#320 - Michael Horvath - Strava - You are what you do every day
Génération Do It Yourself
French - April 30, 2023 03:00 - 2 hours - 145 MB - ★★★★★ - 78 ratingsCareers Business Education engrenages change ma vie bouffons affaires sensibles emotions business entreprendre growth makers creme de la creme le nouvel esprit public Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Usually, apps invite us to stay home and do as little as possible.
Meanwhile, Strava’s creators ask us we do the exact opposite:
Get outdoors as often as we can and make big efforts.
Strava started as a simple running app and now offers more than 140 sports activities, welcoming between 1 and 2 million new users every month.
How can we explain such success?
In this episode, my guest is Michael Horvath, the co-founder and CEO of Strava, to answer that.
According to him, he owes his success to 5 principles:
Start small;
Stop talking and take action;
Study the role of V.C;
Listen to your customers and not potential investors;
Whenever possible, live according to Bruce Lee.
From Harvard to Silicon Valley, Michael Horvath’s life and career could have the appearance of a classic American success story.
That's without counting on his Swedish pragmatic side, without bullshit or business books.
Discover in this episode:
What a Sweden-infused company implanted in the USA looks like;
Why comradery can also be useful to capitalists;
What are the (dis)advantages of bootstrapped growth vs. VC growth;
How the Strava community can prevent 127 Hours-type dramas;
Why it's better to flirt on Strava than Tinder;
The KPIs to aim for when developing a freemium product;
Why it's always better to treat your employees like stars.
As a bonus, Michael offers a 60-day free trial to Strava's premium service. To benefit from this offer, please visit https://www.strava.com/subscribe/gdiy
TIMELINE :
00:00:00 - Introduction
05:17:00 - A few words on Strava
06:25:00 - A few words on Michael Horvath
00:21:10 - The importance of camaraderie, whether on a boat or in a company
00:37:33 - How Michael created and sold two companies in the wild wild web
01:16:48 - The killer features that made Strava… strive
01:29:24 - How to consistently add value to an app
01:48:41 - The reasons why Michael is looking for a successor
02:21:27 - The traditional ending questions
With Michael, we referred to previous GDIY episodes:
#300 - Mathieu Blanchard - Ultratrail et Aventure - Commencer le running à 26 ans et devenir une légende de l’ultratrail
#306 - Fanny Moizant - Vestiaire Collective - Bâtir un empire de la seconde main pour une consommation plus responsable
#220 - Adrien Miniatti - Luni - Créer en 3 ans un leader mondial autofinancé sur l’Appstore
With Michael, we spoke about:
Strava
Swim, Bike, Run : Our Triathlon Story - The Brownlee brothers
The Diary Of A CEO - Steven Barlett
Michael recommends to read:
The power of giving away power - Matthew Barzun
Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee - Shannon Lee
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