10 Years!? š¤Æ Where did the time go?
Most people can’t swim 10 laps of the pool and most businesses don’t make it past a decade so I’m especially grateful to share that MySwimPro, Inc. has just crossed that BIG decade milestone!!
When Michael Allon, Adam Oxner and I launched MySwimPro back in 2015, we werenāt thinking about scaling globally, landing features from Apple, or raising money from 600+ investors. We just wanted to help people take the guesswork out of swim training. Since that time and now, we’ve had
- šāļø 2M+ app downloads
- š° $10M+ in lifetime revenue
- š 20B+ meters logged
- š 10K+ App Store reviews
- š„ A global team, and community in 180+ countries
Weāre officially 10 years old. š
Itās been an honor to lead this journeyāand while the path hasnāt always been smooth, itās been filled with excitement, frustration, and many lessons learned. Here are just 10 things Iāve gathered from serving the swimming community and building MySwimPro over the last decade:
1. You Canāt Outsource VISION
Weāve worked with incredible consultants, hired great talent, and brought on advisors whoāve made a real impact. But none of them can define or carry the vision for the company. That responsibility lives with the founders and especially the CEO. The minute you outsource direction, the mission starts to driftāand so does the culture.
2. Resilience Isnāt Built in the Good Times
Winning awards and celebrating milestones is energizingābut itās not where your real character forms. Our most defining moments came during the hard times: cash crunches, product delays, and a global pandemic that shut down every pool in the world. Those setbacks made us stronger, taught us to be more thoughtful about product decisions, cash-flow, and reminded me that short-term pain builds long-term strength.
3. Remember Why You Started
Itās easy to lose sight of the original mission in the noise of growth. Meetings, KPIs, investor pitches, and ideation can pull you in a thousand directions. But every time we veered away from our core problem and persona, it cost usātime, focus, and money. Stay close to the problem you set out to solve, and stay loyal to the people you serve. A business only exists to solve a problem(s), so that needs to remain a priority.
4. If Youāre Not Swimming in the Deep End, Youāre Not Growing
Comfort is the enemy of innovation. The Apple Watch didnāt exist when we launchedāand now itās a centerpiece of our user experience. The world keeps changing: AI, wearables, new platforms, shiny objects. You canāt cling to what worked 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. To grow, you have to swim into uncertainty, test, iterate, and evolveāfast. I’m constantly pushing myself and our team to think bigger, be more nimble and ask how something can be done more efficiently.
5. Your Brand Grows at the Speed of Your Storytelling
People donāt buy what you doāthey buy why you do it. Thatās why online education and storytelling has been the most powerful growth engine of our content marketing machine. By creating value, sharing our journeyāand the stories of our membersāweāve built something bigger than an app. It’s a global community that aspires to be better in the water. The more real and relatable the story, the faster trust builds. And in this era, trust is the ultimate currency.
6. Donāt Get Caught Up in Your Own Success
In the beginning, youāre doubted. Then after you make progress, suddenly, youāre praisedāand if youāre not careful, that praise becomes your achilles heel. Success can blind you to changing conditions or biased assumptions. It’s easy to be around a bunch of “yes people”, and your ego will cloud judgment. I’ve always wanted to celebrate our wins, yet remain grounded, self-critical, and willing to question my own ideasāespecially when they seem to be working. It’s also important to bring people in who can give unbiased feedback.
7. The Team, The Team, The Team
You go faster alone, but farther together. The people you surround yourself with shape your culture, your speed, and the company’s ceiling. Weāve had amazing teammates help build MySwimPro into what it is today, and Iām proud of the culture weāve created and the experiences we’ve shared with our team. It’s fun to go on exotic retreats around the world, but I can confidently say that anyone who has ever worked with us over the years left an impact on the company. Our business has also been a positive impact in our team member’s personal and professional journies too. Talent follows energy, so keep yours high and your purpose clear.
8. Data Tells You What. Intuition Tells You Why.
You canāt scale on gut alone, but you also canāt let dashboards make every decision. Some of our most important moves were based on intuition supported by limited data. You have to be willing to act without perfect informationābecause youāll never have it. Maybe it’s 70%, but in business, that’s enough. Be decisive, take smart calculated risks, and learn fast.
9. The Best Marketing Is a Transformation
You can say your product is greatāor your customers can show the world. Our most impactful growth has come from word-of-mouth, user-generated content, and success stories. We have over 11k App Reviews in the Apple App Store. Thereās nothing more authentic than someone saying, āThis app changed my life.ā Empower your community to speak for you, and the message will carry further than any ad spend ever could. This is something I wish we documented better earlier on, and it’s something we continue to share both internally and to our community.
10. Profitability Is a Strategy, Not a Destination
Chasing growth without a sustainable model is a recipe for burnout. I learned this the hard way. We hit revenue growth, but we were not always running a healthy business under the surface. The pandemic amplified this, and we’ve finally brought things back to profitability. Building a company that lasts requires disciplineāmanaging expenses, optimizing for cash flow, and knowing when to stabilize, when to re-structure, and when to step on the gas pedal. Profit isn’t just survivalāit’s peace of mind and it’s freedom.
After 10 years, Iām more grateful than everāfor the journey, the people, the lessons, and the impact of what we’ve built. Weāve helped millions of people swim with more confidence, seen thousands of life-changing stories, and built a community that Iām proud to be part of.
The journey is not over, and it continues stronger than ever. We have so much more to do and so many more people to help swim for life. Happy 10th Birthday, MySwimPro. And to everyone reading thisāthank you for being a part of it.
On to the next lap. šāļø
