A while back, when I really felt the need for some self-improvement, I had a look at a couple of different Web startups who I thought might be worth watching. Archived post is here. Today, I went back to see how they were doing and I have to say I found a clear winner.
The Traineo user experience is really excellent. I had a good swing at it and it held up. The design is clean and uncluttered (nice job!) and the light-weight tools do the job they need to do and nothing more.
I was considering taking a deep look at PeerTrainer, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. The site just doesn't do it for me. It's too cluttered. I don't want tools, member posts, community threads, team activity, diet, fitness, health, groups, and tours. I want something simple. I don't have time to go on a discovery mission through the eight+ sections of the site. I just want a product that solves my two issues: 1) set up a program, and 2) motivate me daily to take action (through my iPhone). That's it.
Trying to do too much is "normal" in this space. Don't do it. Keep your product simple. Work on your user experience and make the design really sing. That's what Traineo has done and it works.
Now, I'm going to swim for the first time in a year. Go Phelps!
