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Disclaimer: I build Wello(https://www.wello.com) and am ex-googler.

We are a vertical marketplace for connecting you to fitness professionals. We are extremely focused on this segment and our offering in terms of price and trainer quality, etc speaks for itself.

Here are some observations from my point of view.

1. I welcome Google entering this space. I am not nearly as worried as others are. The big challenge that this business really has is that we need to explain to people that you can do somethings over video that you used to do in person. Google has infinitely more marketing dollars than we do. If they can convince folks that this is something easy, we would love to ride their coattails (is that one word?) on that one.

2. For some verticals, Google will do well (my guess, technical help etc). Building a fitness focused marketplace is not the same as building a music learning marketplace. We can make our user experience far more fitness centric than everyone else. Ultimately our users value that. So do users of other vertical marketplaces for online tutoring, etc. When you are meeting a trainer, we can offer health tracking, health data analysis, fitness suggestions based on your prior workouts with us. This is not impossible for Google but they have to boil the ocean first and then make their bets.

3. Working in this space, it has also taught us that while Google will be better at some things (integrating with Hangouts, Android etc), if they are going to move to WebRTC, there are many users who still prefer IE and Safari and are stuck on older versions. If they move to support those browsers, then it is at odds with their WebRTC focus. We can offer an independent solution that uses WebRTC when available and not in other environments to again give a better user experience.

4. Overall, we are cautiously optimistic that this is good for this space. It validates our work for the past year and we are hoping the market is big enough for a lot of niche segments.

Be Wello, Amol




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