Remember when gyms worldwide shuttered their doors during the pandemic? While many fitness companies collapsed, one unlikely survivor not only weathered the storm but thrived. Brazilian wellness platform Gympass completely reinvented itself through product innovation, offering valuable lessons for businesses facing similar challenges.

This is a summary of Gympass’s real transformation case study in “Transformed: Moving to the Operating Model”

From Spreadsheets to Strategic Product Innovation

Back in 2012, Gympass launched with a straightforward mission: defeat inactivity by connecting companies with a network of gyms and studios. For their first five years, they relied on old-school methods – spreadsheets and manual processes – with just a tiny IT team supporting over 800 employees.

This worked fine during their early growth phase, but by 2018, the leadership team spotted a ceiling. They couldn’t scale further without embracing technology. That’s when they brought in Joca Torres as Chief Product Officer to lead a critical shift toward becoming a product-focused organisation.

Why Change? The Push Toward Product Thinking

Imagine running a global business primarily through spreadsheets. The inefficiencies were obvious – manual data entry, limited scalability, and sluggish response to market needs. Gympass leadership recognised these limitations and took decisive action.

The newly formed product team quickly demonstrated their worth by automating routine tasks and creating tailored digital experiences for every user type: gyms, employees, and HR departments. This shift to product thinking unlocked faster growth and positioned the company for success.

Little did they know how crucial this transformation would soon become.

When Crisis Hits: Product Innovation as Lifeline

Then came 2020. COVID-19 swept across the globe, and physical gyms—the cornerstone of Gympass’s business model—were suddenly off-limits. For companies still operating with spreadsheets and manual processes, this would have been a death sentence.

But Gympass was different. Their product team already had insights that users wanted wellness options beyond traditional gyms. With their new capabilities, they quickly pivoted to home-based wellness solutions through both building their own offerings and partnering with specialised providers.

The team ran intensive discovery sessions, rapidly testing prototypes that addressed two fundamental questions:

1. Will employees actually use these digital wellness options?
2. Can we make this financially viable for everyone involved?

The Remarkable Results

The transformation paid off spectacularly. A small team—just one product manager, one designer, four engineers, and support staff—managed to:

• Launch in ten countries within just four weeks
• Attract hundreds of thousands of users in mere months
• Onboard nearly 100 fitness partners in less than two months
• Double their corporate clients during the pandemic
• Double their revenue when competitors were struggling to survive
• Achieve a USD $2.2 billion valuation, becoming a Latin American tech industry success story

Without their earlier investment in product capabilities, Gympass would likely have joined the long list of pandemic business casualties. Instead, they emerged stronger than ever.

In early 2025, Gympass rebranded to Wellhub.

Could Your Business Follow Gympass’s Lead?

If you’re running a business still heavily dependent on manual processes or legacy systems, Gympass’s journey offers practical inspiration. Their experience shows that investing in product training and product coaching doesn’t just modernise operations—it builds organisational resilience.

The transformation enabled Gympass to:

• Move at unprecedented speed when the market shifted
• Create new revenue streams when traditional channels closed
• Build deeper relationships with customers through direct digital engagement
• Make decisions based on user data rather than assumptions
• Scale operations without proportionally increasing headcount

For businesses considering similar product transformations, the message is clear: building product capabilities isn’t just about improving efficiency—it’s about creating the agility to pivot when circumstances demand it.

This is a summary of Gympass’s real transformation case study in “Transformed: Moving to the Operating Model”

FAQs

1. What is Gympass and what is its mission?

Gympass is a Brazilian company founded in 2012 with the goal of improving employee health and well-being by reducing inactivity. It provides companies with a platform to offer their employees access to a large network of gyms and studios across multiple countries.

1. What major change did Gympass undertake in 2018 and why?

In 2018, Gympass decided to transform its technological capabilities. Before this, they relied heavily on a large business operations team using spreadsheets. The leadership recognised the need to leverage technology effectively and brought in a Chief Product Officer to build a robust product and technology organisation, automating tasks and creating new experiences for gyms, end users (employees), and HR staff.

1. What significant challenge did Gympass face at the start of 2020?

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the fitness industry, forcing gyms and studios to close. Gympass faced an existential crisis, as their core business model was predicated on access to physical fitness locations, which were now largely inaccessible.

1. How did Gympass respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic?

Gympass pivoted to offering home-based wellness solutions. They leveraged previous user research which indicated an interest in activities beyond gym-based fitness, such as meditation, mindfulness, nutrition, and home-based exercise. They adopted a “build-and-partner” approach, developing key parts of the solution themselves while partnering with other fitness solution providers for specific areas of wellness.

1. What were the two major risks Gympass needed to address when developing their new solution?

The primary risk was ensuring that the new home-based wellness solutions would be valuable to end-users (the employees of their client companies). If employees didn’t use the solution, the companies would stop paying for it. The second risk was confirming the viability of the new product and business model, ensuring sufficient revenue for both the fitness partners and Gympass, while also adhering to the client company’s benefit requirements.

1. What methods did Gympass use to mitigate these risks during their “product discovery” phase?

Gympass conducted an intensive product discovery effort. This involved rapidly creating prototypes to demonstrate the user experience with various wellness services. They also used feasibility prototypes to test the necessary partner integrations.

1. How quickly did Gympass roll out their new solution?

Gympass launched their new home-based wellness solution in ten countries within just four weeks. They experienced rapid user adoption, going from zero to hundreds of thousands of users in a few months.

1. What was the overall impact of Gympass’s pivot on the company?

By successfully pivoting to a more holistic wellness offering, Gympass not only survived the pandemic but thrived. They more than doubled their number of corporate clients and their revenue. The company’s valuation rose to US $2.2 billion, making it a notable success story in the Latin American tech industry.

Building capability through product thinking

The path to transformation isn’t driven by process alone—it’s driven by people. Whether you’re shifting into product for the first time or looking to scale your impact, developing product capability is essential. That might involve:

• Reframing work around customer and business outcomes
• Strengthening stakeholder alignment and communication
• Understanding how to manage the full product lifecycle

At PM-Partners, we support this journey with structured learning opportunities like our Product Management Certification. This practical, industry-recognised course is designed to build the confidence, knowledge and tools required to lead product initiatives with clarity.

Next steps for aspiring product managers

If you are interested in the product manager role and what a career in product management looks like, you can take several actionable steps to deepen your understanding of the field:

• Continuous learning: Engage in ongoing learning through books, blogs, podcasts, and online courses. Recommended reads include Inspired by Marty Cagan and Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri. Podcasts like One Knight in Product and Lenny’s Podcast also offer deep dives into real-world product leadership.
• Networking: Connect with experienced product managers and mentors. Platforms like ProductTank and Product Circle Chat offer valuable insights through online and in-person meetups.
• Hands-on experience: Seek opportunities for practical application—such as internal initiatives, side projects, or freelance work—to build confidence and apply your knowledge.
• Join communities: Explore content and discussions from product professionals on platforms like Medium and Substack. Irene Liakos, for example, shares regular insights through The Product Venn.
• Feedback and growth: Get feedback from mentors, peers or product leaders to refine your approach and expand your perspective.

Product transformation, like the one undertaken by Kaiser Permanente, highlights what’s possible when organisations shift their mindset—from delivering projects to delivering outcomes. Building a strong foundation in product thinking allows teams to align around value, scale innovation, and improve customer experience at every stage of the journey.

Whether you’re moving into a product management role or looking to deepen your leadership capability, understanding how to apply product principles across complex environments is key. Our Product Management Certification Course offers practical tools, expert guidance and globally recognised certification to help you succeed in today’s product-driven world.

Call our development team on 1300 70 13 14 or contact us online to learn more about transitioning into product management and enrolling in our course. Start building the skills and confidence you need to lead transformational change and make a lasting impact.