Mark Gainey | Co-Founder of Strava, Trail Running, Athlete Creators

Singletrack

Most conversations on this show take place at the intersection of business, culture, and performance within the sport of mountain ultra trail running.

This episode captures that spirit perfectly. On today’s show, we have the co-Founder of Strava and current Chairman, Mark Gainey.

Strava is a fitness tracking and social media app designed primarily for endurance athletes. And it’s had a considerable impact on the culture of our sport in particular.

As Mark will explain, Strava was born out of desire to recreate the community element of team sports typically strongest in high school and collegiate settings, and to leverage the power of the internet to reinstate this phenomenal social support system for athletes at every stage of their lives.

Mark’s thesis was that amazing things happen in this teammate environment - you might push a little harder, stay more motivated, be held more accountable, exercise more - even when its being replicated digitally

And we get into all that. Specifically, Mark and I go in depth about -

• His entrepreneurial philosophy of going an inch wide and a mile deep, how it applies to the creation of Strava, and the importance of separating go to market strategy from overall vision
• The debate about building a social media platform versus a training platform, and whether Strava can invest in both and still delight customers
• The ways Strava is thinking about and investing in community building on the platform and increasing the serendipity of athlete connections
• The pros and cons of increasingly bridging the physical world and virtual world when it comes to exercise and sport
• What the future of sport looks like for amateur athletes and how Strava is taking that into consideration
• How Strava can help content creators and business owners active in the endurance community

And more! Give it a listen.

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