In the 1970s, George Heilmeier ran DARPA—the agency that helped invent the internet, GPS, and stealth aircraft. Before he'd fund any project, he made researchers answer eight questions. No jargon. No hand-waving. Just clarity. He called it the Heilmeier Catechism. It's still used today.
Most gym owners pick software the way people pick restaurants—Google it, read two reviews, pick whatever looks decent. Then they're stuck paying $1,000+/mo across platforms that don't talk to each other. Heilmeier's framework fixes that. Here are the 8 questions applied to gym software.
"I need gym software" is not an objective. Get specific:
- "I need to stop chasing failed payments manually"
- "I want 24/7 access without staffing the front desk"
- "I need to know which members are about to cancel before they do"
- "I want new members to sign up, sign a waiver, and start billing without me touching anything"
If you can't explain what you need in one sentence, you'll buy the wrong tool. Most gym owners skip this and pay for 40 features they don't use while missing the 3 they needed.
The most important question. Document your current setup before looking at new tools. Common pattern: "We use Mindbody for billing, SmartWaiver for waivers, Mailchimp for emails, a Google Sheet for tracking, and Kisi for door access. None of them talk to each other." Or worse: "I just Venmo people and check a notebook."
Common pain points: failed payments piling up, can't tell who checks in vs who's paying but ghosting, paper waivers disconnected from records, 4-5 overlapping subscriptions, hours on admin instead of coaching. The gap between current state and needed state is the only thing that matters. If there's no gap, don't switch.
Every gym software says "all-in-one" and "streamline operations." Meaningless. Ask: Does it ACTUALLY replace my other tools or is it just another one? If you still need a separate waiver app, email tool, door access subscription—it's not all-in-one.
Does it charge a processing markup? "Only 1-2% processing fee" = on top of Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢. Real rate: 5-7%. Does the price change as you grow? Per-member pricing sounds cheap at 50 members. At 300 members you're paying for a second employee. If the salesperson can't tell you what's specifically DIFFERENT in one sentence, move on.
Heilmeier's bluntest question: who cares? Be specific about the before/after:
If the "after" picture doesn't move you, the switch isn't worth the disruption. But $12K+ per year in savings and 8 hours a week back—that's a different conversation.
Nobody talks about this. Every software company acts like switching is seamless. It's not. Payment disruption: token transfer through Stripe, old provider may drag feet (seen 3+ week waits).
Staff learning curve: front desk knows old system, new one takes 1-2 weeks to feel natural. Data migration: member records, billing history, class schedules need to move cleanly. Ask: do you handle migration or am I exporting CSVs and praying?
Devil you know factor: current system sucks in familiar ways, new one might suck in new ways. The question isn't whether there are risks—there always are. It's whether the risks are smaller than the cost of staying.
Not the sticker price. The REAL cost. Here's how gym software hides the number:
Ask for the TOTAL: platform + processing + add-ons + per-member + year two pricing. Compare the total to what you're paying now across ALL your tools.
Difference between "account is set up" and "actually running your gym on this." Here's what a realistic migration looks like:
Anyone who says one day is lying or giving you a half-built setup. Ask: what does onboarding look like? Do I get a person or a help article? Is migration included?
The question nobody asks. Why gym owners stay on bad software for years. Set benchmarks before you switch:
If you can't answer these with data from your software, your software isn't doing its job.
Bottom Line
Heilmeier designed this to keep DARPA from wasting millions on cool-sounding projects that don't hold up. Same logic applies to a $200/mo decision that compounds to $15,000/year.
Most gym owners buy based on a demo and pricing page. That's like funding research based on the PowerPoint. Run the 8 questions. Write down answers. If vendor dodges cost, handwaves timeline, can't say what's different — that tells you everything.
If your current setup fails on 4-5 of these questions, the gap between where you are and where you should be IS the decision.
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