January 26, 2017
An open note from RGP founder, Andy Laakmann:
Today I’m happy to announce a new and exciting chapter in the Rock Gym Pro story.
Rock Gym Pro is combining its resources with Smartwaiver!
As some of you may know, Smartwaiver is a sister company to Rock Gym Pro. While continuing to operate as two separate brands, we will now work under the same roof to create bigger and better things – together.
A Quick RGP Back-Story
Back in 2008 when I was looking for software to run my climbing gym, I quickly discovered that the existing software available at the time was simply inadequate. So I developed Rock Gym Pro – just for my gym. I came to find that others in the industry could benefit from what I’d built – so I made the software available for everyone to use for free. Within a few years, over 100 gyms were using RGP. Eventually I implemented a paid version and hired Amy to tackle the support soon after. We’ve been a two-person operation ever since.
Fast Forward to 2017
Today over 500 facilities in multiple industries are using RGP to run their entire operations – and Rock Gym Pro is processing over $1,000,000 in transactions each day for these gyms around the world! It’s clear that in order to continue moving the product forward, we need to grow beyond a two-person team.
Why Work as a Combined Company with Smartwaiver?
The idea for creating Smartwaiver as a standalone business was conceived in 2012 after developing the waiver feature in Rock Gym Pro. I was involved in Smartwaiver’s early development and have been co-owner of the business since its inception. Tapping into the expertise and talent of the Smartwaiver team was a logical step in helping RGP move to the next level.
Tod Bloxham and Ted Knudsen are the two other Smartwaiver owners. Both are climbing enthusiasts and intimately familiar with the challenges high volume, membership facilities face each day (Tod is a gym owner himself and long time RGP user). Tod will come on board as RGP’s CEO to handle strategy and business operations. Ted will take on the role of CTO to help me with technical development. Both will be instrumental in bringing on new RGP features and functionality.
I will be handing over all of the day-to-day RGP business to Tod which will allow me to focus 100% of my time on what I love and do best – coding/development.
What This Means For You
CONTINUED FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
With my time now freed up to code and fine tune the software AND with new developers working on RGP beside me, we’ll be able to crank out some really great stuff on a regular basis. In fact, our newest developer, Fletcher, is hard at work creating RGP specific apps right now. In the coming weeks we’ll also be releasing a new feature that integrates your RGP account directly with Smartwaiver. Much more to come…
MORE AND FASTER CUSTOMER SUPPORT
We’re currently in the process of hiring a new frontline support position. This RGP expert will free up Amy to take on a more proactive role in making sure everyone is using RGP to its fullest potential.
RGP ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE
By bringing the two companies together and adding shared resources, you can rest assured that RGP will be around for a long, long time.
With the additional headcount and features coming soon we will be adjusting pricing early this year to more accurately reflect the value of RGP. We’ll be sending out details in a separate email.
The future of RGP looks extremely bright. It’s been an amazing nine years leading up to this next chapter and I hope you’re as excited as I am to continue the journey for many years to come.
Thank you for your continued support and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Sincerely,
Andy
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