This media company builds fitness communities, and healthcare companies pick up the tab

Joe Vennare and his brother Anthony launched Fitt in Pittsburgh in the winter of 2015. Fitt, Joe told Technical.ly, is “a media technology company where people can discover, share and get involved in fitness activities.”

The still-bootstrapped company grew from the brothers’ hometown to 15 other U.S. cities including, recently, D.C., with more markets on the way.

On the user’s side, Fitt is much like any niche local media publication. Users select their city to read articles about living a healthy lifestyle in that city. Articles like “The Most Epic Waterfall Hikes to Take Near DC” or “All the Best Juice and Smoothie Shops in DC Right Now.” The content is written by freelance contributors (who know the local scene), with help (and edits) from Fitt’s in-house editorial team. Fitt also promotes local fitness-centric events and, in cities where they have a more established presence, puts on its own events as well.

The idea for the publication initially came up, Joe said, when he noticed how many similar sites exist for entertainment or eating out in a given city, and felt there was an opportunity to expand into a new area. He noticed that the health-focused community was rather siloed, with runners groups, yoga groups or crossfitters not generally taking the time to interact. The Vennare brothers thought they could change this, with an emphasis on “making ‘healthy’ cool and more accessible.”

Joe was already writing about health and fitness for various publications at that time so he supplied the early Pittsburgh-focused content, while brother Anthony taught himself to code and built a simple site. At first, they didn’t even intend to expand to other cities.

But as the model developed, and they began to think about growing the concept, the brothers Vennare had to figure out how to make money.

And this is where Fitt gets interesting.

Instead of seeking advertising from local health-centric businesses (none of which have very big marketing budgets, Joe realized), the brothers partner with large healthcare companies (or sometimes consumer brands) in each of their markets. It’s a win-win — Fitt gets paid and the healthcare companies get direct access to this community of health-conscious or at least health-interested young people.

“We’re essentially underwriting community health with the support of large brands,” Joe told Technical.ly.

For example, Kaiser Permanente is Fitt’s Denver sponsor. This means you can find the Kaiser logo on Fitt Denver’s site, but it also means that the Fitt team is working with Kaiser’s marketing team to produce “authentic”-feeling native content that will run along side, say, a list of best smoothie and juice shops.

“We want everything to feel super authentic,” Joe said. “If it doesn’t fit we won’t publish it.” He admitted that some companies and brands have an easier time grasping this than others — but conventional wisdom holds that Millennials generally seek and support brands that feel authentic. In a sense, Fitt is here to help the Kaiser Permanentes of the world grasp this (and get more return on their investment as a result).

In a world where media companies are constantly working to find new sustainable business models, this is certainly an interesting one.

Fitt isn’t done growing, either. Joe said the company plans to launch in five new cities by the fall, and is eyeing college editions as well as international editions.