Kelly Matarazzi’s professional background wasn’t originally in fitness, but she knew exactly what Sydney’s Northern Beaches was missing: the energizing, community-driven classes she’d fallen in love with in the US.
“I actually wasn’t in fitness at all,” Kelly said. “I moved to Australia from the States ten years ago, and when I moved here, I just really missed my classes from home.”
That feeling became the spark for Flowcore, a boutique fitness studio in Manly, bringing two fresh formats to the area: XFormer machine classes and infrared heated Yoga Sculpt, a music-driven fusion of yoga, pilates, strength training, and cardio.
For years, Kelly waited for someone else to bring those workouts to Australia. Eventually, she realized she might be the one to do it. She quit her corporate job, got certified, started teaching to gain experience, and opened Flowcore in 2024. As a first-of-its-kind studio in the Northern Beaches, Kelly needed a way to introduce unfamiliar formats to a new audience and get people through the door. That’s where ClassPass came in.
Launching something new in a transient market
Being first to market gave Flowcore a clear point of difference, but it also meant Kelly had to help people understand what made the workouts stand out and why they were worth trying.
“When I opened, I assumed people would try it once and fall in love with it,” Kelly said. “But the hard part was getting them to try something new, step away from their current studios, understand the benefits, and come in with an open mind.”
For Kelly, ClassPass was a natural fit from day one. She’d used the platform herself while living in San Francisco and knew firsthand how it helped people discover new studios. “I joined ClassPass back when they did $10 a month,” she shared. “So I was a ClassPass user, and I definitely saw the benefits of finding new studios that way.”
Because of that, partnering with ClassPass was part of Flowcore’s plan from the beginning. “It was always my plan to join ClassPass,” Kelly said. “I had the studio maybe open for 3 days without it.”
The partnership made sense for Flowcore’s location, too. Manly is highly transient, with a steady flow of expats, international visitors, and people who move to the area for a year or two at a time.
For many of those newcomers, ClassPass is a natural first stop. “A lot of people join ClassPass when they move to a new place,” Kelly said.
Using ClassPass to fill the room and create the vibe
For Flowcore, ClassPass hasn’t just helped fill empty spots. It’s helped create the kind of in-studio energy that makes the experience memorable. Kelly’s infrared sculpt room holds 20 mats, and the class is built around music, momentum, and group energy. When the room feels full, the experience comes alive.
“The biggest benefit with ClassPass is filling the empty spots that create a vibe,” Kelly said. “If there are 4 people in there, it feels empty, and sculpt class is all about a vibe. It’s loud music, and you get the energy from other people.”
That energy became especially important in Flowcore’s early days. Kelly remembers a member canceling within the first six months because the studio hadn’t yet built the bustling atmosphere she was looking for. ClassPass helped Flowcore solve that problem by bringing more people into the room, which improved the experience for everyone, including direct members.
As more people tried Flowcore through ClassPass, the studio also benefited from word-of-mouth growth. For Kelly, it doesn’t matter whether someone first discovers the studio through ClassPass, a direct intro offer, or a friend’s recommendation. What matters is that they have a great experience and keep talking about it.
Finding the right balance between ClassPass users and Flowcore’s direct members
As Flowcore’s direct member base grew, Kelly needed a way to balance ClassPass demand with her core business. In the early days, ClassPass filled a large share of spots because the studio was still building its community. However, over time, the goal shifted from pure discovery to sustainable growth.
“I think at the beginning, it was challenging because I didn’t have a member base, and so it was only ClassPass,” Kelly said. “As I started to get more members, it was challenging to find that happy medium, and now it’s working really well with SmartSpot.”
SmartSpot allows Flowcore to make inventory available strategically. For example, peak-time XFormer classes are protected for direct clients first, then released on ClassPass closer to class time if there’s still availability.
That balance has helped ClassPass become a complementary part of the business rather than a competing channel. For Kelly, the turning point came when Flowcore’s direct business was strong enough to stand on its own, and ClassPass became an additional layer of growth.
“My business was successful in itself, and then ClassPass was just an addition,” she said. “That was when I realized how much it was working.”
Flowcore has also used ClassPass campaigns to support quieter class types, including yoga. After speaking with her ClassPass rep, Emily, Kelly set up a campaign on ClassPass to bring more visibility to classes outside the studio’s core XFormer and sculpt offerings, and she’s already seeing it help bring more people into those sessions.
Growing in a competitive fitness market with ClassPass
Since Flowcore opened, Manly’s boutique fitness scene has grown even more competitive, with eight other Pilates studios opening within two kilometers. Still, Flowcore remains the only studio in the Northern Beaches offering XFormer machines, and Kelly is already thinking about what comes next. Expansion is under consideration as she anticipates more studios eventually moving into similar formats.
For other studios considering ClassPass, Kelly sees the platform as especially valuable for newer businesses and fitness concepts where the atmosphere is part of the product.
“I think [ClassPass is] great for newer businesses, to get that word of mouth out there, to get more people in,” she said. “For studios that have that vibe, like a spin studio or whatever, I think that it’s super, super helpful.”
She also sees ClassPass as a meaningful source of future customers, even when users don’t convert immediately.
For Flowcore, ClassPass has helped introduce a new fitness concept to a new audience, fill the room with energy, and support growth in a competitive market. Most importantly, it’s helped more people experience the studio the way Kelly always imagined it: full, vibrant, and powered by community.
