The gym is filled with weights and log books. Tracking progress is a second job if you’re counting calories, reps, and weights. Hitting the goals are only important as setting it. There are a flood of apps that can fill screens of a phone promising to help you track, but often than not they detract. But, there is a better way that could already be on your wrist.
Matt Spettel and Gabriel Madonna founded Delta Band last summer. The startup is out of Carnegie Mellon University’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and focuses on non-invasive tracking of gym workouts. They’ve won pitch contests. Now they want to win the ultimate prize, you installing the app on your device.
Delta Band is dedicated to building their own wearables similar to FitBit, but has recently taken a detour into existing hardware. In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Tim Cook stated that Apple’s revenue in wearables including the AirPods and Apple Watches is “50 percent more than iPod was at its peak”. As of March 2019, analysts easily estimate there have been over 50M Apple watches sold. Using existing app market place Delta Band hopes to snag early adopters and general enthusiasts. Eventually, as users bulk up, they can join the professional athletes using the extended sensor suite in their own devices later on.
Matt Spettel is the CEO. His title isn’t his only strength. Our conversations focused around recognition, storage, and analysis. Capturing usable and reliable data is only a step in the journey. FitBit and other fitness trackers rack up GBs of data per user. Users are often shocked to find out after they receive a large cell data bill. Delta Band doesn’t have that issue. Spettel and his team developed proprietary algorithms that selects and compresses data across several work out routines.
There are currently nine members on Delta Band’s team. As the company grows beyond capture and storage, the fun begins with analysis. In my conversation with them, Matt Spettel and Gabe Madonna didn’t rule it out a future SaaS play – providing high level insights to collegiate and professional athletes. In the City of Champions there are a plethora of potential partnerships with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers, and yes, even the Pirates. Delta Band’s big data could provide an advantage next training season.
Delta Band is currently in closed beta with their iWatch app. They’re also deployed several prototypes of their own hardware across campuses. Delta Band reports a high accuracy in both scenarios of work out Repcognition. Given they’ve accomplished this in under a year, I’d call them a company to watch.