NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Dancer to workout queen: How ClassPass became a multimillion-dollar business

news.com.au
25 Jun, 2017 05:58 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

One "miserable experience" led Payal Kadakia to founding a multimillion-dollar business. Picture / Getty

One "miserable experience" led Payal Kadakia to founding a multimillion-dollar business. Picture / Getty

Many little girls grow up loving ballet.

And many become women who still want to dance, or run, or stand on their heads, but are slightly afraid.

Payal Kadakia was one of those women.

The New Jersey-born Indian American was passionate about dancing, but had entered New York's corporate world, just as her parents wanted.

One day, she was trying to find a ballet class and became overwhelmed with frustration looking at different websites trying to find somewhere to go.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was a miserable experience," she says.

That day, she gave up, but an idea was born.

Fast forward seven years, and the 34-year-old's ClassPass fitness subscription business is a global phenomenon valued at $US470 million ($645 million).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"In the beginning, the person I was trying to build a product for was someone like me," she told news.com.au ahead of her July trip to Australia, where the workout class app has been a raging success.

"I was scared to walk into a bootcamp class, I didn't know where there was a yoga class near me. I do think a lot of people feel, even if you fall off working out for a couple of months, you get scared again."

And Payal had to overcome a string of setbacks - even failures - before her tenacity paid off. ClassPass started life as a workout class search engine called Classivity, and it didn't work. "We had press, but the product wasn't working," she says.

"I felt like a fraud. It wasn't a real product. I went through having to downsize my team, get an engineering team to build a new product. Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions for your company. You can't be scared."

The product was reborn as the ClassPass app, where users pay a monthly fee and can attend a range of different boutique workout classes and gyms - from pilates to underwater cycling to spin/yoga fusion classes.

It was a huge success, and has now launched in 39 cities around the world, with more than 30 million reservations made at 8900 studios since 2013.

But there were further hiccups.

Costs rose as people took more classes, and a slew of copycat competitors added to the pressure.

In November, the business dropped its unlimited classes option and users were furious

"We simply couldn't make the plan work for our business," Payal explained at the time.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It doesn't seem to have done the company too much harm at present.

ClassPass this month raised more funding, albeit at a lower share price, increasing its valuation from $645 million.

The MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) graduate says what's most important to her is that people go to classes and enjoy fitness.

"No one works out and feels bad after. It's personalised, social and feels like an experience. It's less, 'Oh my god, I've got to work out,' you go to do something. Let's make it exciting.

"Having variety in your fitness routine is good for your body. Four years ago, I didn't know what a plank was. Now I can hold one for up to five minutes. I go to barre class, bootcamps, dance, cardio, trampoline class and reformer.
"I do think people are scared to try new things."

Fear is a big theme for Payal, who believe this is what holds people back from getting to where they want to be. But when I wonder if this applies most pertinently to women, she turns it around.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Try not to make it about gender at all. All you can focus on is your strength. Do whatever you need to be confident."

"Early on, I'd wear business suits to meetings, and it wasn't me. I started wearing my Lululemon leggings and it was more natural. The best thing I can do is be me in any room.

"You have to set yourself up to succeed, no one's going to do it for you."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Business|personal finance

Broadcaster Melissa Chan-Green on how she bounced back from redundancy

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Business|economy

Emails reveal Willis wanted Budget lock-up to be more restricted

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Small Business

On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech

13 Jul 05:00 PM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Broadcaster Melissa Chan-Green on how she bounced back from redundancy

Broadcaster Melissa Chan-Green on how she bounced back from redundancy

13 Jul 05:00 PM

"I was really wrapped up with what I was doing was who I was."

Premium
Emails reveal Willis wanted Budget lock-up to be more restricted

Emails reveal Willis wanted Budget lock-up to be more restricted

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech

On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP