Meet Tom Sheppey and Will Kennard, co-founders of Odhealth
We’re Tom Sheppey and Will Kennard, the co-founders of the on-demand health & fitness company Odhealth. We’re a fitness company for people who know there’s more to life than fitness.
We provide a way for people to actually speak to a fitness expert who treats you as unique so you don’t waste anymore of your efforts on fads and bad information.
We provide people with the expertise and support they need to actually make lasting change to their health and fitness. All our coaches are available on-demand and sessions done remotely via video call.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal with Odhealth?
We wanted to help people who are looking to make genuine change and who are tired of wasting their efforts on fads and bad information.
We were tired of the empty promises, fads and quick fixes that the health & fitness industry was churning out. We wanted to be treated as an individual instead of being fed off-the-shelf solutions that didn’t work for us. We wanted a chance to talk to an accredited professional to learn from them and get advice we could trust. The problem was that, whilst personal trainers were the ideal people to provide this, a) sessions were way too expensive and b) parts of the experience were very intimidating.
We decided to take the best of personal training and the best trainers and deliver it via video call. By doing so, sessions are much more accessible and provide a safe space to ask questions without fear of judgement. Our coaches are all carefully selected by us to ensure they share our values of being caring, supportive and professional. Sessions are also much more affordable because we help coaches to monetise their deadtime by making it possible to coach remotely.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
The whole reason for starting Odhealth was because the industry was so noisy with bad information, shouty messaging and intimidating marketing. We offer an antidote to all that: a safe space to learn from a genuine expert. We only work with the very best, accredited coaches who bring something unique and exciting to the platform. Some of the specialisms of our coaches include: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a Masters in Medicinal Chemistry, Nutrition, Plant Based Diets, Mental Health, GP Referral, Pre and Post Natal Exercise, Injury Management and much more. However specific (of vague) your goal, we have the right coach to help.
You can check out a sample of our coaches here.
We also very clear in who we exist to help. We’re not for everyone but we promise: if you're interested in doing things the right way then we'll make sure you get the results you deserve.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as entrepreneurs?
It’s a lot of work! I’ve personally not been great at separating work from other areas of my life but that’s something I’m getting better at and I have a great girlfriend who helps me with that.
What are your thoughts on failure?
Failure is an inevitable part of starting a business. If you’re doing worthwhile work then you’ll be pushing the boundaries and trying new things - some of which will end in failure.
In fact, for my money, there is no way to be successful without failure. The way startups grow is to test and learn. Try something, learn from it, improve. This is captured succinctly by the now ubiquitous startup motto ‘fail fast’. I think this is a great motto but I just want to add a small caveat: fail fast BUT fail responsibly. Our failure impacts everyone connected to our business: investors who have risked their hard-earned cash to support us, customers who rely on our product to solve a problem for them and employees whose livelihood depends on our success. Keeping that in mind helps us at maintain a healthy perspective and motivates us to always make the best decisions we can.
Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?
I’m afraid there’s nothing particularly inspirational on this front. I get up at the same time most mornings at 6:30am, feed the cat, eat breakfast then stretch for about half an hour before starting work. The stretching is something I need to do after a fairly bad back injury a couple of years ago. It was actually my struggle to get back to fitness after that which was the final straw that pushed us to start Odhealth.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their businesses out there?
I’d say do everything you can to prove there’s demand for your product/service before throwing yourself completely in. Using an MVP (minimal viable product) is a well understood concept but it’s very natural to want your idea to look the best it can. In our case an MVP took the form of a squarespace site we created where you could book sessions and then we’d manually message our group of coaches to find the best match and the call would happen over whatsapp. It was very low tech, low cost but it allowed us to establish the demand and work through initial challenges.
What plans do you have for Odhealth over the next two years?
We just have to ensure we continue with a single minded focus on our customers. Of course we set growth targets but anything good only ever comes out of better solving a problem which people have. Our goal is to a) better serve the people we already work with and b) grow the business so more people know there’s a platform out there that can help them.
What’s the single most important decision that you made, that contributed to your business?
I hate to admit it to him but it would have to be asking Will to be a co-founder in the business. I knew I had gaps in my skill set which the business needed to be filled and Will really was the ideal person. He’s a serious tech geek who’s so into his health & fitness that he did a personal training qualification just for fun and without him we wouldn’t have gotten to where we are now.
What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?
Hmm tough one. I think probably whether you’re doing it for the right reasons. Running a startup is tough and your passion will be tested. Don’t expect to be an instant success, make sure that you would still want to work hard on your idea every day for little pay or success. If you still want to do it then, then you’re onto a winner.
How do you believe the evolution of tech will affect your industry over the next 10 years?
Technology isn’t something that mainstream health & fitness has done particularly well traditionally. There are still so many opportunities in what is a massive industry. I think COVID-19 and lockdown will actually really accelerate the adoption of tech within health & fitness. COVID-19 has forced people to look for digital solutions in all areas and as they establish habits around remote solutions and become natives on video, many won’t look back.
We’re also likely to see much more flexibility in people’s work lives following COVID-19 as remote working becomes the norm. This will disrupt the old guard of physical businesses.
I think we’ll see some really exciting tech brands come to the fore in the very near future.
