RecBob takes NextStep, begins Nike+ demo day tour with new direction

When five individuals in April unloaded from a vehicle with Iowa plates in Portland, you would have probably recognized them as Cedar Rapids-based startup RecBob. But now the company, one of 10 in the Nike+ Accelerator powered by TechStars, has shifted gears to become NextStep.io. The startup, which previously provided a management …

NextStep.io aims to show users the ways their daily life affects their fitness level.

When five individuals in April unloaded from a vehicle with Iowa plates in Portland, you would have probably recognized them as Cedar Rapids-based startup RecBob. But now the company, one of 10 in the Nike+ Accelerator powered by TechStars, has shifted gears to become NextStep.io.

The startup, which previously provided a management system for adult sports teams and leagues, is now set to showcase its new direction in a demo day today at Nike World Headquarters and then in two more—one in Portland and one in Silicon Valley—in the coming weeks.

“RecBob is a great product that we still love a lot, but we ultimately decided that it’s a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have solution,” co-founder John Schnipkoweit recently told GeekWire. “We are really excited to take our experience from building RecBob and create a solution for a really big problem.”

And it’s no coincidence that problem deals with how to make the data recorded by Nike Fuel more valuable to its users.

“We continued to hear people ask for more than a graph or a number from their activity tracker,” Schnipkoweit (right) said. “In order to do that, we combine physical activity data with your other online information like Google calendar or Facebook, showing you context.”

NextStep.io uses data from the activity tracker to show users the ways their daily life affects their fitness level.

In addition to first access to the Nike Fuel API, teams in the accelerator receive $20,000 and guidance from a group of 50 mentors, which includes 11 Nike employees. In return, each company gives a 6 percent equity stake to TechStars.

For more on NextStep.io, check out the Schnipkoweit’s GeekWire interview: “Nextstep.io teaches you about yourself with exercise data“.

For more on RecBob and the Nike+ Accelerator, check out our post: “RecBob scores one of 10 spots in first Nike+ Accelerator in Portland“.


Credits: Screenshot from nextstep.io. John Schnipkoweit photo courtesy Schnipkoweit.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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