Gschwandtner sat down with us at SXSW to share with us his story about how Runtastic went from developing software to creating a hardware device. According to him, going into hardware is a risky business, but certain conditions allowed them to make the push into hardware. Noticing the trend into wearable devices, the company made a strategic decision to push forth with their own fitness wearable. But he doesn’t think they would have been able to accomplish that without already finding enough success in the software industry. For Runtastic, making enough revenue was essential before going straight into hardware. And once they felt they were in the right place, they were lucky enough to have found a good partner in the hardware industry who already had twenty years of experience in hardware, allowing them to easily navigate the hardware space. On top of their popular fitness apps, Runtastic now offers its own high-quality fitness hardware. Watch our full interview with Runtastic’s Florian Gschwandtner below. Aside from discussing this transition from software to hardware, he goes into the company’s origin in sailboat tracking, offers some advice on how to enter a foreign market, and gives insight on how startups should approach partnerships.
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