How did we start Rate My Physique?

Hey, I'm Jacob one of the Co-founders of Rate My Physique.

If you’re new here, Rate My Physique is a mobile app that helps you track your physical transformation by providing instant body insights from just a single photo.

Since this is our first blog post, I thought it would be valuable for both you and me to reflect on some of the early learnings from building an app that’s now used in more than 140 countries around the world.

The Origin Story

Background

Back in 2022, our team built MoreGyms with the goal to help people find high-quality gyms so they could purse their fitness goals without limitations. MoreGyms taught me a ton, but it also came with a lot of stress, uncertainty and pressure.

As part of our marketing campaign, Jaden and I planned to go film a workout video at Utah State Prison with some guys involved in the Defy Program. As excited as I was for the opportunity, I was also nervous about the future.

Before walking into the prison, I vividly remember sitting next to Jaden in San Jose, California. I opened my Notes app and said something like:

“Every day I write down a new business idea. What if we build a LinkedIn profile rater?”

Jaden looked at me confused and asked me to explain.

After talking it through out loud, I realized how bad of an idea it actually was.

Then came a moment I'll never forget.

Jaden said,

"Wait... what if we build an app that rates your physique?"

I immediately thought, holy shit-that's it.

The Idea

I officially started coding Rate My Physique on December 6th 2024, just two days after that conversation.

The idea was simple:

People upload or take a photo of their physique and get a score based on:

• Overall Physique
• Potential
• Vascularity
• Conditioning
• Muscle definition
• Proportion.

The only caveat?

The first version had to be built within in two weeks to see if anyone even wanted it.

January 10th 2025

Exactly 35 days after I started coding Rate My Physique, Apple accepted the app.

Ironically, that very same day Apple allowed us to sell the app was the day Jaden and I we were in Salt Lake City, Utah, walking out of the prison after filming (that's a whole different story).

Early Product Issues

Some people call them "issues."

I call them learning lessons.

Usually, I'll consider something an issue for a split second but five minutes later, I'm saying (out loud or in my head)"

"Everything happens for a reason."

Then I move on and fix it.

After seeing early traction on our very ugly MVP, we refreshed the UI and UX to support long-term growth. That upgrade introduced a serious bug; some users were receiving negative scores on their photos.

Not great.

We quickly identified the issue, fixed it, and emailed every affected user with an apology and free codes to make things right.

Looking back, this situation was a blessing. It tested how we respond to mistakes and how we treat our users when things go wrong. Those moments define your product far more than when everything goes perfectly.

Looking towards 2026

Coming off a strong initial year, there's a lot we're focused on improving.

While out 2026 product roadmap isn't fully finalized yet, I can promise one thing:

Every feature we ship will either:

• Make transformation tracking easier, or
• Make the journey more inspiring so people stay consistent and committed to improving their health.

We're just getting started.