Ippo

Founder

2025–2026Austin

Ippo is an Apple Watch running game: the watch buzzes, you sprint to catch a creature, and effort, not speed, earns the rewards.

I wrote the spec, led every version of the build and pitched it on Capital Factory's main stage at 16.

It's live on the App Store for iPhone and Apple Watch.

product specs I wrote in 2025: ~20
adult engineers I managed at 16: 4
Capital Factory pitches: 4

I wanted running to feel like a game

Running helped pull me out of depression, but it was also one of those things I knew was good for me and couldn't stick with. Most running apps make that worse for beginners: they reward pace, which flatters people who are already fast.

In February 2025 I wrote the first spec for something different, a running game called Stridemon. It became Stride that spring and Ippo that fall, Japanese for taking a step forward. My mission: help young people build lifelong running habits by turning every run into a game.

Every run feeds the next one

Ippo is built as a loop. You run, the watch measures how hard you're working, your sprints turn into creatures, coins and XP, and the coins go back into caring for your pets, which brings you back for the next run. Because Ippo scores effort instead of pace, a beginner pushing hard earns what an elite runner cruising earns.

Ippo's game loop. Effort, not speed, drives every step.

A run, step by step

Here's what a run looks like in the current version of Ippo, which I redesigned as a storybook: parchment pages, ribbon headings and illustrated pets. It's shown with demo data.

Step 1: Pick your partner and press Start
Open Ippo on your Apple Watch, and your pet comes along on the run. Here it's Lumira, a fennec fox who grows into a nine-tailed fox as she levels up. One tap on Start Run and you're going.
Step 2: Sprint when the watch buzzes
Partway through, the watch buzzes: a creature has appeared. Sprint to catch it. You never have to look at the screen, because the buzz is the cue, so you stay in the run. Ippo judges each sprint against your own heart rate, not a stopwatch, so a beginner pushing hard succeeds just like a fast runner.
Ippo in action.
Step 3: See what you earned
When you finish, your iPhone shows the run: time, distance, how many sprints you hit, the coins and XP you earned and any new creature you caught. This 2.6-mile run had five sprints and earned 71 coins, 112 XP and a new friend, a sky serpent named Zephyr.
Step 4: Care for your pets between runs
Between runs you feed your pets, give them water and a rub to keep them happy. Let a pet's mood slide and it can run away. Pets level up as you keep running, and a daily streak adds bonus XP.
Step 5: Spend coins and fill the collection
Coins buy food, water and boosts in the Market, like an Encounter Charm that raises your odds of finding a pet on the next run. There are ten creatures to collect, and every run is a chance at the next one.

Ippo on Apple Watch: Lumira, a level 2 fennec fox, above a large orange Start Run button.

Ippo in action.

Ippo's Run Complete screen: 30:47, 2.6 miles, 5 sprints, 71 coins and 112 XP earned, Lumira happy, and a newly caught pet named Zephyr.

Ippo's home screen: Lumira, a level 19 nine-tailed fox, with her XP bar, daily care buttons for food, water and a rub, a six-day streak and 23 runs.

Two Ippo screens: the Market selling food, water, an XP Boost and an Encounter Charm for coins, and the Collection with four of ten pets discovered.

I recruited my first engineering team

Getting to that version took a year of specs, pitches and rebuilds. It started in spring 2025, when I needed a working first version fast. I was 16. I recruited four adult software engineers from Gauntlet AI, an intensive in Austin that trains experienced engineers to build with AI, and managed them for four weeks. I owned the product and the specs, set the priorities and decided what got built. I also brought on Brady Holmer, an endurance-science writer, as Stride's advisor.

Capital Factory picked me for First Look

On April 3, 2025, Capital Factory, Austin's best-known startup hub, selected me for First Look: a four-minute pitch on its main stage to its board and its inner circle of mentors and investors. I built the deck around a screen recording of the app. My head of school came to watch, and afterward Austin Tech Live asked for my demo video.

It was one of four pitches I made at Capital Factory. Two were to its founder, and twice he gave me a Capital Factory challenge coin.

I trained in Gauntlet, then rebuilt it three times

That summer I trained in Gauntlet AI's intensive myself, about 100 hours a week, then left after a month to put that time into Ippo. That winter I rebuilt it three times myself, directing AI tools to write the code. The first rebuild tracked about 106 creatures and scored effort from six sensor readings. The second added reward boxes, ranks and social features. The third cut it down to the core: catch ten creatures and care for them every day. Each version was simpler than the last.

Ippo shipped to the App Store

On February 23, 2026, Ippo went live on the App Store for iPhone and Apple Watch. Version 1.1 followed a month later, and that spring I redrew the whole iPhone app in the storybook style it has now. Two months after launch, Limitless, a YouTube channel made in partnership with Alpha, flew me to Hawaii to pitch Ippo on a stage in the open ocean, where I won a $25,000 offer from Chris Camillo and Bill Perkins on air. By that summer, Crawft had my full attention. Ippo stays on the App Store.

Cruce on a downtown Austin sidewalk holding his Apple Watch up to the camera, the Ippo app on its screen. — Ippo on Apple Watch, March 2026.

People

Brady Holmer
Endurance-science writerAdvisor to Stride, Ippo's first version

Ippo on the App Store

I wanted running to feel like a game

Every run feeds the next one

I recruited my first engineering team

Capital Factory picked me for First Look

It was one of four pitches I made at Capital Factory. Two were to its founder, and twice he gave me a Capital Factory challenge coin.

I trained in Gauntlet, then rebuilt it three times

Ippo shipped to the App Store

I wanted running to feel like a game

Every run feeds the next one

A run, step by step

Step 1: Pick your partner and press Start

Step 2: Sprint when the watch buzzes

Step 3: See what you earned

Step 4: Care for your pets between runs

Step 5: Spend coins and fill the collection

I recruited my first engineering team

Capital Factory picked me for First Look

I trained in Gauntlet, then rebuilt it three times

Ippo shipped to the App Store

People

I wanted running to feel like a game

Every run feeds the next one

A run, step by step

Step 1: Pick your partner and press Start

Step 2: Sprint when the watch buzzes

Step 3: See what you earned

Step 4: Care for your pets between runs

Step 5: Spend coins and fill the collection

I recruited my first engineering team

Capital Factory picked me for First Look

I trained in Gauntlet, then rebuilt it three times

Ippo shipped to the App Store

People