Question 1

How much does it cost me to host a challenge on OutGrind?

Accepted Answer

$0 upfront. We take a 30% platform fee on the net payout pool after Stripe fees. You keep 70%. If your first challenge fails to hit your minimum payout we waive our cut entirely — see the guarantee section on this page.

Question 2

Who owns the customers and the relationship?

Accepted Answer

You do. Participants apply with your branded invite code and see you as the host throughout the app. You can export your participant list at any time — they're your audience, not ours.

Question 3

What follower count do I need to apply?

Accepted Answer

At least 5,000 engaged followers on a fitness-adjacent platform (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter/X, or an email list). This isn't about vanity metrics — it's because challenges under ~30 paid participants aren't profitable enough for us to onboard white-glove.

Question 4

How long does it take to launch my first challenge?

Accepted Answer

7 days from application to live. Day 1: apply. Day 2–3: onboarding call and branding. Day 4–6: challenge configuration and your announcement content. Day 7: open enrollment. Most hosts start their first paid week within 14 days of applying.

Question 5

What if my followers don't want to stake money on a fitness challenge?

Accepted Answer

The 10–30% of your audience that's highest-intent is exactly the segment that benefits most from financial stakes. Our host average is 1.2–2.1% of followers converting on the first challenge. After the first one, conversion on subsequent challenges averages 3–6% because word-of-mouth from finishers compounds.

Question 6

How do you prevent cheating / fake check-ins / stolen gym photos?

Accepted Answer

Three-layer verification: (1) GPS geofence of the registered gym location, (2) time-locked session timer on-device, (3) optional photo check-in scanned against a CV model for duplicates and staleness. Flagged workouts are reviewed by our ops team before they count toward a participant's payout.

Question 7

Can I run a challenge for people who don't go to a gym?

Accepted Answer

Today, OutGrind is gym-verified. Participants need to be at a registered gym location for check-ins to count. Running and outdoor training support is on the roadmap for Q3 2026 but is not live yet. If your audience is primarily bodyweight / outdoor athletes, this is a better fit later in 2026.

Question 8

Does OutGrind handle payouts or do I?

Accepted Answer

We do, end-to-end. Stripe Connect holds the pot, settles weekly, and pays out to you and the participants. You get a single monthly statement. You never touch a participant's card or payout.

Question 9

What happens if a participant disputes or chargebacks?

Accepted Answer

We absorb the dispute entirely. You're never on the hook for chargebacks. All disputes flow through our ops queue and get resolved by our team, not yours.

Question 10

How is this different from launching a course or a coaching program?

Accepted Answer

A course is a front-loaded, high-refund, content-treadmill product. A paid challenge is a time-bounded, skin-in-the-game, transaction-complete product. Hosts typically report 4–8× higher completion rates and 60–90% lower refund rates on challenges versus courses. Many hosts use a paid challenge as the entry point into a course or 1:1 coaching funnel — it's a higher-intent lead than a $49 course buyer.

Question 11

Can I brand the challenge as my own?

Accepted Answer

The challenge lives inside the OutGrind app (that's what makes the verification and payments trustworthy to participants), but the challenge page, the invite flow, the leaderboard, and the weekly emails are all branded as yours — your name, colors, and copy.

Question 12

What's the catch?

Accepted Answer

We're selective. We only onboard roughly 10 new hosts per month because every host gets a dedicated launch manager for the first challenge. If you apply during a full month you'll go on the waitlist and we'll reach out the following cycle.

Everything we'd cover on a sales call. In writing.

Pricing, payouts, eligibility, and the catch.

Questions answered. Apply in 4 minutes.