Only about one in a 1,000 studios opens fully funded. Two operators who beat those odds lay out the 90-day presale playbook, from setting your target to signing founding members before the space is ready

The boutique studio boom shows no sign of slowing down. It has been the strongest-performing segment in US fitness for six straight months in 2026, with year-to-date visitation up across eight of the nine US Census divisions, according to the Health & Fitness Association.

Additionally, a record 81 million Americans now belong to a gym or studio, and consumers are projected to spend an estimated $60 billion on health and fitness in 2026. Studio Grow founder and CEO Lisa Kuecker has projected that Pilates alone would account for roughly 46% of new studio openings, part of a boutique sector she pegs as growing about 30% faster than routine fitness operations.

With such a crowded field, the studios that open strongest are the ones that spent the months beforehand being strategic, building a community and signing members who are prone to stay. Two operators who coach owners through that runway, Tom Jacobson, Principal of SABRE Business Consulting, and Kuecker, agree most owners underestimate what it takes.

“About one in a 1,000 studios” hits a fully funded presale, Kuecker told Athletech News, “but about 88% of our incubator clients hit it, so we know it’s very doable.”

Here’s how they’d set your studio up for success during those three months leading up to the grand opening.

How to Set Your Presale Target

Kuecker told ATN that a presale should ideally cover the facility’s full monthly operating expenses with the team included. For studios under 10,000 square feet, she calls that reasonable, though demanding. Larger facilities, which carry heavier class, equipment and recovery loads, get a longer runway. “The larger the facility, the more that breakeven point stretches out,” she said, though even the biggest should reach breakeven within nine to 12 months.

Additionally, she said the number is only right if it maps to the business. “The only rule is that it makes sense with your P&L, your pro forma and your projections,” said Kuecker. “If you’re doing anything outside of that because you’re trying to match someone or meet a rule, you’re going to find failure.”

Jacobson works the same target from the membership side, since recurring dues are what the presale is really building. “Most of a boutique’s revenue rides on memberships, and that’s the line that matters in presale because it is recurring,” he told ATN. “Figure out how many members you need to break even. For most studios, that lands around two-thirds of your projected membership at full ramp. If the presale gets you to 45% or 50% of ramped memberships, you open with a real path to profitability, and you cross breakeven inside the first three to six months. That’s the north star.”

90 Days Out: Build the Waitlist and the Vision

Neither operator opens founding sales this early. The 90-day window is for building a waitlist and pulling people into the story. Kuecker starts building it 12 to 16 weeks out and works it intimately across social, email, SMS and the phone.

“This is the calm before the storm, because we don’t typically start presale until six weeks out. But this is where an enormous amount of back-end work is set up, so that when we open founding memberships, we have a flood.”

That waitlist becomes a way of involving future members in the building process. “We’re asking people, ‘hey, we’re picking between two classes. We’re thinking about naming this room. Can you guess which mood board we went with?’” Kuecker said, noting that it’s about getting people invested not just in the studio, but in the vision.

Jacobson adds pop-ups as another lever worth pulling. “Get your instructors teaching at a park, a rooftop, a partner’s space,” he said, adding that community partnerships are the multiplier. “The run club, the coffee shop, the physical therapist near your site all have the audience you’re trying to reach, and a trusted local partner vouching for you does more than any ad you can buy before opening.”

6 Weeks out: Start Selling to a Warm List

Founding sales open around six weeks out, and if the waitlist work was done well, the early sales close themselves. “Our goal is that 12.5% of people on the waitlist convert to memberships,” Kuecker said, “and a lot of those convert very quickly, in the first three days to the first week.

Jacobson’s numbers for a nurtured lead list convert even higher, closer to “25% to 35% versus around 10% left alone, and early-paying founders show up at better than 95%.”

How to Structure the Founders’ Rate To Reward Buying Early

There’s no universal founders’ offer, both operators stress. Kuecker structures it by tier. A luxury facility may offer no discount at all, only early access, unique events, even partnered retreats. A premium facility mixes limited access with a hard cap that creates real scarcity. Mid-range facilities run waves.

“The first wave has the most discounted initial pricing and the biggest amount of benefits, and then they get a little smaller,” Kuecker told ATN.

However, whatever the tier, the reward has to feel significant. “A discount alone isn’t the reward,” Jacobson said. “It’s the best price that nobody will ever get again, first access to the schedule, an apparel discount, a complimentary first two weeks, whatever fits the brand. People need to feel they’re getting something real for buying before there’s even a room to walk into.”

Then make waiting expensive. “Publish what the price goes to the day founding closes, and post updates as spots fill,” Jacobson added. “Scarcity is a powerful tool, and so is inclusion.”

30 Days Out: Talk to People, and Watch the Leading Indicators

The tactic both say outperforms expectations is human connection and experiences. “When people go digital-only, none of them ever hit their goals,” Kuecker said. “You have to be willing to pick up the phone. And wildly, people answer, in all of our markets.”

Jacobson added that getting prospects to physically train with the instructors before opening day continues to overperform. “A person who has sweated with your coach has already joined, they just haven’t paid yet,” he said.

As for the numbers, according to Jacobson, you should watch paid founding memberships per week, over the running total. “Weekly velocity tells you the truth about whether all that activity and excitement is actually converting,” he said. “Two flat weeks in a row means the message has stopped landing and it’s time to fix it.”

Kuecker tracks the funnel a step earlier, watching engagement daily. “When our click-through rates drop precipitously, we immediately assume that’s going to impact sales and change it,” she said.

The Final Countdown

Launch week, Kuecker said, is all about stress-testing systems and running a soft opening to surface friction first. Her sharpest warning is about the uncontrollables. “When it’s executed well, you have plan B, C and D,” she said.

Jacobson adds that by this point everything should be buttoned up. “Your staff is hired, trained, and confident, and construction has hit every milestone it needed to open on time,” he told ATN. “Founding members are getting structured and purposeful communication that works them into their new normal. Your automated journeys keep running in the background, converting leads into paid members. When the plan and the systems are both doing their jobs, what you get is a crescendo of excitement and hype that peaks exactly when the doors open.”

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