Michael Horvath

Michael Horvath

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 nor 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

Enjoying the music theme? I owe it to Morgan Prudhomme. You can contact him here: https://studio-module.com.

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