✉️ This gym app built by college students makes $300,000/month.
The gamified lifting app making $3.6M in revenue.
👋 Hi and welcome to today’s edition of Venture Radar — where we uncover real internet businesses making real money, and break down how they do it.
Today’s - fitness app making $300,000/month build by college students.
If you think fitness tech needs influencers, calorie tracking, or AI-driven form correction… Liftoff proves otherwise.
This app - Liftoff skipped all that and became a cult hit by doing one thing well: making strength training feel like a video game.
🧠 Quick summary
Name: Liftoff
What it does: A gamified fitness app for lifters track workouts, earn XP, level up, and see friends’ progress.
Revenue: $300,000 per month ~ $3.6 Million
Model: Subscription
Founded by: Jason Lin (Social Media Link)
Team size: 2-3
Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/liftoff-ranked-gym-workouts
🕵️♂️ So, who’s the guy behind it?
His name is Jason Lin. (University student)
Like many of us, he grew tired of tracking workouts on random spreadsheets or outdated apps that just didn’t cater to his needs.
So he thought, "Why not build something better?"
Liftoff started with a simple idea: Make lifting feel fun again.
Jason didn’t aim to build a massive business; he just wanted an app that made him excited to hit the gym.
So he built Liftoff like a video game:
Every time you lift, you get XP.
You can level up your rank.
You can even check out your friends’ lifts and cheer them on.
It’s a bit like if Call of Duty and MyFitnessPal had a laid-back baby.
No calorie counting. No influencers shouting at you to “grind harder.” Just a fun, positive way to keep showing up and getting stronger.
📬 Distribution strategy
Liftoff has nailed TikTok as a distribution channel. They’ve created multiple TikTok accounts and post content regularly across all of them.
One of their main accounts has around 11K followers and over 500K likes but ,ore impressively, many of their videos consistently rack up millions of views.
It’s clear they’ve cracked the TikTok formula, using short, relatable gym content to drive organic growth and app downloads all without spending a dime on ads.
👨🔧 Why it works
It taps into identity, not just function.
People don’t go to Liftoff because they need another workout tracker. They stay because it feels like their tracker. For lifters. By a lifter. You’re not logging reps you’re leveling up your gym persona.
The reward loop is addictive in a good way
Traditional fitness apps track your data. Liftoff rewards your effort. Progress is visual. Feedback is instant. Motivation compounds. That’s the same psychology that makes games stick.
It doesn’t try to be “everything wellness”
No calories. No sleep scores. No bloat. Liftoff focuses only on strength training, one use case, done perfectly. That singularity is its moat.
Community without pressure
It’s social but not performative. You can cheer your friends’ lifts, see how they’re ranking, and push each other. No comments. No flexing. Just quiet camaraderie.
It mastered TikTok as a growth engine
Liftoff didn’t rely on ads or press. Instead, it went all in on TikTok running multiple content accounts, posting regularly, and using relatable gym content to speak directly to its audience.
💡 Build something like this.
Here are 3 ideas riffing on Liftoff’s core insight that gamified progress = sticky products. Think you can remix one into something even better? Tell us we might feature you next.
Idea #1: an app that turns daily habits into a leaderboard with XP and social nudges (like DuoLingo, but multiplayer).
Idea #2: a version of Liftoff for boutique gyms and group classes track client lifts, ranks, and gym-wide performance boards.
Idea #3: a minimalist gamified productivity tracker every deep work session adds XP, ranks, and streaks.
🧐 What you can learn.
Build what you need. Liftoff didn’t chase a market, it scratched a personal itch. The rest followed.
Low-tech, high-stickiness. The backend isn’t groundbreaking but the feel is. UX > AI.
Nailed a distribution channel and scaled on it.
📈 Similar businesses.
❓ Would you build this?
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