Born in South Africa, raised in Australia, and now living in New York City, Jarron Aizen is a man well-traveled. It’s not hard to see how his unique world view and vision for a better way in fitness has enabled him to grow an organization that started in a university dorm room to a business set for massive growth, supported by teams on 4 continents.
Meet Jarron Aizen, founder, and CEO of Hapana.
Growing up, Jarron had a diverse set of interests, which truly blossomed at the University of New South Wales, where he studied mechanical engineering and finance. Jarron was involved in 3 startups at a single time while in university, which enabled him to gain real experience as an entrepreneur, far more so than regular coursework could provide. His experience in logistics, e-commerce, tech stack development, as well as in managing relationships was a tremendous learning experience.
Drawing from his multitude of entrepreneurial experiences, Jarron would go on to found Hapana. Originally focused on serving the individual personal trainer, the business would eventually pivot in 2016 to serve the boutique studio, before later adding capabilities to serve the big box health clubs.
In the early days of Hapana, being a solo founder was a unique challenge. While many startups have 2, 3, or 4 founders, Jarron was tasked with juggling everything himself - a daunting challenge when you’re an entrepreneur learning on the fly.
Although he pursued building Hapana as a solo founder, he was, however, far from alone. Jarron credits having his wife and partner along for the entire ride as a key to his success.
“Every great entrepreneur needs some point of stability. For me in the early days, that was, and is, my wife. It’s been an incredible journey to share together.”
- Jarron Aizen
As the company grew, it would eventually pivot away from serving the solo practitioner, instead to specialize in enhancing engagement for the boutique experience. It was in 2017 when the first multi-location brands joined Hapana, all of whom are still creating insane engagement for their members on the Hapana platform today.
“Luck is not a random sequence - luck manifests itself in the form of people. Whether it’s people I’m mentoring, or people I’m recruiting who share in the vision. Luck is a collective contribution of people.”
- Jarron Aizen
To further grow Hapana’s business in North America, Jarron relocated from Sydney to New York City in 2018, and the business has doubled twice in that time. No small part of this growth has been Hapana’s content suite CAST. The module enables brands to deliver on-demand, livestream, or two-way live interactive training experiences - features that clubs and boutiques alike have adopted in droves since March of 2020.
“Accountability is not calling people out; it’s calling people up. My job as CEO is to enable everyone to fulfill their vision - to make sure they’re motivated to achieve more than they ever thought possible.”
- Jarron Aizen
CAST was a new module added to an already vibrant system: CORE, LINK, GROW and DASH. The 5 modules combined represent a best-in-class, end-to-end fitness club management platform. The advantages of a single platform are abundant, but the central benefit is insane engagement between club and member. Engagement is a term often used in the industry, but the Hapana platform truly stands out in the way it enables ambitious fitness businesses to engage their members.
Working to improve how health and fitness brands engage their members is only truly authentic if you can manage your own health and fitness, and in this regard, Jarron has it covered. In the winter months, or summer months, depending on what continent you’re on, you can find him on the ski slopes of Vermont, Colorado, or even New South Wales, putting his fitness to the test!