Guides / Founder playbook
How I built and sold a fitness accessories brand
In two and a half years, while working a full-time job, I built train.VOLT from an idea into the UK's biggest seller of CrossFit grips, passed £300k a year in revenue by our third financial year, took it international, and sold it. Self-funded, no investors. Here's what actually mattered, in the order it happened.
Building a fitness accessories brand: the journey at a glance
Idea
One problem athletes had every session.
Product
UltraGrip+ and HyperGrip+, made to be the best at one thing.
Brand
"Relentless By Choice™" shaped everything we did.
Growth
Community first, then content, email and paid media.
Exit
Sold as a going concern.
1. Start with one product your community already needs
VOLT started with grips, not a full range. Our flagship UltraGrip+ and HyperGrip+ solved one problem athletes have every session. Pick the one product you can make better than anyone, and earn the right to add more.
2. Build the brand before you need it
Relentless By Choice™
That line wasn't a tagline added at the end. It shaped the name, the product, the content and the community. Athletes wanted to be seen wearing it, and that mattered more than any ad we ever ran.
3. Content as a system, not one-off posts
We planned and produced content as an engine, so the brand showed up every week without starting from a blank page. That consistency is what makes a small brand look big.
4. Grow through community, then paid media
Community
The athletes who used the grips became the brand's loudest voice.
Content
A steady system, so we never ran out of things to say.
Klaviyo flows that kept customers coming back.
Paid media
Meta and Google, only once the rest was working.
Each channel was added only once the last one was working. One channel done properly beats five done badly.
5. Know your numbers, especially unit economics
Selling well and making money are not the same thing. Margins decide how far you can grow on your own money, so the lesson I'd give any product founder is simple: check your unit economics before you scale, not after.
6. Exit on your terms
When the numbers told us it was time, we sold train.VOLT as a going concern. A brand with a strong identity and a loyal community is something someone else wants to buy.
What I'd tell a founder starting today
✕
What most founders do
- Launch a full range at once
- Buy a logo and call it a brand
- Post when they remember
- Try every channel at the same time
✓
What worked for VOLT
- One product, done properly
- Brand foundations from day one
- Content planned as a system
- One channel at a time, until it works
Building something in fitness, or any product brand? Book a chat or see how I help with brand building.