Launching a startup is often referred to as “giving birth” and we’re close with Excy, a portable exercise cycle designed to help anyone fit fitness into their busy life at home, work and on-the go.
However, two weeks ago today, I managed to break my leg while rollerblading at a local skating center with my 9-year-old son. I went from smiling ear-to-ear and reminiscing to my childhood days of skating to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to being flat on my back to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” with a broken fibula and broken tibia. A ride in an ambulance to the ER ended with new hardware (a rod, a plate and 10 screws) in my right leg, followed by additional news of a blood clot that makes recovery a little more complicated. The timing couldn’t be worse as we approach “giving birth” to Excy.
Breaking a leg while preparing for Excy startup birth
However, as painful and inconvenient as this injury is for my family, friends, and me, it has been an opportunity to be reminded of important values in my life. As we focus on transitioning from a prototype to bringing Excy to market, it has also reminded me of the importance and opportunity to intertwine personal and corporate ideals.
Similar to how caring strangers, amazing friends, and a loving family are helping me get through this experience, important relationships will also be part of the fabric of the Excy brand as we bring our portable exercise cycle to market.
These ideals are:
- Caring Strangers Effect Positive Outcomes (part 1)
- True Friends Are a Warm Refuge (part 2).
- Family Matters Most (part 3).
In this post (part 1) we’ll focus on the influence, power, and kindness of strangers and how their acts of kindness can have an amazing impact.
Before I even knew what happened, a father skating with his child, who also happened to be a nurse, was immediately at my side. Not only did he end up carrying me off the floor with the help of the people who worked there, but he stayed with me and comforted both my son and me, including letting me squeeze his shoulder a few times in an effort to help control pain and decrease the worry of my son. A mom worked hard to distract my son by giving him coins to play video games and keeping his mind off my obvious pain. Another mom helped him get our belongings together. I purposely left my cell phone in the car to make sure I didn’t get distracted by email or calls, but a gentleman who worked there walked my son to the car to retrieve it. I also got amazing care from the paramedics, doctors, and nurses. All of these people were obvious strangers to me, and each other, but all worked together towards a collective goal of helping someone they had never met minimize a heavy burden.
So, what do relationships between strangers have to do with Excy?
Everything! In addition to making Excy a phenomenal portable exercise cycle, we are working hard to create social connections that inspire all to support each other in making exercise about being healthy and not about an illusion of perfection. It’s so much easier to thrive in accomplishing your fitness goals when you have support, which is why we are designing Excy to be easily used with friends, family, co-workers and in groups. But, we also have some other surprises up our sleeve, where complete strangers can also encourage and support each other in creating positive healthy lifestyle habits.
If we give our users the right tools, we have no doubt that caring Excy strangers will deliberately work together to effect positive outcomes.
Excy is creating this portable exercise cycle as a tribute to busy people who want to fit fitness into their modern, multi-tasking way of life at home, work or on-the-go. Regardless if fitness beginner or athlete, it’s those people who inspire us daily to create new exercise experiences that are designed to be used during real life and make the choice to exercise everyday easier, convenient, and fun.
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