A fractional CTO for gym groups, wellness, and online fitness
Platform strategy, vendor management, hiring for multi-location fitness groups and online-fitness platforms. $4,500/mo Advisory, $8,500/mo full.
Who this is for
Multi-location gym or wellness-studio owner, or online-fitness platform founder, where booking, community, and programming tech is fragmented with no platform owner.
The pain today
- Booking, community, and programming tech fragmented
- No one owns the platform bet
- Growth into new locations blocked by tech
- Online-fitness founders need investor-ready team
- Full-time CTO expensive at current scale
The outcome you get
- Fractional fitness CTO at $4,500 to $8,500/mo
- Platform strategy (stay on Mindbody/Wodify or custom)
- Vendor and integration strategy
- Hiring plan for first engineers
- Investor-facing story for online-fitness founders
Fitness CTO topics
Three topics. Booking — Mindbody, Wodify, Glofox, ClubReady, or custom. Community and programming — delivery tools beyond what booking platforms cover. Data — unified view of members, retention, revenue across locations or across content tiers. Fractional CTO at $4,500 to $8,500/mo covers these for multi-location groups or online-fitness platforms where strategic decisions matter.
Vendor strategy vs custom build
Most multi-location gym groups should stay on Mindbody, Wodify, or similar — these handle 80 percent of operational needs. Custom work pays back when platforms block growth (specific programming models, community features, enterprise sales to corporate wellness). For online-fitness platforms targeting consumer markets, custom is often the product. I help decide.
Hiring plan
For online-fitness platforms hiring first engineers, senior full-stack tech lead usually first. Specialists (iOS/Android if native apps matter) follow. For multi-location groups building custom tools, focused team of 2 to 4 engineers. Levelling and compensation calibrated to market. Interview loops for fitness-adjacent cultural fit.
Pricing tiers
CTO Advisory $4,500/mo. Fractional CTO $8,500/mo. 14-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime.
Case: Instill — consumer-style platform leadership
Instill: self-initiated AI skills platform with 30+ users, 1,000+ skills saved. Consumer-style product leadership. For online-fitness platforms competing in consumer space, same patterns — product, architecture, launch, iteration with lean team.
When a head of product is right
For fitness platforms focused on product differentiation, head of product may complement CTO. For most fitness operators, fractional CTO covers both product and technology decisions.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
A prompt library that works with every AI tool
A home for your best AI prompts. Save them once, then use them in Claude, Cursor, or any AI tool you work with. No more copy-paste.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- Should we build custom or stay on Mindbody?
- Stay on Mindbody unless specific growth is blocked by its limits. Custom LMS pays back when programming, community, or enterprise features matter. Custom is a 12 to 24-month commitment.
- How do you handle wearable integration?
- Garmin, Whoop, Apple Health, Fitbit via OAuth. Members opt in. Data feeds programming context and progress tracking.
- Can you attend investor meetings?
- Yes, for online-fitness founders raising. Technical DD, pitch meetings where tech matters.
- What about multi-location hiring?
- For gym groups building internal tools, focused team of 2 to 4 engineers covers most needs. For online-fitness platforms at scale, larger team needed.
- Can you lead product decisions?
- For product decisions closely tied to tech, yes. For pure product strategy, often better paired with a product-focused leader.
Ready to start?
Tell me what you need in 60 seconds. Tailored proposal in your inbox within 6 hours.