Most personal trainers don’t see themselves as small business owners. They love the gym, the science of the body, and the satisfaction of helping clients feel better about themselves — but the business side? Scheduling, invoicing, cancellations, upsells? That’s usually an afterthought.
Nerissa Zhang, co-founder and CEO of The Bright App, saw the cost of that gap first-hand. Trainers were hacking together multiple tools, chasing down payments, and losing clients because they lacked consistent business processes. And it wasn’t just a mild inefficiency — it was forcing talented trainers out of the industry altogether.
The Bright App fixes that by putting all the business functions a trainer needs into one mobile platform, designed for how they actually work. Nerissa’s approach is a masterclass in buyer-centric SaaS design — one that SaaS founders in any niche can learn from.
Lesson 1: Start with Deep Buyer Intelligence, Not Feature Lists
Nerissa didn’t assume she knew what trainers needed — she ran focus groups and listened to the resistance points.
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Trainers thought they wanted “pretty” features like websites and custom branding.
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What they actually needed was predictable income, less admin work, and tools that fit into a phone-based workflow.
Instead of building what buyers said they wanted, she designed around the problems they couldn’t articulate but felt every day — payment chasing, last-minute cancellations, inconsistent schedules.
Agency takeaway: In SaaS, your most valuable insights often come from uncovering what buyers don’t know how to ask for.
Lesson 2: Build for Behavior Change, Not Just Utility
Even with a better tool, many trainers resisted changing old habits. The Bright App solved this by making the “better” way unavoidable:
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Auto-billing replaced awkward payment reminders.
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Scheduling tools required clients to commit to recurring sessions.
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Cancellation management was handled directly in-app, removing manual negotiation.
This “guided discipline” turned best practices into default behavior, improving both trainer income and client retention.
Sales enablement insight: If your SaaS requires users to change habits, bake the desired behaviors into the product flow so they happen without extra effort.
Lesson 3: Speed Matters — Especially When the Market Shifts
Six months after launch, the pandemic hit — and the entire fitness industry went virtual overnight. Instead of waiting, Nerissa’s team built a trainer-client marketplace in three weeks and a “full-service” sales option in just two days.
The full-service model:
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The Bright App handles the sale.
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Trainers are assigned paying clients and simply deliver the sessions.
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The platform takes a percentage, much like a traditional gym — but with better pay for the trainer.
Growth takeaway: In moments of market disruption, speed of iteration can be the difference between irrelevance and explosive adoption.
Lesson 4: Position for the Buyer Who Actually Pays
Many competitor platforms target gyms or end consumers. Nerissa went straight to the trainer — the person delivering the service and most motivated to improve their own income.
That positioning has led to 2,000+ trainers on the platform, a number that continues to grow organically through word of mouth.
Marketing takeaway: Your most profitable buyer may not be the “obvious” one in your category — it’s the one with both the problem and the incentive to fix it.
Lesson 5: Plan for Retention Beyond the Core Product
The Bright App isn’t just software — it’s becoming an ecosystem. Nerissa’s roadmap includes:
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Reviews & performance data so clients can choose trainers with confidence.
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Financial services like health insurance, loans, and credit cards — tailored for trainers who typically lack access due to inconsistent income reporting.
By thinking beyond immediate functionality and into long-term buyer needs, The Bright App builds loyalty that will be hard for competitors to disrupt.
Retention insight: The best SaaS retention strategies anticipate the buyer’s next problem and solve it before they look elsewhere.
The Buyer-Centric SaaS Playbook from The Bright App
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Interview for reality, not opinions — find the problems buyers feel but can’t articulate.
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Guide users into profitable habits by making them the path of least resistance.
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Move fast in disruption — ship solutions while competitors are still analyzing.
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Target the overlooked decision-maker with both the need and motivation to buy.
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Plan retention into your roadmap by solving future, adjacent problems.
Why this matters for SaaS founders & tech companies: Nerissa’s success didn’t come from chasing trends or building a “cool” app. It came from relentless buyer focus, habit-shaping product design, and rapid iteration when the market shifted. Those same principles can help any SaaS company improve adoption, retention, and growth.