Y-Combinator-backed I Move You is launching today as a place where anyone can publicly pledge to partake in an action and challenge a friend to also commit to an activity. The site’s ambition is simple: “I will do ‘x’ if you will do ‘y.’ I Move You is a way to inspire not only yourself, but also to invite others in your social graph to live a healthier, more balanced life. As co-founder Jen McCabe says, I Move You is an “Evite For Healthy Activities.”
The site, which allows you to create a profile or sign in with your Twitter or Facebook credentials, allows you to make a public statement about an activity you will do and invite others to do the same. Health-focused challenges range from swimming 10 laps to doing 50 pushups. The idea behind I Move You is that if you state your challenge publicly, you’ll be more willing to follow through with the action.
On the site, each action can be commented on, and you can follow people on the site and receive alerts when actions are completed. The interface is similar to a Facebook news feed, where you can access a list of the most recent challenges made within your social graph.
McCabe says the site’s original ambitions are to inspire people to make health-related challenges, but it’s evolved into a platform for a variety of challenges (such as challenging a friend to make a donation or making your bed everyday, etc.). And McCabe says that 75 percent of the challenges on the site are being completed.
The fledgling startup has even started to bring in revenue. I Move You is partnering with brands to create sponsored “I Move You” platforms to motivate customers or employees. For example, the startup has a deal now with dairy products company Cabot to challenge consumers to random acts of fitness. And I Move You has already raised seed funding from a number of notable investors, including Founders Fund and Esther Dyson.
