Last week, I took a field trip from the GatherDC offices to the MINT Health Club. Rather than going to enjoy a mid-day workout, I was going to meet up with Sarah Hostyk, founder of a new tech startup called WorkStrive and former Jewish Tech Startup Founder of the Week. I was curious to learn more about what her brand new company has to offer DC.
Sarah’s describes WorkStrive as a combination of AirBnB, WeWork, and ClassPass. It takes local gyms and fitness studios that are often empty during peak work times, and transforms them into a shared workspace for remote workers. Better yet, when Excel is driving you crazy or you’ve been staring at your inbox for one too many hours, you can spend an hour rejuvenating your mind – and body – with a fitness class or use of the gym facility that you’re in.
Sarah: I’ve wanted to create a startup since I was a little kid, and even won a few elevator pitch competitions as a teenager and in college. My first job was working remotely for a startup near Tel Aviv working to launch their first mobile app in the US. I was living in a new city and all of my coworkers were in Israel.
When I moved to DC, I launched my first startup called PlaceTempo, which matches students and remote workers with the best places to study based on their needs.
While I was trying to launch PlaceTempo, I would go door-to-door trying to get businesses to offer deals for the app. Walking around DC, I’d pass by beautiful and empty gyms and had a lightbulb moment that led me to come up with WorkStrive.
Sarah: Its a network of gyms and yoga studios that have unutilized space during the work day and turns them into furnished co-working spaces. You get to work and workout without any extra cost or transportation. It costs $36 per day – about the price of a one-hour spin class. Eventually, I’m going to roll out a monthly membership.
In addition to offering an affordable alternative for remote workers, WorkStrive helps business at smaller gyms and helps with the loneliness that many remote workers experience.
Sarah: I started working on it in January 2019 and I just launched it this month.
Sarah: The space – its colorful, and the studio is calm and serene.
Sarah: Right now we have four locations in DC, and I’ll be opening other locations around the DMV by early fall. We’ll be having monthly memberships and other workshops that incorporate both wellness and working. In the future, I’d like to expand all over the world. The sky’s the limit!
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