Hi there, this is Dillon Connolly, the founder of Zuk Fitness. The last two years have been a total grind to try to get Zuk going and spread the word. I’ve had so much help along the way though. The last 12 months have been an amazing experience because I’ve been in a fellowship/accelerator program through this awesome nonprofit called Future Founders. Through them I’ve had so much support with mentors, an incredible alumni network, and 16 other founders at different stages in their startups. As a solo founder it’s been really difficult to not have a partner every day but this program has kept me going and my fellows have been such a great support system and sounding board.
The people that Future Founders support are truly making the world a better place and I highly recommend checking them out to see which companies are coming out of there! Just to name a couple, one of my close friends Micah is working on a startup called in Enhearten-it’s a free app that serves as a tool for people to fight addiction, specifically opiates. I’m sure there are some new and old spinal cord injuries that deal with chronic pain and if anyone is trying to get off of opiates, definitely check out this app (but speak with your doctor before making any changes!).
Another friend in the cohort created Sparrow Charts, and frankly I’ve been pretty impressed by it because it’s so much easier to used in Google analytics and I can see all of Zuk’s analytics from different sources in one place (and everything is really pretty). This product can make anyone’s life easier who does anything with a website or social media marketing. If you have a website with Google analytics, or even just post on social media and are interested in analytics, check out the free version. It takes two minutes to set up. I personally use it and love it! Will be upgrading soon. Currently because they’re new, they have a lifetime deal right now on the App Sumo marketplace. (plus get $10 off if you use my referral code, knocks it down to $49.00).
If anyone reading this is an aspiring entrepreneur or has already started on something, I absolutely recommend checking out Future Founders, especially if you have any middle schoolers or high schoolers who have an entrepreneurial itch. Just recently I was really impressed by a girl named Sarah Lim, who is in their Startup Bootcamp. She created a website/free marketplace called Horizon Worldwide, for high schoolers to post and find internships. It has over 30,000 registered users already! It works because it has an intricate reward system to get people to post opportunities. It has already helped thousands of high schoolers to get a head-start on finding a rewarding career trajectory. If you know a highschooler, you should definitely share the project with them.
I could easily rant and rave about every single person in my cohort, but I won’t. Just go check out the companies from Future Founders if you’re interested.
Thank you so much to Scott, Nick, Tina, and everyone else behind the scenes at Future Founders who makes this program run. It’s been such an incredible experience and I look forward to staying involved in the future.
