This Jiu-Jitsu Gym Became #1 in Austin in Just 12 Months
#1 BEST GYM IN AUSTIN
300+ ACTIVE MEMBERS
2024 YEAR FOUNDED
3,000 SQ. FT. TRAINING SPACE
Built to Be the Best Gym in the City
Bill Watts spent his career opening health and wellness studios. Vince Barbosa is a special operations veteran and Renzo Gracie black belt. When Vince moved back to Austin, they had one conversation about scale: Bill wanted a small space to start. Vince said no. “Go big or go home.”
They toured spaces across East Austin, locked in 3,000 square feet, and asked a simple question: what does everything anyone could ever want look like? Showers. A lounge. Strength and conditioning. A curriculum designed to fast-track beginners without the formality that makes most gyms hard to walk into for the first time.
Their First Choice in Software Overpromised
Before Gymdesk, Bill tried another platform. His first job out of college was opening health and wellness studios, so he knew what to look for. Two weeks in, the platform wasn’t doing what the sales call promised. The workaround they offered wasn’t a workaround — it was a patch on a gap they knew existed.
He asked for his money back. They gave it to him. Then he started over.
“Everything that I have wanted has been accomplished by Gymdesk. Pricing is fair, really easy to use.”
Gymdesk Was Honest, and Overdelivered
Bill evaluated Gymdesk the same way he evaluated the first platform — directly. Here’s what I need, can it do this? This time the answer held up.
The website integration was the clearest example. Other platforms make you build your schedule in one system and post a PDF to your site. With Gymdesk, the schedule is live on the front end the moment you make it. One database. No workarounds. No explaining to members why the website doesn’t match what’s actually happening.
They use the marketing automations deliberately and minimally — intentional emails only, so when something lands in a member’s inbox, they know it matters.
The Operational Shift
Without the Right Tools
- Got burned by a platform that overpromised on the sales call
- Schedule built in the platform, then manually posted as a PDF to the website
- Marketing emails sent without a filter, members tuning them out
With Gymdesk
- Every feature promised delivered — no workarounds, no patches
- Schedule goes live on the website the moment it’s created — one database
- Deliberate, minimal emails — so when something lands, members know it matters
Have Fun. Come Back. Get Better.
East Austin Jiu-Jitsu Parlor exists to make jiu-jitsu accessible — not intimidating, not exclusive, not buried under formality. When beginners walk in, the goal is simple: make it fun enough that they want to come back. Because if they come back, they get better. And when they get better, they make it better for everyone around them.
That’s the community they built in twelve months. Gymdesk keeps the admin out of the way so Bill and Vince can stay focused on what actually built it.
“Everything that I have wanted has been accomplished by Gymdesk. Pricing is fair, really easy to use.”
“When you’re having fun, you want to go back. And if you go back, you’ll get better faster.”
Run Your Academy. Not Your Inbox.
Gymdesk handles the admin so you can stay on the mat.
