Founders
Profiles
KIAN
| Responsibilities | Business Development & Operations |
| Left brain or right brain? | Left: Analytical & organised |
| Preferred workout | Abs |
| Least favourite challenge | Burpees |
| Favourite action | Training partner |
| Year of birth | 1989 |
| Gym membership | Regular guest |
| Superpower | Eye for detail |
Dario
| Responsibilities | Marketing, PR & Branding |
| Left brain or right brain? | Right: Creative & inventive |
| Preferred workout | Chest |
| Least favourite challenge | Side plank |
| Favourite action | Revenge |
| Year of birth | 1985 |
| Gym membership | Generous donor |
| Superpower | Moment of genius |
Dario
Founders
Profiles
KIAN
| Responsibilities | Marketing, PR & Branding |
| Left brain or right brain? | Right: Creative & inventive |
| Preferred workout | Chest |
| Least favourite challenge | Side plank |
| Favourite action | Revenge |
| Year of birth | 1985 |
| Gym membership | Generous donor |
| Superpower | Moment of genius |
| Responsibilities | Business Development & Operations |
| Left brain or right brain? | Left: Analytical & organised |
| Preferred workout | Abs |
| Least favourite challenge | Burpees |
| Favourite action | Training partner |
| Year of birth | 1989 |
| Gym membership | Regular guest |
| Superpower | Eye for detail |
The Survivor Challenge Story
HOW ALL HAVE STARTED
An idea was born
It all began back in 2016. We were working out in the gym on a regular basis. But in contrast to Kian, Dario quickly noticed something that he thought a lot of people would be familiar: he set himself ambitious goals, but his motivation quickly disappeared. He found it difficult to motivate himself and missed the competitiveness involved in other sports like football, tennis, martial arts or volleyball. He asked Kian and they both wondered whether working out could be turned into a group game in which the players motivate each other and conquer their weaker selves. During this conversation, we laid the foundation for Survivor Challenge: a combination of fitness work and party game. This hobby would soon become something more.
The first card designs
The staff in a Berlin copy shop were more than a little surprised: we stayed there for more than 2 hours – printing cards, cutting them out individually, laminating both sides and sorting through them. It took a long time, but we were at least rewarded with a respectable number of papercuts. The road to the first design of the game took even longer. We really racked our brains to find training exercises that could be performed by anyone in any location and without any equipment. How many repetitions is it realistic to expect? How can people with different levels of fitness compete against each other? How can we introduce tactics and fun so that it is more than just a deck of cards with fitness exercises? Should it be a board game or a card game? It took almost a whole year before we agreed on an initial design with a set of rules.
Test rounds among friends
It was time for the moment of truth: we proudly presented the card game to our friends. We were certain that it was perfect. We started the first test run – but were bitterly disappointed. The first rounds lasted nearly 3 hours without the participants being seriously challenged. Boredom took hold. A few of the game situations were not fully thought out, and some exercises were completely unsuitable. We were not too far off from giving up. After another year of many test runs and improvements, we had a game that combined fun and demanding fitness training. When one friend came up to us after a game and said: “Nice, that was really cool. When can we play it again?”, one thing was clear to both of us – it was time for the next step!
Professional prototype. Before the real action starts!
I remember it like it was yesterday: a spring day in 2018. The first sample copy arrived in our letterbox. It was great to see the professional graphic design. Our own actual, proper card game. We excitedly opened the parcel in a café in Berlin. Packaging, instructions, cards: everything had to pass in front of Kian’s meticulous eye for detail. Every line and graphic made our skin tingle – would there be a mistake after all this? Ultimately, our trepidation gave way to euphoria: we were holding the very same game that we created in our own hands – after 2 years of development and hard work.
The games are here: 2,500 reasons to keep going!
We took delivery of the games just a few months after the first sample. There were 2,500 packs – the minimum order quantity for our producer, but the maximum that we could afford with our savings.
Our appearance on RTL
We had our first big appearance with our Survivor Challenge fitness card game not long after the official sales launch in the form of RTL’s invention show, “Hol dir die Kohle!”. We didn’t win the show, but we did gain a lot of new Survivor Challenge fans.
Survivor Challenge meets Decathlon
Every beginning is difficult. Like so many other founders, we too had to sell from door to door. We trudged around toy shops, fitness stores, sports chains and bookshops. Some bought a handful of games, others did not get back to us at all. Our advantage was also our handicap – we were something completely new. A fitness card game – something that many retailers could do very little with. But then a giant of the fitness industry expressed their interest: Decathlon. Several joint campaigns and competitions later, we were training not only with the customers, but even with the Decathlon Ahrensfelde team.
New product of the year
The next milestone came on 11 October 2019: our Survivor Challenge Fitness card game was awarded 3rd place in the “New Product of the Year in the Fitness Industry” category. At the NEWard awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, we rubbed shoulders with plenty of fitness start-ups, but also well-known brands such as TechnoGym and Polar. The event was organised by bodyLIFE Medien GmbH, a leading fitness trade magazine over the last 30 years.
Survivor Challenge gathers momentum
Today, we as the founders have had a dream come true: winning new customers every day, being the subject of numerous reports in well-known media sources such as Fit for fun, SPIEGEL ONLINE and Women’s Health, and attracting interest from large sports and fitness chains. A large number of schools have even discovered Survivor Challenge for their sports lessons! And the best thing of all? We were able to make a meaningful contribution even in these times of coronavirus and lockdowns: Survivor Challenge is a sporty alternative for when you have to stay at home and gyms and sports clubs are closed.
Two years of feedback. Now it’s here: the second version!
We took your feedback on board and started work on our second edition 2 years after the release of the first version of the game. The Survivor Challenge fitness card game has finally gone international, with a German-English card set and instructions in German, English, Spanish and French, as well as new challenges and actions.
We have a mission: We want to keep the world fit while having fun.
We want fitness junkies to flex their muscles and couch potatoes to overcome their inner self.
We want people to fight to meet their goals and never to give up – in sport, at work, at play and in life.
You can be part of our mission too.
Become a survior.
