Like the founders of the Homebrew Computer Club, a seminal group of Berkeley computer geeks who got together in the 1980’s, many started by rigging up gadgets and later realized that they had come across a commercial opportunity. Many of these new “homebrew health” people meet at so-called Quantified Self Meetups, where some people demonstrate their software and others come to learn or compare data with others.
许多这类工具本来都是发明人为自己设计的。比如J.J.阿莱尔就设计了一个名叫“Loss It!”的iPhone减肥组件，不但使自己成功从195磅减到170磅（88公斤到77公斤），还在减肥过程中赢得了450万用户。正如那个由加州大学伯克莱分校一帮电脑迷在1980年代组建的“家庭电脑组装俱乐部”一样，当时很多人都是从组装小元件起家，最后意识到一个巨大的商业机会已经降临到自己头上。而许多新涌现的“自制健康软件”人才都会在所谓的“健康测量小组”里碰头，一些人会展示自己设计的软件，而其他人则前来取经，或者和别人的软件相比较。