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For someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, the solution when they can\u2019t find a service that they need is often to create it themselves. Such is the case for Payal Kadakia, the creator of ClassPass, an innovative app that not only connects people to dance and fitness classes in their area; it incentivizes them to show up, get fit, and enrich their lives through dance, exercise, and life-affirming experiences.<\/p>\n
Payal has never shied away from hard work. As the daughter of two West Indian, high-achieving chemists who ran away from India to marry and start a new life, she was raised to value education and independence. These values led to her graduation from MIT with a degree in operations strategy and her early departure from the traditional workforce to forge her own path as an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
Back in 2010, Payal found herself frustrated when, after hours of scouring Google, she was unable to find the information she needed to book a ballet class in New York. She decided that an application that aggregates information about local dance studios and gyms could be a valuable resource for people like her, who want a simple solution for booking classes with minimal fuss. From that moment of frustration, the concept that became ClassPass was born.<\/p>\n
Payal made her exasperating Google search while she was meeting with a group of entrepreneurs in San Francisco, where she was hoping to find inspiration. At just 27, she was tired of corporate life and had allocated herself fourteen days to come up with an idea for her very own company. “I told myself if I couldn\u2019t come up with an idea in that time period, I wasn\u2019t ready to be a founder.\u201d Kadakia had already set herself on the path towards entrepreneurship when she founded Sa Dance Company, a world-class dance troop that performs traditional Indian routines. When she sees a need that aligns with her passions, her first instinct is to fill it: \u201cWhen it didn’t exist, I had to build it. I had to dance,” she says of Sa Dance Company. When she realized she had a winning idea for a company, she resigned from her corporate job at Warner Music Group, and with no \u201cplan B,\u201d she approached ClassPass with the same entrepreneurial mindset. Her persistence has paid off to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars as highlighted in a recent BBC article!<\/a><\/p>\n At first, the concept for ClassPass was more effective than its execution. The first iteration was released under the name, \u201cClassivity\u201d in June 2012. The original version\u2019s goal was to sign fitness studios up as part of a fitness class search engine designed to make it easier for customers to sign up for classes. The concept didn\u2019t take off like Payal hoped it would, and she and her Co-Founder, Sanjiv Sanghavi, were forced to reexamine their business model.<\/p>\n The second version, which offered 10 classes per year for $49, quickly became a hit with fitness fans, but a loophole kept it from becoming profitable. Customers wanted more than 10 classes, so they took advantage of the app\u2019s deal by creating new accounts with different email details to sign up repeatedly once their original accounts hit their limit. Faced with the possibility of her business failing, Payal took a risk; in 2013, she rebranded the company as \u201cClassPass,\u201d raised the price to $99 per month for unlimited classes and began enforcing a strict $20 cancellation fee when subscribers missed classes. This price bump was initially met with resistance from existing customers, but Payal had finally created a profitable business model that achieved her original vision of a search platform where subscribers could find their ideal local fitness class, sign up, and pay, all in one place.<\/p>\n Today, ClassPass is the world\u2019s largest health club aggregator. Subscribers enjoy subscription packages ranging from $40 to $200 each month, depending on how many classes they plan to use. Prices are based on the market in the subscriber\u2019s area and are flexible enough to allow anyone who enjoys fitness to find a plan that works for them. Subscribers can choose classes to suit their favorite workout. The company\u2019s mission is to make fitness easy by seamlessly connecting them to experiences they enjoy and motivating them to return regularly to get fit, make friends, and enjoy being part of the ClassPass community. Classes include yoga, strength training, barre, martial arts, Pilates, boxing, indoor cycling, underwater spinning, pole dancing, general gym and studio memberships, and much more. The company partners with about 10,500 health clubs in 9 countries, and as of March 2018, over 45 million reservations had been made on the platform.<\/p>\n Payal is one of an ever-growing group of entrepreneurs whose parents were not born in the United States. Over 43% of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants and their children, and although only about 4% of the world\u2019s population are immigrants, they start about 20% of all tech companies. Many factors combine to make immigrants and their children fantastic entrepreneurs, innovators, and job creators. At the best of times, immigration is a difficult process requiring patience and resilience, which, for many, translates into the motivation and drive to grab a piece of the American dream and start a business.<\/p>\n First-generation Americans like Payal often cite their parents\u2019 determination to make it in an unfamiliar country, often with few resources, as their motivation to embrace the myriad of opportunities available in the United States. Payal watched her chemist parents build a life after they emigrated in the 1970s with next to nothing. She says she grew up “watching my parents go from this life where they had to build everything and start a whole new life here. And I think watching their experience and how hard they worked taught me that.<\/a>” Their career focus and willingness to take risks necessary to move to the U.S. inspired her, and it was her mom who approved of Payal\u2019s decision to leave her safe corporate job and jump headfirst into entrepreneurship by starting ClassPass.<\/p>\n Although it was important to her parents that Payal grow up in predominantly American culture, she remained close to her Indian roots. At just three years old, she began practicing Bollywood-style dancing in her friend\u2019s New Jersey basement, mimicking the moves she learned from films until she perfected them. Her love of Indian dance, which she expresses through Sa Dance<\/a>\u00a0Company\u2019s beautiful performances, roots her to her culture and gives her the opportunity to meet other Indian \u2013 Americans, as well as introduce others to a graceful dance style with generations of history. Even the company\u2019s name is a nod to Payal\u2019s family\u2019s culture: \u201cThe name \u201cSa\u201d originates in the foundations of Indian classical music, in which \u201cSa\u201d is both the first and last note in the octave.\u201d Although she was born in the United States, she has spent her life immersed in Indian culture and bringing the beauty of her parents\u2019 country into the American mainstream.<\/p>\n Payal Kadakia has joined a growing legion of first-generation Americans who bring their families\u2019 cultures and perspectives to enhance America\u2019s culture and economy. Her parents\u2019 experiences and unique perspectives drove her to put in the sweat and effort necessary to create a business that landed her a coveted spot on Fortune\u2019s <\/em>\u201c40 Under 40\u201d list and a personal fortune exceeding $50 million. Payal knows that the difference between successful and unsuccessful people is the willingness to execute a plan; \u201cIdeas are a dime a dozen, and people can have ideas, but you need to be able to get stuff done,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I really think it\u2019s the people who know how to work \u2014 and whether that\u2019s the big, higher-level stuff and also the nitty-gritty \u2014 they know how to get in there and get their hands dirty and solve problems.\u201d She has applied her hardworking attitude to not only creating jobs and building a tremendously successful company but also creating a lasting impact on ClassPass\u2019s users\u2019 health and quality of life. Many immigrant parents dream of success in the United States for their children, and Payal\u2019s story proves that, if they take advantage of the opportunities available in the U.S.<\/a> and are willing to put in the work, their dreams are within their grasp.<\/p>\n Please take a look at the following awesome stories:<\/p>\nFalse Starts and Lessons Learned<\/h2>\n
\u201cSweat in Good Company\u201d<\/h2>\n
Immigrant Impact<\/h2>\n
Honoring Indian Culture<\/h3>\n
Nurturing Body and Soul<\/h3>\n
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Although profitability is important to Payal Kadakia as an entrepreneur and business owner, ClassPass is a passion project that is the culmination of a lifetime of love for dance and fitness, and a genuine desire to enrich others\u2019 lives and share positive experiences. Her plan for ClassPass is long-term and aims to offer experiences that improve multiple facets of subscribers\u2019 lives. She hopes to expand beyond fitness to include a “life pass” offering “soul-nurturing experiences,” including massages, acupuncture, facials, cooking classes, and other activities to bring people together, teach them new skills, and give them much-needed relaxation and inspiration. “It’s really about living an inspired life. We want to connect people to experiences which make them feel great. People come to our app to book the hours of their life,” Payal says. For Payal, ClassPass<\/a> is all about helping people by \u201cremoving barriers to being active,\u201d and for the users who have spent nearly 2 million minutes in classes booked through the app so far, the approach is working.<\/p>\nYou Might Be Interested in other U.S. Immigrant Success Stories!<\/h3>\n
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