Mind the Run

I’d like to introduce you to Mind the Run, a new mobile app that motivates runners to reach their race goals by showing the power of positive mental wellbeing

90%The hardest part about running is getting yourself out the door. 90% of runners struggle to find the motivation even with a race goal to work towards. Getting off the sofa and putting your trainers on feels like a big effort.

That’s for one very simple reason:

MENTALPHYSICAL

Running is as much a mental sport as it is physical. The cognitive effort required to prepare yourself for doing exercise is huge, and after a long day or a late night we often don’t feel inclined to get out for a run despite our earlier best intentions

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This is Cameron, one of the runners I spoke to. I asked him what running means to him. Let’s take a listen.

[PLAY VIDEO]

You can hear Cameron reflecting on the positive mental health benefits as he goes along. There are broadly three aspect to this:1. running allows him to process what has happened during the day2. time to think - away from distractions, space to himself3. come back afterwards feeling less stressed

When conducting my user research, I knew I was onto something when almost every single runner used the same phrase when asked about what they enjoy about running:

“The feeling afterwards”

It’s the feeling afterwards. The benefits that come from boosting both your physical and your mental health.

My product will be the first to bring these two elements together to create a unique and uplifting experience.

Using mental health as a motivation to drive behaviour change

DISCOVERRECORDTRACK

Mind the Run does that in three ways:1. Tracks data from your runs - how far, how long, what kind of terrain, fitness

information from heart rate2. Records information about your mental wellbeing by using a series of simple

questions3. Most importantly, you can then discover the unique correlations between

running and mental wellbeing. By making this link explicit, it provides an extra element of motivation

So let’s see how it works!1. When I open the Mind the Run app I simply hit ‘Start run’ to begin tracking my running

activity2. When I’m done I click ‘Finish run’ to be presented with a summary of my activity3. Once I’ve had some time to recover, take a shower, and start to relax, the app

prompts me to record information about how I’m feeling that day:a. As you can see there are 6 categories that give an indication of mental

wellbeingb. If I select the first, Energy, I’m presented with 4 simple options. Today I’m

feeling pretty good so I select ‘Energised’c. Swiping through to the next page, Emotions, again I feel great so I’ll select

‘Happy’d. The next category is ‘Sleep’ and let’s say I’ve had a good 6-9 hourse. The remaining categories are Motivation, Social, and general Healthf. You can record as much or as little information as you feel is relevant

4. Finally, I’m presented with a summary of my mental wellbeing and my running performance, side by side, allowing me to discover these unique correlations.

● By creating personal, positive user experiences Mind the Run promotes self-motivation. By explicitly pointing out the improvements in mental health brought on by running, this will help runners make the right decisions around their physical and mental health

We learned a great deal from our initial research, the prototype has tested well, and we continue to refine the MVP based on user feedback

Who are our users:● People who run outdoors, rather than on the treadmill● Who typically fit running around work and social commitments● Work towards a running goal

Market size - these are just a handful● This year 1,413 official races will be held across the UK with an average of

3,000 participants per event that gives a total of 4.2 million races● In addition, around 3.2 million ParkRuns (bottom left) will happen this year

alone, with ParkRun memberships continuing to rise ● More than two million people in England running at least once a week,

according to Sport England

WHY

HOWWHAT

In the current market there are several apps that successfully meet 2 aspects of the running experience:

What - tracking your runs, how far/long you ran, how you performedHow - the strategy, the race plan, the route planner

But no other app on the market delves deeply into the Why - the vision, the motivation, the long term benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle that pervades beyond short term goals. Bringing the gap between a one off run, and sustainable behaviour change

Your mental health benefits as much as your body when you put on your running shoes.

FREE £4.49 £22.99

My product will offer a free version with all of the basic features. For additional benefits there will be a subscription model:

● Monthly subscription £4.49● Annual subscription £22.99 (saving £30.89 on monthly)

Bonus features for subscription users:● Music integration, run to the beat● Enhanced fitness monitoring● Personal coach● Training plans

First 9 months: predict a total of 16k new users. Of that total, around 13k will be free users, 2k on monthly subscriptions and 450 on annual subscriptions. Subscribers will make up around 16% the total user base

We predict this will generates £54k revenue by the end of those 9 months, at which point we break even against the costs of developing the MVP

PassionTechnical skillsUser base

What will my team bring to this?

● Passion for both running and mental health● Technical skills to build and iterate the MVP● A community of users from our extended running networks

We have planned marketing activity in the form of partnerships with:● Charities

○ Mind○ The Mental Health Foundation

16th May - Mental Awareness Week, Time to Change● Sport participation organisations

○ BBC Get Inspired○ Sport England○ This Girl Can

Mind the Run will be available on the App Store and Google Play

We need your help to deliver the value proposition to customers. Lend your expertise to our marketing efforts, we’d love for you to engage and give us the boost we need to address this market that is there for the taking

QUESTIONS?

● Product market fit, Product positioning - Uniquely positioned between Running Apps, Health and Wellbeing Apps

● How have you developed your thinking? From running routes● Metrics that matter - frequency of run tracking in relation to positive mental

health data recorded● Mental health provides interesting channels, attaching it to a ceremonial

routine, reference where MH apps found problems e.g. Mind Apples in terms of fitting into a regular routine

● Riskiest assumptions - that we can drive behaviour change beyond a specific race, this will be our obsessive focus to find out

● Marketing opportunities - series of events and workshops around the country in schools, universities, and workplaces, festivals

● Actually we haven’t considered that yet - this is one of the points where you could add value

● Mental Health charity partner expects to attract 400,000 number of people to various events, and Time to Change 3 times that.

● Our promotional activities will go beyond social media reach into active demos at the events,

● Percentage of the people considering taking up exercise = 15-20%, of which around 60% fit the target audience, confident we can attract 10-15% of that to try our product