening tool
- And many more ideas
But this time, the problem was real. It was in front of me. It was happening in my own gym.
So I put other projects aside and focused on GymTie.
The Name “GymTie”
The name was suggested by my friend Amith from a list of ideas.
“GymTie” felt short and memorable.
A tie represents professionalism and discipline.
The message was clear:
Make your gym more professional and disciplined.
The First Version
After a few months of work (this was before AI coding tools became common), I built a web-based gym management platform and handed it over.
But there was a problem.
The system worked only on a laptop - and the laptop wasn’t in good condition. It wasn’t practical for daily gym operations.
So I made a decision.
If gym owners and coaches are always moving around, the solution must be mobile-first.
Building the Mobile App
With my experience in React and React Native, I started building a mobile app version.
It took several more months of development, testing, and fixing.
Finally, in July 2024, I handed over a working mobile version to Saratheetan.
After a few training sessions, he could manage everything easily:
- Member profiles
- Payment logs
- Renewals
- Attendance
We kept improving it. Features were added. Some were restructured. Bugs were fixed.
And slowly, it became stable.
Seeing It Used in Real Life
Saratheetan said the app made gym management much easier.
A few months later, Akhilettan returned from Dubai. He saw the app and found it very interesting.
The best part?
I didn’t charge them for using it.
Seeing real-time members and payment logs inside my own app gave me happiness I can’t describe.
Even though the app was free for the gym, I got a small reduction in my gym fee. In a way, that became my “subscription model” as an active gym member.
Scaling the Idea
Initially, I designed the system so that each gym had its own separate setup.
It worked well for a few gyms. I even contacted kickboxing and karate centers, and some were ready to use it.
But as I thought bigger, I realized something:
Managing separate systems for every gym would become difficult to scale.
So I rebuilt the architecture to support multiple gyms under a single scalable system.
That was a turning point.
GymTie was no longer just a tool for my gym.
It became a product.
From a Local Solution to a Company Product
What started as a simple solution for a fee-tracking problem slowly turned into the primary product of Floyet Labs & Technologies LLP.
It wasn’t built for investors.
It wasn’t built for hype.
It was built to solve a real problem faced by real coaches I respect.
And that’s why GymTie exists today.
The Mission
GymTie is not just software.
It’s about helping gyms:
- Stay organized
- Become professional
- Maintain discipline
- Manage members confidently
- Reduce awkward fee conversations
- And grow with clarity
It was born from a small gym in my village.
And now, the journey is just beginning.