MECHA Fitness opening new Louisville gym

BOULDER — Techstars, the worldwide entrepreneur accelerator group, has launched a new offering for entrepreneurs, alumni and mentors in its network. Techstars Studio is a new offering — starting in Boulder — that will help the founders associated with the Techstars network validate, prototype and launch new ideas. While Techstars is known for its accelerator programs — where early-stage entrepreneurs go through a multiple-week cohort developing their team, idea, working with mentors, learning how to run their company and ultimately pitching their finalized startup to the public and investors — the Techstars Studio will operate a little differently. The Studio is for people already in the Techstars Network — mentors, investors, alumni, corporate partners — who have ideas for new startups but would like to go through the process of validating and building on those ideas with the support and speed of Techstars rather than having to do it on their own. “The Techstars mission is to help entrepreneurs succeed,” said Isaac Saldana, chief technology officer of Techstars Studio and the founder of SendGrid (NYSE: SEND), a Techstars company that went on to have an IPO. “That’s not just entrepreneurs that have never done a company, but alumni who have worked with Techstars before. These entrepreneurs told us they still want to do something with Techstars, while our corporate partners told us they wanted to co-create companies to solve some of the problems they’re experiencing. Techstar Studio is a way to help all of these entrepreneurs succeed.” Network members can pitch their ideas to the Studio — Mike Rowan, one of the leaders of the Techstars Studio and a former VP of SendGrid Labs, said he expects hundreds of thousands of ideas from Techstars worldwide network. Rowan Saldana will narrow those ideas down to ones on which they can do market testing. Ideas will be funneled down as market research, testing, validation and prototyping create the best ideas into potential viable companies. Selected ideas will go through a Sprint Week of forming teams to do further deep market research, create prototypes and pitch the company internally. The best of the best will be selected to be backed by Techstars and launched as a startup. The studio plans to launch multiple startups a year using this methodology. Unlike an accelerator, Techstars Studio won’t operate as a cohort. Ideas that are being developed will be in different stages based on the schedule they need. Teams will work within their own silos based on how far along they are. However, like an accelerator, Techstars Studio will also operate on an equity model to generate revenue, although how that is done with the developed startups will be on a case-by-case basis, Rowan said. He added that ideas that are pitched to Techstars Studio will be the intellectual property of the person that pitched the ideas, and that ideas that go through the development stages of the studio will be developed into LLCs and be the intellectual property of the individual company. “We expect to help entrepreneurs through the validation process,” Rowan said. “Effectively, […]

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For busy executives, getting fit in the New Year doesn’t have to mean a heavy commitment to strenuous activity requiring lots of hours. Exercise can be as lengthy as 60 minutes or squeezed in for high intensity bursts of cardio or strength-building activity. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. That can include 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise five times a week, 20 to 60 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week, or one continuous session or multiple shorter sessions of at least 10 minutes to add up cumulatively. No matter how they want to put in the time, executives have lots of options that foster an active lifestyle. They can go to an athletic club, a fitness center, a recreation center, a convenience 24-hour gym, or a boutique studio that specializes in one particular exercise, like cycling, yoga or cross-fit training. They might pay for access to a basic gym with weights and cardio equipment or have additional amenities like racquetball and basketball courts, a swimming pool and an indoor track. The facilities may charge monthly, semiannual or annual membership fees, and places like city recreation centers might offer one-use passes for the day or punch cards with a certain number of visits. There may be a low entry fee with additional fees to take specialized classes, engage in small group training sessions or hire a personal trainer for individualized training. Some of the facilities also may offer virtual fitness classes when an instructor isn’t on site and provide facility-branded fitness apps with workout-from-home options. Additional home workouts are available on independent fitness apps and websites that provide routines and track distance, time, pace, calories burned and goal achievement. Home workouts may not require any weights or equipment to make them easier to do at home or in a hotel, such as aerobics or body weight training, doing things like pushups and squats following a walk. “There’s an app for everything,” said Sherri Goering, fitness and wellness coordinator and a personal trainer at the Chilson Recreation Center in Loveland, pointing out Strava, a social fitness network that tracks cycling and running, and the Garmin fitness tracker as popular options. “The drawback of apps is no one is watching your form. No one is encouraging you.” Two other popular fitness apps are the Map My Fitness mobile app, which tracks gym and running workouts and measures things like distance, pace and calorie burn, and MyFitnessPal, a mobile app and website that tracks diet and exercise for optimal caloric intake and nutrients, said Rachel Southard, director of personal training operations for Anytime Fitness LLC, based in Woodbury, Minn. Fitbits, wearable wireless devices that measure steps, heart rate and other fitness metrics, and Apple Watches also help with determining fitness data, she said. “That is so important just to move your body. A 20- to 30-minute walk every day is a great first step to getting more active,” Southard said. “The Anytime […]

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