Fintech Takes x Pipe presents Vertical SaaS: Fintech Disruption by a Thousand Cuts Episode 5: Go To Market

Oct 20, 2025

Lacey Ford, CMO at ABC Fitness, shares her expertise in go-to-market strategies for vertical SaaS in the fitness sector. She highlights how gyms and studios are evolving into community hubs driven by Gen Z. Lacey describes distinct buyer behaviors across fitness segments and emphasizes the deep, personal connections operators have with customers. She illustrates how essential retention strategies are for growth, and discusses the role of AI in enhancing customer engagement and personalization. Her insights pave the way for actionable benchmarks in the fitness industry.

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INSIGHT

Hands-On Operators And Tiny Moments

Fitness operators are hands-on, passionate fitness enthusiasts who run day-to-day operations and value relationship-driven partnerships.
Tiny moments like check-ins and declined payments materially affect member retention and growth.

ADVICE

Narrow TAM By Fit And Momentum

Focus go-to-market on serviceable addressable market slices with product-market fit and regional momentum.
Prioritize regions and modalities where technology adoption and customer traction reduce entry friction.

ADVICE

Match GTM To Buyer Journey

Match go-to-market motion to buyer type: consultative enterprise sales for multi-site, PLG and instant app experience for coaches.
Use quick implementations and time-to-value to build trust and enable organic expansion.

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Welcome back to our new miniseries Vertical SaaS: Fintech Disruption by a Thousand Cuts, sponsored by our friends at Pipe.

In episode 5, hosts Alex Johnson and Luke Voiles (CEO of Pipe) sit down with Lacey Ford, CMO at ABC Fitness, to unpack how vertical SaaS companies go to market (through the lens of fitness tech, of course).

ABC Fitness is a vSaaS platform focused on serving businesses in the fitness and health industry, from massive, multi-location gyms to independent personal trainers, studios, and boutiques.

Given the breadth of different businesses that ABC Fitness serves, across multiple countries, it’s easy to see just how important a strong go-to-market strategy is for the company.

(Not to mention, gyms are becoming a third place community – one where Gen Z is driving growth, and wearables, biometrics, and AI are all raising expectations).

This is a true B2B2C motion where owners are hands on and tiny moments at the front desk (or a declined payment) are greater than the sum of their parts.

Here’s how Lacey maps it across segments: enterprises move through consultative cycles, studios want speed with clear time to value, and coaches live in a PLG flow inside ABC Trainerize.

Big picture, Lacey brings it home to the operating cadence: put the customer at the center, get the right people in early around a shared narrative and shared metrics, and close the loop.

Do that, and go to market and retention become the same muscle (pun intended).

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This episode was brought to you by Pipe. Pipe helps vertical SaaS platforms unlock fast, flexible capital, right inside their product. Learn more at pipe.com/fintechtakes.

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