The Prompt

#018: Mark Gainey – Strava: Scaling to 100M users, mindset, exercise and growth

Mar 14, 2023

Mark Gainey, Chairman and co-founder of Strava, discusses the origin of Strava, their growth strategy, founder mindset, and building an enduring company. They also explore the concept of 'type one' and 'type two' fun in entrepreneurship, the importance of having a co-founder, and the challenges faced in building a company. The speaker expresses gratitude for the positive impact of Strava in their life.

01:13:38

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Episode guests

Mark Gainey

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Strava's success was driven by their inch-wide-mile-deep strategy of initially targeting cyclists as a go-to-market strategy.

Strava offers a platform that goes beyond physical fitness, helping users achieve personal goals, connect with others, and identify health concerns through activity monitoring.

The partnership between co-founders Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath was integral to Strava's success, with mutual support, collaboration, and complementary skills.

Deep dives

Starting with a niche market: Strava's strategy

Strava initially focused on serving cyclists as a go-to-market strategy. By going an inch wide and a mile deep with this specific group, they gained leverage and credibility, allowing them to expand to cater to a global community of athletes.

Introduction

2min

Origin and Motivation

9min

Building a Startup: Challenges, Passion, and Execution

3min

Understanding Type One and Type Two Fun

23min

The Importance of Having a Co-founder in Business

4min

The Challenges of Building a Company

32min

Expressing Gratitude for the Impact of Strava

2min

Mark is currently Chairman and co-founder of Strava. He co-founded the company in 2009 with Michael Horvath. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco and supports customers in over 180 countries.

In this episode, we discuss Strava’s origin story and how it got its name, we talk about the early days of the company and learn about their interesting growth strategy and how they got their first customers. Also, we speak about the founder mindset and what it takes to build an enduring company, the inch-wide-mile-deep strategy, effective daily routines, and much more!

#startups #founders #leadership

GUEST LINKS:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gainey-b6536/

Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/10

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