How the founders of Sweatpals are building a new kind of social life through movement

Salar Shahini and Mandi Zhou didn’t set out to create another fitness app. They built Sweatpals after recognizing the same pattern in their own lives: after immigrating to the U.S. alone, fitness was one of the few places where meeting people felt natural, yet there was no dedicated way to find that kind of community.

Every major part of life seemed to have a platform. There were apps for dating, networking, events, and tracking metrics, but nothing that helped people meet in ways that felt energizing, healthy, and real. Sweatpals became that solution. Today, it reaches over one million users across twenty-four markets.

Designing a platform that prioritizes people

Sweatpals was intentionally designed as a social-first experience. Instead of metrics, rankings, or performance tracking, the app focuses on discovering events like run clubs, yoga classes, breathwork circles, and more. Everything is built around accessibility and shared interest rather than athletic ability or comparison.

The founders saw a clear cultural shift behind this need. “Despite being more digitally connected than ever, one in three Americans report regular loneliness,” Shahini says. Movement fills that gap because “it breaks down barriers and creates shared experience.”

Zhou calls this moment “daylife,” a shift toward fitness and wellness as the new social outlet. People are blending their movement and social lives, choosing activities that support both their health and their relationships.

Hosting is also central to the platform. Users can lead events, grow followings, and build communities inside the app, whether casually or as a full-time pursuit. “It’s not about comparing or calculating,” Shahini says. “It’s about showing up, moving together, and building relationships.”

The structure makes collaboration the default — and community the outcome.

Why movement became the bridge

Community fitness offers a shared purpose, lowers social pressure, and creates an immediate sense of belonging. “When you move together, you’re doing something you love with people who care about the same things,” Zhou says. “Community happens naturally.”

The broader cultural numbers back it up. Run clubs and group fitness meetups are booming nationwide. In-person wellness experiences are becoming the preferred way younger adults build friendships and social skills.

The ripple effects they didn’t expect

From the earliest days, Sweatpals attracted stories that showed how powerful movement can be when it becomes a social connector. Zhou shares that one user met at a run club and gained a best friend. Two others connected at a weekend workout and later became roommates. Then came the bigger stories: couples who got engaged, users who started hosting and suddenly found themselves leading full communities. Some even turned those communities into real businesses.

“People say fitness is the new dating app,” the founders shared. “We think of it as the everything app for connection.” In other words, movement isn’t the end goal; it’s just the entry point.