In this episode of the Indian Community Podcast, hosts Amit Gupta and Rahul Mehra interview Nikhil Chhabra, Sidharth Jain, and Suresh Gupta, founders of Areno, an AI-powered fitness app. They explore how Areno is making fitness fun and accessible with gamified challenges that use AI to measure exercises through mobile cameras. The discussion covers the inspiration behind Areno, the technology driving it, and features like real-time workout tracking, gamification, and rewards. The episode also touches on privacy, user success stories, upcoming features, and the founders' visions for making fitness a global habit.
In this episode of the Indian Community Podcast, hosts Amit Gupta and Rahul Mehra interview Nikhil Chhabra, Sidharth Jain, and Suresh Gupta, founders of Areno, an AI-powered fitness app. They explore how Areno is making fitness fun and accessible with gamified challenges that use AI to measure exercises through mobile cameras. The discussion covers the inspiration behind Areno, the technology driving it, and features like real-time workout tracking, gamification, and rewards. The episode also touches on privacy, user success stories, upcoming features, and the founders' visions for making fitness a global habit.
Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of the Indian Community Podcast. I'm your host Amit Gupta with my host Rahul Mehra. Today we have a special treat for our listeners as we dive into the world of AI powered fitness and wellness with the founders of Areno, Nikhil Chhabra, Sidharth Jain Suresh Gupta. is revolutionizing the fitness landscape with its innovative platform that transforms home workouts into exciting challenges. Powered by cutting edge artificial intelligence. Areno offers a unique gamified fitness experience that accurately measures your exercises using just your mobile devices, front facing camera. No external variables are required. So join us as we explore the inspiration behind Areno, the technology that drives it and how this app is making fitness. more fun, accessible, and rewarding for everyone. So let's get ready to be inspired and motivated by the stories and insights of this trio, Nikhil, Sidharth, and Suresh, as they share their journey and vision for the future of fitness. Welcome to the Indian Community Podcast, guys.
Nikhil Chhabra:Thanks Amit for
Sidharth Jain:Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Nikhil Chhabra:that great introduction.
Amit Gupta:Thank you. let's start off with a backstory of how Areno came to life. What was the inspiration behind creating Areno? And how did this idea sprout?
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay. I'll take that maybe. I think first of all great introduction. And hopefully, I don't know whether we are really fit or not. Hopefully we are looking fit on this podcast to be inspiring enough for this fitness app. But yeah, I think this whole inspiration came about, from the fact that we all need to stay fit and a lot of people find fitness quite boring and dull. And monotonous, it sort of pains to go down for a walk or go to the gym or, do anything on fitness. So we are trying to make that fun and rewarding. You practically can get paid to do workout. That's been one of our mottos and you can get rewarded for staying fit. So it all started in 2021 and we, we saw that post COVID people had started losing importance of their health and, that sort of triggered the fact that why not, give them some incentive, some motivation to continue that consciousness of staying fit. We never know another COVID or another variant might be around the corner. So it's important to stay fit.
Amit Gupta:That's great. And how did the three of you come together?
Nikhil Chhabra:So Sidharth know each other from quite some time, about 10 to 12 years. And we were the ones who started initially this whole concept. Sidharth is the fitness guy. I'm sure he can talk about that more. So Suresh we met him in 2023. He joined us about a year after we started and that was through LinkedIn. So, so we got quite lucky.
Amit Gupta:That's good. Yeah. LinkedIn does wonders for a lot of us.
Nikhil Chhabra:Yes.
Amit Gupta:Excellent.
Rahul Mehra :So guys my next question is to, everyone wants to answer that. So it's about, your technology. So leverages AI to provide a unique fitness experience. Can you explain how the AI technology works in your app and what makes it different from other fitness app in the market? Excellent.
Suresh Gupta:I'll take it. so basically when we're talking about the arena app, leveraging the ai, so underlying, there is a couple of uh, AI that deep detect what we're talking of, which is the C neural networks, DNN, CNNs, and also the supervised learning. a combination of. What AI provides, there are a couple of frameworks that provide the human pose estimation and the body landmarks. So all the, our body, they are divided into joints and there are key landmarks, 37 of them, which can be measured when we are uh, Mobile front or back camera. So the underlying technology identifies that. And then we need to do the feature extraction for particular pose, if I say the planks. So it is planks is your feet, your back legs, and how your limbs, how they are positioned. So everything is dependent on the. Distance and the angles between them. And that is the whole logic behind that. The AI provides the body key points and landmarks. And on top of that, we do the feature extraction, which is. Looking at the angles and then upon the training and testing data, we find that what is the correct pose and in the correct pose, what are the optimum angles and we calculate that and then supervised learning does the trick that if you are about very close to that, if you are 90 percent 95 percent close to that, the optimum one, and that is a confident gives a confidence values. And we have a lot of imagery, a lot of users who have participated in the test and train part. Their body positions for that pose have been captured and they are creating that pose. Confidence. So once it is, that is the whole magic behind this, the great accuracy that we have achieved. And which is as compared to other apps, where we have done a lot of these tests and brain and lot of such iterations for each workout, a lot of brain has gone into a lot of work has gone into, which is continuous iterations of testing, training, testing, training, and coming up with a great confidence values for each pose. And that is the heart and the brain behind that, that today we are having almost all workouts accuracy is 90 percent plus and some of the workouts accuracy is even higher like, like 95 percent plus.
Rahul Mehra :Excellent.
Amit Gupta:sounds very interesting, Suresh. So does that mean that's, Like having a gym instructor looking at the way you're doing your plans and telling you your pose is correct or not and stuff like that. Is that what the the app is doing?
Suresh Gupta:Practically, yes, what you're saying, but because today what happens that in most of the scenarios where AI is uh, being, uh, is replacing or AI is a second choice and becoming the primary choice because the humans, they may be added. It again, it comes by experience that you can say that it's a right pose, but when it is an AI, it's unbiased. So it is going to look at that really your pose is accurate or near accurate, or it's something, no human error in that. that is how like an instructor doing it, looking at that, that you are not cheating anything and you are maintaining it because we all need coaches and mentors who are coaching and mentoring us, correcting us. And also making us do something, not letting us feed. So that is the role of this AI in this health arena.
Rahul Mehra :This is an app which no one can cheat.
Nikhil Chhabra:Yeah.
Suresh Gupta:And that is one of the
Rahul Mehra..:Great.
Suresh Gupta:USP also in some of the apps, it's more like, uh, you are saying that, okay, I have done it, but there is no real accountability. So that we are bringing that into this.
Amit Gupta:I remember when we had this steps challenge, and there was a friend of mine who put his smartwatch on his dog.
Rahul Mehra :So, this is a general saying that people join gyms and they just pay the membership fees. They don't really go there most of the time. So, that is what this app will take care of. That you do it and you do it right.
Nikhil Chhabra:Absolutely.
Amit Gupta:Great. Um, the last time I think, um, when we met, um, Nikhil, you had a you had a video that, um, showcases how this works. Do you think you will be able to screen share and show us that video?
Nikhil Chhabra:Sure, sure. Let me pull that up.
Amit Gupta:Right. And while you're doing that, I had a question on gamification aspect of the app, right? So you're incorporating gamification. So not just being fit, there's also an element of excitement of gamified. And so how are you approaching that and What is the initial reaction been for the app?
Sidharth Jain:Yeah. Yeah. I'll take that up. I think gamification and fitness, these are the two key areas which I really, focus on. So being a gaming buff, so doing all throughout my life. So putting that experience into use so, we wanted to, create a platform, especially for fitness, because people feel fitness is boring, right? So we wanted to give a very fun angle to it so that people don't feel, very bored doing the same workouts again and again. Some, flavor of challenges, some flavor of gamification which will keep them, motivated at the same time, it will, make the whole experience very fun. And that's, that's where we have come up with the whole UI, colors on our app, designs, things like that. They make it look, first impression, you take a look at the application, you feel like, yeah, there is something, game related, something gamified form of I can see there. But, more than that we wanted to create some small bite size workouts because we also understand people don't have time to spend, like half an hour, one hour in a day and people are busy in their lives. So we wanted to, start with bite size workouts, which, start as small as like 15 seconds. And 15 seconds if I talk about, so there's a game called Tango Twist which is a simplified version of Head, Shoulder, Knee and Toe. So that game which we all have played in our childhood and our kids also play there's a nursery rhyme for it, right? So what this game does, in a very fun way when you start the game it will highlight a, random body part and you have to touch it within a given time frame. And, once you do that, the points are added. If you miss, the points are, missed. And then the new body part adds. So, that way you just quickly, move your body up and down, which makes the whole, experience fun. At the same time we use this as a warm up exercise for people to coming in. So that, gives them a good feel. Okay, I've done something. It's better than doing nothing. Okay. Right. At the same time, it attracts a lot of age, multiple age groups, starting from kids to, adults like us, we also like it. So, I'm pretty sure if you're going to give it a try, you'll also love the game. And the difficulty level, keeps on going up and up with every level. the timer duration also keeps on, reducing. The whole duration of the game, keeps on increasing. So, difficulty again goes up. We are adding more such games which will make the, whole experience very fun. At the same time, we are also, doing the leaderboard challenges where people are competing against each other. So it's not just, doing my own fitness in my own silo. I'm also competing with other users on the app and see okay, where I stand, with respect to my fitness and their fitness. So it also, give you that angle where you are to get better of yourself by, competing against a stronger opponent. On the app and that also, gives you a good kick on, how to improve myself keeping the whole experience very light, very easy to understand giving, more and more of those gaming touches on various parts of the app.
Rahul Mehra :Great.
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay, great. I'm ready, Amit, if you want me to go with the video.
Amit Gupta:Let's do it. I think this is perfect
Rahul Mehra :I'll just ask another question that is, when you were gamification, I was actually thinking about, that exercising is more about habits, if you get into a habit of exercising I mean, what I understand is that building habits, healthy habits is a core goal of arena, right? So
Nikhil Chhabra:Absolutely.
Rahul Mehra :App help track users, track their progress and also, does something so that they stay motivated to do it again and
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay, great. So, the first part to your question what you asked about how do we track the user's habit and whether they are building that habit or not is through something called as a dashboard. So we have a dashboard within the Areno app that kind of shows the users on a monthly, weekly, daily basis. What are the activities they have done, right? How many steps have they taken? How many calories they have burned? They can set their goals. So I can set a daily goal that I want to do at least 10 minutes of workout. I want to cross 5, 000 steps and I want to burn, let's say, um, 10 kilo calories every day, right? So I can set those goals and actually in the dashboard track on a daily basis, if I'm meeting those goals or not, you fill those rings literally based on the goals you set, you have a tracking system where you see that how many minutes have you spent on each of those activities at a monthly level? How are you doing? What are you doing more? What are you doing less? So the dashboard acts as a wonderful place. For users to sort of understand and see how they're progressing and how they are behaving over, a weekly or a monthly basis and tracking their healthy habits. As you said, it's all about building those healthy habits, and building those streaks, how many streaks, how many days continuously I have done, there are people who have built streaks of worth 150 days, 150 days long streak where they have not missed a day.
Rahul Mehra :again.
Nikhil Chhabra:itself. We have seen that kind of longevity in terms of building those healthy habits. And, people have come back to us saying that, I used to just do five days, 10 days at a stretch and then miss out on a few days. So it has definitely, helped in that manner. And I think, yeah,
Sidharth Jain:just to add on that Nikhil, so I think this streak count is very soon going to touch 200. And at the same time as you said so many people have, come back to us and said that actually, started doing workouts more regularly. So they used to, miss out on workouts, but now they feel, they are going to miss their streak. So, let's do it just for a minute at least. Yeah. It's better than doing nothing. Right. So just to, continue this streak because higher the streak, the higher daily points they're going to get. And if the streak is broken, they're back to, square one where they need to start again and the daily points also get reset. So that, motivates them, okay, they don't want to break that streak. They don't want to miss out on those dots in the calendar where see their streaks are getting completed. So that really pushes them to, at least, do one minute in a day, don't miss out on those attractive rewards. And, they keep on, going. and again every day. So, as you said, habits. So, it's a very known concept, um, in Atomic Habits by James Clear. It says, you have to start small and then you have to, do it better every day, 1 percent more every day. So, building on those concepts we have created the whole concept of Areno. Um, and I'm pretty sure you also will not like to miss even a single day once you start.
Amit Gupta:Absolutely.
Rahul Mehra :it's all about. Actually, know, regularly exciting.
Amit Gupta:And there's a very strong motivator in the form of a model on the screen. I can see somebody who is Who's modeling. So
Nikhil Chhabra:video, I wanted to mention, yesterday we sent a notification saying, break your promises, break your, boyfriends or girlfriends heart, but don't break your streak on Areno.
Rahul Mehra :That's a nice one. Okay. So,
Nikhil Chhabra:me play this video and as this video plays, I'll just tell you. So, as give the camera access, So when you were asking Suresh about the technology piece, the technology kicks in as soon as give that camera access because we also recognize through the device, through the gyrometer within the mobile device, that at what angle have you placed the phone? And that's important for the computer vision to measure accurately. So that also we guide the user, to keep it within a certain range of tilt on the floor, ground level, using any support, it could be wall or a bottle or anything. Thank you. And once you place that, you have to move a few feet away. Three to four feet is good enough. You raise your hand above the eye level and it recognizes automatically that you're ready to do the work or that's like a ready signal, I'm good to go. And as Sidharth was doing those pushups, it counts everything in real time. And all of this is within the mobile device of the user within the app that the user is installed and none of these recordings, is coming back. And all of this is happening in real time. Only the correctly done repetitions are being counted.
Amit Gupta:That's so cool. I remember when I used to do pushups, was always confused. Should I be counting or should I be focusing on the breathing in and breathing out? Right? So the whole aspect, I got my count. So then I forget to breathe in, breathe out. If I breathe in, breathe out, I forget the count. So I think this one is pretty cool. So it is actually doing that as in real time, right? Does it
Nikhil Chhabra:Yes.
Amit Gupta:do a notification that you've done your set or let's say you've done 10, and that's it. And then move on to the next one. Does it do that?
Nikhil Chhabra:So as of now, what we have built, we give you a 60 second time and saying that you have to do minimum 10, right? And once a 60, 60 seconds timer is up and based upon the number of repetitions you have correctly done, it shows that count and keeps track of that count. So what we are building going forward is something called as fitness routines. As you said that you want to move from one workout to another, you can actually follow those routines, which may be five minute, 10 minute routines. Where you can have multiple workouts happening one after the other, let's say 20, 30 seconds each.
Rahul Mehra :what we are seeing on the screen now is how you see on the mobile, I'm sorry. Yeah. Which you will continue with. How do
Amit Gupta:referring to was a notification that, okay you've done 10 or you've done 20. So that's what I was curious of because
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay.
Amit Gupta:a
Nikhil Chhabra:Yeah,
Amit Gupta:I'll be able to do maybe 60 pushups, whereas I'm struggling with 10. Right. So I need to know when my 10 is done so that I can take a bre a breather. Right.
Nikhil Chhabra:yeah. So we we are sort of building that audio prompts where you'll actually get those prompts and notification during the workout, what number you have achieved. And also you're building the prompt and notification for correcting that as well. Let's say if you're not going down and it's not counting, you're wondering, Arey yaar, hai ye. Right? So instead of, blaming the AI, at least the AI will tell you that first, you need to go down further. It'll correct you. Right? So that's also something which is in the pipeline. And very soon, we're going to have that on the app. I'll quickly show the game video as well, which Sidharth was mentioning.
Rahul Mehra :else is counting, it becomes more difficult to exercise? Yeah.
Nikhil Chhabra:That's true. Yeah. You become so lenient with your own self.
Rahul Mehra :Right.
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay, I'll just quickly play this for 10, 15 seconds. So this is a tango twist game that Shar mentioned about, right? So you play and you see these markers on head, shoulder, knees, and toes moving around randomly. You're supposed to, follow those circles and touch before it disappears and moves onto the next body part and shows you the score based on that. So that's the fun body movement game we have built.
Rahul Mehra :Yes. Yes. Cool. That's great. Cool.
Amit Gupta:telling. Okay. You should put a music and then do a playback.
Nikhil Chhabra:there is a meeting playing back during the workout and during this game as well.
Amit Gupta:So this eventually is going to look like Macarena to me.
Sidharth Jain:not a bad idea. We can actually do that.
Amit Gupta:This is a really this is a really fun way to look at exercise, right? Especially the correct way to do exercise. There's a fun aspect to it. And, um, I think, um, we spoke about how. So, you can you build this as an, as a habit, right? So that is great. I think you also mentioned about points and you can start earning these points and there's leaderboards. So does this also mean that there are rewards associated with these points and you are able to redeem them for something? I saw a post on LinkedIn where you had a very good partnership announced with close friend We know chandel of naturally yours. So I'm assuming that you, your users are able to redeem these points for something.
Sidharth Jain:Yeah, absolutely. So, we're just, not even we're not saying that, you just have to work out. We're also saying that you also get rewarded for doing, these healthy habits. And plus we are taking care of your little things. So, so let's say if you're doing workouts regularly, so you will earn daily points. You can accumulate those daily points as you work out more regularly, that those daily points would keep on going up every day. So let's say you start with 10. If you work for tomorrow, you'll get 11 points. The day after you'll get 12 points. So that's why, it's important to keep that streak, that habit. And now you're earning more points every day. You're accumulating those points. And once you have, a good number of points, minimum required to redeem, you can redeem those points into, cash vouchers of your choice. You can use those cash vouchers. For, things like movie dates or a coffee date, we'll take care of those little things, we want to keep you happy, we want to keep you rewarded, we want to keep you motivated. why not, we also take care of little things for you. you can, earn those points regularly at the same time earn from the app as well. At the same time as you mentioned about NaturallyYours. So we keep on doing these healthy partnerships with, multiple brands like, NaturallyYours, we did one with Getaway, Desserts, so what our users are actually going to get is their goodies, their vouchers, they can actually go to their websites and buy their product and try it out. So it's a win, for both. So they get all those users who are into healthy habits, who are doing workouts regularly, they want such kind of audiences. the same time, our audience, get to, taste their products, get to, provide them feedback. At the same time, tell their friends, family about, what they have, earned from the app. At the same time, what kind of products they can easily win from Areno by doing workouts regularly. So it's a, win for both for the brands as well as for the Areno and the users.
Amit Gupta:That's great. In fact, there's also a good that you're connecting, right? So these are health conscious individuals who have actually demonstrated they're making these healthy choices then redeeming them for or responsible products. So I think the way you've connected the dots is excellent. So I feel this is a very good initiative. Because at the end of the day, you the goal is to keep people healthy, help them be healthy and you're making it more and more simpler and rewarding. So I appreciate that.
Sidharth Jain:I'll give you one example as well. So I remember the example that he, so, we spoke to, one of our user on app, so that guy is like 60 years old. He work out on our app regularly doing, from a village. Working out regularly on our app. He usually does plans and hangies regularly. he, then we are looking at his data, like what kind of redemptions that guy is doing. So, he is mostly, taking those vouchers. So, we spoke to that person, trying to understand, his feedback on the app. So he told me, recharges. So we thought, okay so even, people are using, this to, fulfill their little things in life, which is good, right? So why, why, limit them to a certain product. So give them that flexibility, whatever they want to use it for. And, that's how we reward them.
Amit Gupta:So that's excellent. And, that takes me to a question. Is this app available in other languages also, or do you do English or you're planning to roll out more languages?
Sidharth Jain:So right now this app is only on English, but we have built the localization and very soon we can roll it out into multiple languages, into multiple, countries that can be done.
Amit Gupta:That's great because the example, especially if you have to go into rural There have been a lot of guests who have said, as soon as you go into the tier two, tier three and the villages then localization in terms of languages plays a very important role. people feel more comfortable of course, and it's easier for them to. it.
Nikhil Chhabra:Yeah. Yeah.
Sidharth Jain:So, I think, Nikhil, I think you are speaking to a lot of users who are in tier two, tier three, and give us the same feedback that, that they understood the app, but, a lot of users, let's struggle a little, try to understand what this app is all about.
Amit Gupta:Correct.
Sidharth Jain:So basic questions. Okay. Right. They understand I can win rewards, but I think that will definitely be, held by the localization.
Nikhil Chhabra:And, and not just summit from tier two, tier three towns perspective, right? Even globally our plans are sort of, going global in terms of, Going to Euro Middle East, so localization is very important. I'm sure Suresh can talk, um, a little bit more about that, but we are ready to get into that stage where we actually are available in multiple languages, right? So localization is something that Suresh and the whole technology team has really put a lot of effort to make the product ready for that.
Amit Gupta:That's cool. So not just Fit India. So you are you're thinking of a fitter world if I may say
Suresh Gupta:Yep. Yep.
Sidharth Jain:Some rewards for doing fitness so, don't look at my data
Amit Gupta:I'm gonna apply install the app, but please don't look at my data because you'll see, okay, this guy doesn't know how to
Nikhil Chhabra:Don't show it to your wife.
Rahul Mehra :That is an extreme breach of privacy. And that is actually my next question that privacy is actually significant for a lot of users. And especially with the front facing camera in the app. So how are you going to use it? How do you ensure that everyone is privacy is maintained?
Suresh Gupta:take it. I can help it with the tech side, how we're doing.
Sidharth Jain:Okay, so I think privacy we understand that people are very skeptical about giving front camera access but you know, we are showing them multiple, certifications multiple that we have bought from Apple, Google, talking about privacy. We are not, doing everything on the real time. So we're not getting anything on our servers back because we don't need that data because we need how many reps you have done and that data we have already captured. So there is no point, getting those images and videos saved onto our system. We don't need that. So plus at the same time, you still believe people are skeptical. So that's why, we have come up with non AI based work out routines as well. There are people who, don't believe in if they're, if they still say world is not round, so for them, they can simply go on those workout routines without giving camera access, they can just follow some videos, gyms, and follow, in the instructions and do the work. So for them, the plans are being created, different body parts, different type of, aim that they have, like body they're going to gain weight. or lose weight or gain muscle, all those kinds of plans are created. We not need to give the camera access, right? And you have to just follow a plan, follow a video or a GIF and do your workout. But people who are comfortable giving those camera access, I think this AI powered games and AI powered workouts, they are a game changer. So once they start doing it, they'll not stop.
Rahul Mehra :you mean to say nothing is recorded?
Suresh Gupta:Yes.
Sidharth Jain:is recorded.
Rahul Mehra.:Nothing is recorded. Okay. So that means there is no
Amit Gupta:is recorded, right? So you're recording the the reps and the the actual completion of your exercise, but you're not recording my video or my images.
Sidharth Jain:No, that
Suresh Gupta:No. Yeah.
Sidharth Jain:I don't want to see that. Correct. Correct.
Rahul Mehra :It might come to somebody's mind that when the camera is on, then it might be getting recorded or somebody might be seeing it. So this has to be clarified.
Sidharth Jain:Correct. So we are trying to do that in multiple of the app to keep on telling users that we are not going to save anything.
Rahul Mehra :That's right. Yeah.
Sidharth Jain:Different plans for them as
Amit Gupta:Suresh, you had a comment on this? You wanted to add something
Suresh Gupta:I think to complement and to add on what Sidharth is one part of letting users know and that we are trying to do with the app in different places that it is there and still over the different platforms. We are sharing that we are actually. Using the edge computing model where most of other apps they are sending your videos to the server and all the computation is done on the cloud or the server where you need to record and send it. But our model of the app is edge computing where the whole logic whole model is not sitting in our servers. It is within the mobile app itself and which is leveraging the GPUs of mobile devices. Today mobile devices, smartphones are Quite good in GPUs and their CPUs and GPUs are very, very good power. So whole model is everything from the videos or whatever you're doing for the camera access. And then only the data part is recorded data in terms of correct reps time. All that information is just. computed, and sent to the server this person has done 15 reps or 20 reps in this much time. And that is sufficient for our whole app models to calculate whether you have cross threshold, whether you have completed the required ones and all that. And those informational, those data is recorded for your dashboard purpose, for your trending, how you are going ahead or how much time you're spending. That is the only information that we need. And that is done from the computing, the model computes from your video and done. So that is where they can, users can check on their devices, that then nothing is recorded and uh, with the size, the time, it's not increasing sizes or not any network is being used. Otherwise, when you are recording videos, you are sending it to servers. There will be latency. A lot of other things, the intelligent users can find it out. So those are the things which we are doing tech side. And. Also, we are trying to educate people through our platform and different other formats. And that is helping users more and more users now AI everywhere around us. And we want to be part of that. We want to play around with that. We want to see the magic of that. And that's the users. Are getting habitual and that is getting viral like viral post. So it is getting people, 10 people having confidence. They are taking it to their friends, just giving it a feedback and sharing their information. So that is helping more and more users believing it.
Amit Gupta:That is that is very comforting Suresh. And I, think it is important because trust is something that It takes, um, ages to, to build, right. But seconds to use. So, um, as as you work on this and as you continuously educate people, there's also a responsibility from a, as a corporate. to make sure that you are being responsible in that space. and I believe the app is a freemium model, right? So there is, there are free features and there are paid. So
Nikhil Chhabra:Yeah,
Amit Gupta:you. Tell us a little bit about that in terms of what is available for a free user and then why would they need to upgrade? What are the added benefits that they would see by upgrading and what would be a typical cost for a premium version?
Nikhil Chhabra:sure. Yeah, so that's right, Amit. We have a freemium model and I think almost everybody is now aware what is a freemium model. You get certain features which are free. You can come experience the app, try it out and even earn these points that Sidharth was talking about daily points through daily activities and building your stream. Then as a paid user, you get a much wider experience, access to all kinds of features. For example, the game, which I just showed you a short video about. Now you can play the 15 second level one. As a free user, but in case you want to play the level two as you, sort of cross the level one and you're eligible you unlock the level two, you need to become a premium user, right? For example, the fitness routines we are talking about, or the meditation that we also have, right? There'll be one or two videos or audios or routines, which will be available for free users, but the entire spectrum is available only to paid users. Right. That's number one in terms of features. Then the other thing is now we are saying you can, get rewarded and win those rewards. But to win those rewards, you need to, you need to put your money where your mouth is. So if you feel you can actually do it, you need to first buy the subscription. Right. And in US, we have launched it at 4. 99, which is pretty cheap because any of the other app subscriptions for fitness typically started like 11 or 12 a month. Right. So practically, when you put in that money and buy that subscription, one is access to all these features and the other is actually, start getting back some of that subscription that you have paid for back through the app itself by redeeming those points. So, so you get rewarded. You are actually getting a part of it and in those small ways that you can actually use them for.
Amit Gupta:So you can also earn points and redeem for stuff even in the US.
Nikhil Chhabra:Yes. Yes. We are giving Amazon vouchers. So thousand, points will get you 1 Amazon voucher. That you can actually get through the Areno app. Yes,
Amit Gupta:That's cool. So that's one reason I should be installing it.
Nikhil Chhabra:certainly.
Rahul Mehra..:So, can you share some of the success stories, some testimonials from users who have actually achieved their fitness goals using Arena?
Nikhil Chhabra:recall was about a weight loss. So one of the users came back on their own saying I don't see that. Tell me if I'm wrong. I think losing about five or 10 kgs while they were working out on Areno on a regular basis and without us asking. A lot of these apps show before, after 80 kgs to 70 kgs, 60 kgs. So we are not selling that, right? We are not saying that we will give you those false promises, but somebody coming back on their own and saying, I was being, I've been using regularly. And it has actually resulted in that kind of a weight loss is a big testament to the fact, what we stand for. Right. And then doing workout more regularly. That's the eventual goal, those healthy habits that we have been talking and iterating so many times. People building those streaks of, 150 days, reaching up to 200 days. Now there are multiple things that you can do. I've so far, I might be using YouTube watching some videos and doing some simple workouts every day. Now I can do so many more. I can play the game. I can do a meditation someday. I can do, going forward, we're going to add yoga. I can do yoga asana as well. So I have a good spectrum of things to cover and at least make sure I do one of them at least every day. So, so that people are, doing and coming back so that you want to add anything.
Sidharth Jain:well. I think you covered it, Nikhil sir. I think in terms of spectrum, Nikhil so we also, have let's steps. So a lot of people do regular walks, regular run. so they can also use Areno to win those points as well. So, there was a concept, I know StepSetGo, Strava, they used to reward people for taking steps. But Areno, you can also do that. So not just, workouts, you can also take into account, things like walking, running, do 5, 000 steps in a day and still get rewarded with those daily points. Right. So this is, there is, a flavor for, um, Every form of fitness on the app. So another good part, we don't have to go to 10 different apps. So for meditation, you go to a different app. For steps, you go to a different app for workout, different meditation. No, you don't, you can now just download Areno and all your fitness routines, fitness, workouts, form of fitness, wellness, it's all there. So you don't have to look any further. And plus at the same time a very low cost subscription. Plus at the same time, you're earning as well. You're earning big rewards from the app. So it's
Nikhil Chhabra:Your levels improved. I personally, I am not a very big fitness freak and I think Sidharth is one, but I could probably do only 10 or 15 squats at a time in a minute, right? Now I can practically touch 30, 35 squats in a minute. So that, sort of shows the progression that you can actually improve your fitness by just, using the app on a regular basis.
Amit Gupta:we testing it and Siddharth has a new career coming up with all these modeling that he's doing for your videos, right? So, that's
Sidharth Jain:it's going to bring out more skeletons from the closet, which I don't want. Yeah,
Amit Gupta:So, there are some side effects of getting famous, right? So, yes. Okay, he's here. Now I know. That's so cool. So guys, the industry is evolving every day, right? AI, I have lost track of what's happening. industry is also changed from what we used to know fitness, let's say 10 years ago versus with all the variables and the evolution in that space. I'm sure you also have a lot of new features up your sleeve that you guys are working on. So any features that you would like to share and talk about that are coming up soon and you're very excited about
Sidharth Jain:I think I would. I can speak about it like for hours, but I'll keep it short. So, one of the feature that we are really looking forward is a clan where, you can create your group. You can create a group of 10, 15 people together and then create challenges among yourself. You don't have to, compete against the rest of the world. You can create challenges, workouts, routine, things you can do within a group itself. Plus at the same time, once you feel your group has evolved, you can, as a group compete with aids other, group on the application where, where people from different countries, different or everything, they can create their groups like a clan and they can come together and, participate in those challenges. They can, among themselves or different plans. That is, one feature that looking forward to because we know, people. like to do fitness in a group, especially if I'm doing a fitness, I want my friends to do it as well, right? So I would, rather push them, come on. Find that time, right? So you need someone to push you for doing that fitness. And that plays a big part in, improving your healthy life. So my friends have pushed me. Now I'm pushing my friends to do the same. I want, that. Group and that, some leader in your group, which is pushing you for doing those workouts regularly is very important. That is one feature that we are, really looking forward. Nikhil, anything you want to add?
Amit Gupta:micro community, right? So you're able to create your own micro communities, especially I've seen with CrossFit gyms they are like that. Then there are these tracker groups there are these yoga groups. So. I think this is interesting that you'll be able to
Suresh Gupta:Uh,
Amit Gupta:Um, mhm.
Rahul Mehra..:Like
Nikhil Chhabra:the point, We are coming up with yoga as well, which can be measured through AI again. And you will actually, I did that. What is the correct posture of that asana? Right. So that's going to be. Something new which is coming up using our AI as well.
Amit Gupta:And are you consulting with any experts to understand what's the correct post? Because the Surya Namaskar has so many interpretations of what should be the right pose of or, how should your stance mean as in a specific pose. So are you also consulting with other experts in in these areas?
Sidharth Jain:So apart from me, we are consulting with some of the other, known fitness friends that we have in the industry. So we have some friends instructors, owners, which, keeps on getting connected, with us for these consultations.
Amit Gupta:So your AI is also being fed with some, um,
Sidharth Jain:Yes.
Amit Gupta:expertise, right? So there's also some expertise that is the AI, right?
Sidharth Jain:Yeah.
Rahul Mehra..:Who is giving prompts?
Sidharth Jain:So, soon, I would like to add my voice there as well. You're not doing the workout correctly. Do it properly. Don't lower your back. Like a more lightly feeling. Like in the gym,
Suresh Gupta:Mm.
Rahul Mehra..:I hope you stop just there. I
Rahul Mehra :think
Amit Gupta:That's good.
Rahul Mehra :guys I've been an entrepreneur all my life, so I understand the journeys are never smooth. So what has been the biggest challenge with you guys developing this app so far and how are you able to work?
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay. Yeah, I think a valid question and every founder every entrepreneur I think we'll You know always have a long list of challenges pain points that there, of healthy habits, you know the important and very critical pain point to address is
Suresh Gupta:Uh,
Nikhil Chhabra:the user, They like the concept They do continue for a period at times in between there Are these graphs, which is up and down, right? How to keep that motivation going right and how to keep that longevity how to keep that continuity Of that healthy habit, which they have started building because a lot of people have that thought that yes I want to do it, but I'm not able to do it You know how to keep that going and that's where these micro communities that you're talking about through the clan feature. Having yoga because yoga being another very important form of fitness and wellness. So we are trying to include these new things to address that pain point. That's one from a user standpoint. The other is of course from a fundraising perspective we have raised some funds through angel investors and government of India, startup India seed fund scheme. So, so being fortunate there because I know a lot of startups in this funding winter, which has been going on for longer, still struggling to even get Do what we have been able to achieve, at an early stage, but yeah that's one thing because talking about AI, the first thing that comes to mind is resources, where are we going to get these resources at what cost? And, even in today's world, the salaries for AI and computer vision experts to be able to build for the mobile. Right? That's a niche skill and they're expensive, right? So to be able to pay those kind of remunerations, funding, and is something definitely is another area which we are looking to work on. Yeah.
Amit Gupta:That is, right. those are definitely, um, challenges and I wish you the best with navigating through that. Um, I think my final question to the three of you would be, what would you want to I'm Rehabbed
Suresh Gupta:uh,
Amit Gupta:ah, um, um,
Suresh Gupta:uh, uh,
Amit Gupta:uh, goals that you would like to manifest, especially from the community who is listening to this right now? What would you expect them to do? Yeah,
Nikhil Chhabra:the app right now, start using it, tell your friends, family to do it. Once we launch those community features, create those micro communities, you don't want to compete with the world, don't do that. At least compete with your friends, family. We are open for all kinds of partnerships and collaboration, whether it could be residential communities. We are even looking at educational institutes, right? Because the youngsters that's the, you can actually inculcate these good habits, healthy habits, so we are looking at partnerships with educational institutes and, or corporates as well in India, we have expanded to us, Canada as well. So there as well, and looking at those kinds of partnerships. So that's what I, you guys want to add.
Sidharth Jain:Yeah chains where they don't have online version of themselves. So they have offline facility. So our app can act as a great tool for them to interact with their members. Because as you said, not every day you're going to gym, you're missing them. I know. I used to target three days minimum, So I'm going to have to get out of here. I am so sorry. We will be back in a little bit. Bye. Still follow them at home. And still get rewarded, right? So, so that's another, use case that we are very soon going to launch and
Amit Gupta:But especially with the whole private personal trainers, right? So there are a lot of people I know work with personal trainers, right? So if there is a provision for me and my personal trainer to look at my Areno data together and coach. While there is an AI, but there's also a personal fitness coach that I have, and who's also helping me with my diet plans and making sure that I'm eating the right food. Um, I think there's going to be an interesting combination that, that, comes to life.
Sidharth Jain:Absolutely. We can be a easily a content creator app for those, fitness trainers or influencers. Like they can simply use our app. They can ask their followers to follow these routines that we have created and
Amit Gupta:Correct.
Sidharth Jain:just go ahead.
Amit Gupta:And Suresh, you were saying something.
Suresh Gupta:Yeah, I was saying that to like everything in every field tech is helping it out. And this space also tech is. Helping it out. Of course, every technology has positive and necrosite, but at least once we try it, if it is an e commerce banking and all that. So I'll say all the users who are listening to at least try it once. You will find it that it is quite friendly and quite easy to use. And of course, we are so much busy in our life, going to gyms, going to something longer routines. It's not possible. And we usually have that once after eight hours or 10 hours or nine hours office, it's very tough to go for a walk in the evening for half an hour, but doing dashes of that one, one minute, a couple of two or three workouts, maybe in a cubicle, in an office, in cabin, you can sneak that one minute out. It is just like mobiles we all are having, so we can. Series of meetings. They are a back to back meeting within the back to back meetings. We can find four or five minutes for ourselves. So that is the friendliness of this tech. So this is something like as a part of the, this, the founder team, I'll say that, try it, use it because overall objective, we want to have that. Healthy you. So it's a healthier version of each individual. That is the overall motive that we have taken up. So that will help it up with the help of text. That is where we are building.
Amit Gupta:Absolutely, no, I'm sure a lot of people will find value and having spoken to the three of you. I see that you're also very open to feedback and new ideas, right? So I'm sure of users will take this opportunity to send you more ideas, more creative, explorations for the app. So I definitely wish you. And on behalf of the Indian community, I want to thank you once again for coming here sharing journey, what you're building, and we wish you good luck with all the new markets that you enter into.
Nikhil Chhabra:Thank you so much. It was great being on the podcast. I think whatever regards to the entire Indian community who's listening to this.
Amit Gupta:Thank you very much and said that we'll be looking up for your videos and more, more sessions. So that was really fun. I, the first time when I'd seen them, I did not realize it is Sidharth. Now, this time when I saw the video, I was like, this is Sidharth Actually over there.
Sidharth Jain:is why I've changed my looks now.
Amit Gupta:That's great. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you.
Nikhil Chhabra:Okay. Thank you. Bye.