Lotte van Leeuwen paid for her running app Run a Lott herself, with a starting budget of €50,000 that grew to about €130,000, and says the app turned profitable within a few months.
Credit: this report is based on a story first published by Quote. Read the original at quotenet.nl.
According to Quote, Lotte van Leeuwen (29) built the running app Run a Lott with her own money. The magazine reports that she paid for the app in full herself, using income from selling training schedules.
How the app was funded
Van Leeuwen began by selling simple PDF training schedules for distances from 5 kilometres and 10 kilometres up to the half marathon. Quote reports that she has sold around 20,000 of them at €7 each.
That money went into Run a Lott. The starting budget was €50,000 and rose to about €130,000, according to the report. After a few months the app was profitable, and after one year it had reached 30,000 registrations.
On ownership, Quote reports that her brother Bram is co-owner of the business. Van Leeuwen now works with a team of six people, Bram among them.
From tennis to running content
Before the business, Van Leeuwen played tennis full-time. Quote reports that she was ranked 14th on the senior ranking list at the age of 20, before injuries ended her sporting career. She grew up in Zeist.
Her audience grew after she took part in the reality programme Love Island, which brought her 80,000 new followers on social media. Her manager taught her that not every deal was worth taking, and she says every partnership was handled seriously and professionally from day one.
The turn to running came when she shared her training for the Dam tot Damloop and noticed that her followers responded to it. She then set herself the goal of becoming the largest Dutch running influencer, according to the magazine.
What comes next
The stated target is the Benelux: Van Leeuwen wants Run a Lott to become the largest running app in the region. She told Quote the money from the schedules did not go on a designer bag and that she is not materialistic. "The Porsche may come later. First, conquer the Benelux," she told Quote (translated from Dutch).
Original source: Quote, "Lotte van Leeuwen stak €130.000 in hardloopapp: 'Die Porsche mag later misschien nog komen'"
