Breathwrk
A breathing exercises app with guided sessions led by trainers, now owned by Peloton.
Breathwrk raised about $200,000 and sold to Peloton for roughly $2.2 million, about 10x. It ranked for "breathwork" and "breathing exercises" rather than fighting meditation apps, and onboarded with a lung test, personalization, and a hard paywall before sign up. Lesson: own a narrow niche's keywords and build revenue first, since few exits match this, and bundling lowers revenue.
What was said about Breathwrk
1Owning breathwork instead of competing as a meditation app
A narrow breathing app sold to Peloton for about 10x its funding. Breathwrk raised only about $200,000 in seed funding and was acquired by Peloton for $2.2 million, per Peloton's SEC filing. The deal was announced October 1, 2025.
Peloton owned the app by September 30, 2025, a day before the announcement. The figures came from ChatGPT and the filing it linked, not Steve P. Young's own research. App Figures shows downloads and revenue still 'pretty decent' under Peloton.
It won search by targeting its niche's exact keywords. Breathwrk ranked well for "breathwork" (spelled with no O) and "breathing exercises" rather than chasing the much broader meditation category.
Early on it offered only simple breathing exercises led by its own trainers. "Again, they didn't go after meditation, they went after breathing exercises."
Start niche, build revenue, then expand into broader categories. Steve calls this the bottoms-up strategy: build a base of downloads and sales in one use case, then move up to meditation, anxiety relief or wellness. Starting broad and narrowing down, 'going down channel', is the route he avoids.
He answers developers who worry 'Is it too niche?' by noting a niche app can earn on its own revenue. Few bootstrapped niche apps will sell to a company like Peloton, so treat an exit as upside, not the plan.
2The onboarding that makes users breathe before they pay
A lung test lets users try the core activity before the paywall. After promising that five minutes a day lowers stress, improves sleep and boosts energy, the app has users hold a button, exhale as long as possible, then release to get an animated lung score.
Steve exhaled for 20 seconds, scored 70, and called it 'a pretty cool interaction'. The flow ends its small interactions with a high five.
Goal and time questions personalize the plan and set up the push ask. The app asks about goals and when you want to practice, such as morning, then shows a 'customizing your plan' loading screen before the paywall. Right after the time choice it says 'we'll help you stay consistent' and asks for push permission.
Tying the notification ask to a habit the user just stated gives them a clear reason to accept. The answers also shape what appears on the home screen.
Subtle onboarding animations lift conversions and perceived value. Steve's agency clients A/B testing animation inside onboarding see higher conversions. Breathwrk animates the goals screen, the lung test and transitions.
Animations make the app feel more sophisticated, which supports charging more.
A hard paywall with free trial comes before sign up. Onboarding ends in a hard paywall that starts a free trial; users who pass get a discount offer, then sign up, which can be skipped or completed. Steve calls it more proof that paywall before sign up works a bit better.
The discount gives a second chance to convert users who hesitated at the first price. The current onboarding is nearly the same as before the sale, minus a question about being a Peloton user.
3What Peloton changed after the acquisition
The home screen centered on one core activity, personalized by goals. Before the sale, short breathing exercises (such as 6 minutes) led by the founders' trainers sat at the top, with content below based on onboarding goals and a relaxation section alongside.
The layout is similar today, but Peloton instructors and daily classes have replaced the founders' trainers.
Bundling into Peloton memberships turned Breathwrk into an add-on. Peloton All Access and App+ members sign in, authorize and skip the paywall, so the paid funnel applies only to non-Peloton users. Steve expects this limits revenue.
"Feels like a more of an add-on product to Peloton versus them trying to make this into its own bigger app."
This Breathing App Sold to Peloton for Millions
Raised about $200,000 in seed funding and sold to Peloton for roughly $2.2 million, about a 10x. It won by ranking for "breathwork" and "breathing exercises" instead of competing as a meditation app, and uses an animated onboarding with a lung test, personalization questions, and a hard paywall with free trial before sign up.
A narrow breathing app sold to Peloton for about 10x its funding. Breathwrk raised only about $200,000 in seed funding and was acquired by Peloton for $2.2 million, per Peloton's SEC filing. The deal was announced October 1, 2025.
Peloton owned the app by September 30, 2025, a day before the announcement. The figures came from ChatGPT and the filing it linked, not Steve P. Young's own research. App Figures shows downloads and revenue still 'pretty decent' under Peloton.
It won search by targeting its niche's exact keywords. Breathwrk ranked well for "breathwork" (spelled with no O) and "breathing exercises" rather than chasing the much broader meditation category.
Early on it offered only simple breathing exercises led by its own trainers. "Again, they didn't go after meditation, they went after breathing exercises."
Start niche, build revenue, then expand into broader categories. Steve calls this the bottoms-up strategy: build a base of downloads and sales in one use case, then move up to meditation, anxiety relief or wellness. Starting broad and narrowing down, 'going down channel', is the route he avoids.
He answers developers who worry 'Is it too niche?' by noting a niche app can earn on its own revenue. Few bootstrapped niche apps will sell to a company like Peloton, so treat an exit as upside, not the plan.
A lung test lets users try the core activity before the paywall. After promising that five minutes a day lowers stress, improves sleep and boosts energy, the app has users hold a button, exhale as long as possible, then release to get an animated lung score.
Steve exhaled for 20 seconds, scored 70, and called it 'a pretty cool interaction'. The flow ends its small interactions with a high five.
Goal and time questions personalize the plan and set up the push ask. The app asks about goals and when you want to practice, such as morning, then shows a 'customizing your plan' loading screen before the paywall. Right after the time choice it says 'we'll help you stay consistent' and asks for push permission.
Tying the notification ask to a habit the user just stated gives them a clear reason to accept. The answers also shape what appears on the home screen.
Subtle onboarding animations lift conversions and perceived value. Steve's agency clients A/B testing animation inside onboarding see higher conversions. Breathwrk animates the goals screen, the lung test and transitions.
Animations make the app feel more sophisticated, which supports charging more.
A hard paywall with free trial comes before sign up. Onboarding ends in a hard paywall that starts a free trial; users who pass get a discount offer, then sign up, which can be skipped or completed. Steve calls it more proof that paywall before sign up works a bit better.
The discount gives a second chance to convert users who hesitated at the first price. The current onboarding is nearly the same as before the sale, minus a question about being a Peloton user.
The home screen centered on one core activity, personalized by goals. Before the sale, short breathing exercises (such as 6 minutes) led by the founders' trainers sat at the top, with content below based on onboarding goals and a relaxation section alongside.
The layout is similar today, but Peloton instructors and daily classes have replaced the founders' trainers.
Bundling into Peloton memberships turned Breathwrk into an add-on. Peloton All Access and App+ members sign in, authorize and skip the paywall, so the paid funnel applies only to non-Peloton users. Steve expects this limits revenue.
"Feels like a more of an add-on product to Peloton versus them trying to make this into its own bigger app."
More in Health & Fitness
Health & FitnessCalm
A meditation and sleep app with guided sessions and celebrity-narrated Sleep Stories.
45 sources · 102 tips
Health & FitnessCal AI
A calorie tracking app that logs meals from photos, grown largely through influencer and UGC videos.
28 sources · 104 tips
Health & FitnessHeadspace
A meditation and mental wellness app with guided sessions and subscriptions.
27 sources · 50 tips
Health & FitnessFlo
A data tool that combines app analytics into one view and is adding AI agents.
10 sources · 31 tips
Health & FitnessLadder
A strength training app with human coaches, a workout journal and a nutrition feature.
12 sources · 39 tips
Health & FitnessZero
An intermittent fasting tracker app that teaches fasting and builds habits toward metabolic health.
6 sources · 21 tips
Health & FitnessRise
A sleep and energy app that helps people track and pay down their sleep debt.
3 sources · 29 tips
Health & FitnessRunna
A personalized running coach app that builds adaptive training plans around a runner's race goals.
6 sources · 28 tips