Antorcha: bringing people together through sport

Where it started

In March 2015 I joined the StartUp Essentials Innovation Bootcamp in Guadalajara, organized by the government of Jalisco to find ideas that improve people’s quality of life. We learned Lean Startup (build, measure, learn) by doing it, and we chose a big question: how do we help more people move and live healthier?

73%of Mexicans live with health problems related to overweight

5.3%of national GDP goes to treating them

What people told us

Illustration used to present the research findings

We went out and interviewed people about their lives, their routines and why they did (or didn’t) exercise. Two things came up again and again, and they changed the whole idea:

What we learned

01
People who move the most found a sport they love.
It’s rarely about the gym or running for health. It’s about playing something that is fun.
02
Most people start a sport because someone invited them.
Very few people pick up tennis on their own. A friend or a cousin asks “want to play?” and they say yes. And if someone invited you as a kid, you are much more likely to keep playing as an adult.

The idea

So we flipped the question. Instead of pushing people to exercise, we would make it easy to find a sport and to bring friends along: sports communities where you can even earn money by inviting your friends to play.

The idea got a lot of interest. Our pitch won second place at StartUp Essentials, then second place at Hack for Big Choices, and the state prize for applications with high social and environmental impact.

The product

Antorcha onboarding screen: Connect with your favorite sport — The first thing you saw: connect with your favorite sport.

Antorcha app: map of nearby sports and the gamification screen — Find events, coaches and places to play, then follow your goals.

Antorcha helps you find sports events, coaches, physiotherapists and places to play your favorite sport. You set your own goals and track them, and you earn medals for reaching them, showing up to events and inviting friends: Spark, Flame, Fire, Torch and Prometheus.

Achievement medals: Flame, Fire and Prometheus — May the flame be with you.

I designed the whole visual system and component kit from scratch, and it was one of the most fun parts of the project.

Antorcha app screens in the orange and dark visual style

Launch

We told the story online in three stages (anticipation, launch and persuasion), with local humor and Mexican expressions to connect with young people. We also sponsored real athletes in mountain biking, judo, Olympic boxing and race walking, and ran a New Year campaign, #Propositos2016.

Posts from the #Propositos2016 campaign and sponsored athletes — Campaign posts and some of the athletes we sponsored.

Recognition

Winner, “Applications with high social and environmental impact” (Epicentro, Government of Jalisco and COECYTJAL), 2015.
2nd place, StartUp Essentials GDL, 2015.
2nd place, Hack For Big Choices GDL, 2015.

How it ended

This project was full of challenges, and thanks to every person on the team we got through a lot of them and learned a lot about ourselves. In the end, a financial problem with an intermediary forced us to close before we could fulfill the mission. But as I wrote back then: the spark exists, and it only takes a little air so that one day, Antorcha will burn again.