A dog is the co-founder and ‘boss’ at this Bangalore SaaS fitness startup

Arya enjoys a huge clout on BYG’s founders that if she does not like a candidate’s behaviour in a job interview, he/she will be rejected right away

Arya is not just a companion for these two co-founders. She is the one who calls the shots at their startup, at times. Arya’s decision is final when the founders are in some kind of dispute over a silly or serious thing. Arya enjoys immense clout on the co-founders that if she doesn’t like the behaviour of a candidate attending the interview, he/she will get immediately rejected and will be shown the door, right away.

No, Arya is not the CEO of this Bangalore-based SaaS fitness startup BYG (Book Your Game). Arya is just a dog. But co-founder Devi Prasad Biswal does not like people labelling her just a dog.

“Calling Arya a dog is actually a huge underestimation. Arya is actually our life,” says Biswal, Co-founder and CEO of BYG. “She is the one who takes the stress out of us when we are in a tough situation. We cannot imagine a life without this star.”

Wherever and whenever the duo go out of the office, Arya the star accompanies them. She often bosses around the employees in the office. The staffers are always under the watch of Arya, whose name was inspired by Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, a popular TV show. She cannot sit idle and remain just a passive passive ‘co-founder’.

“When there is some dispute between me and Avi Alagathi (the other co-founder), we will leave it to Arya. We know she comes up with the best decision,” Biswal says.

Based out of Indiranagar, a posh area in Bangalore, BYG is a SaaS venture that aims to make fitness more accessible, affordable, convenient and fun. Its mobile app connects you with various fitness centres and studios across 12 cities in India, including Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi, among a few others, besides Bangalore.

BYG also provides accessed ratings, telling you the exact quality to expect in a fitness centre, along with transparent pricing. According to Biswal while other fitness platforms charges you on a monthly/yearly basis, getting a workout at BYG is easy. Here, the user can get a workout whenever and wherever he/she wants without committing for a month or year.

“We aim to make sure everyone who wants to keep fit can access a fitness service wherever he/she is, and whichever service he/she wants at a great price. We recently introduced a ‘Workout Now’ service, which gives dynamically priced option to work out for one hour at a great price,” he adds.

Fitness enthusiasts can connect with various centres for Yoga, Zumba, Spinning, CrossFit, TRX, Functional Training, Aerobics, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Calisthenics, Les Mills, Pilates, Kickboxing, and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

Incorporated in October 2015, BYG has listed more than 2,500 fitness centres on its platform. Last year, it netted around US$400,000 in seed funding from a group of investors, including Sanjay Verma, former CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, Asia Pacific, and Amit Khanna, Managing Partner of Antuit-Europe.