146: “Running Up That Hill” - Strava’s Co-Founder, Mike Horvath, on Building, Branding and Delivering: An Entrepreneurs’ Story

Money Maze Podcast

Business, Investing, Management, News, Business News

4.8 • 216 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you wrote a business plan in the 1990s that was way ahead of its time - a 20th century idea that needed 21st century technology to work - then put it aside and instead built an enterprise software firm that achieved a Goldman Sachs backed blockbuster IPO in 1999, you might say “bravo”.

If then, several years later you return to this earlier idea, build it and today have over 100 million athletes in 195 countries using it, you’ll know why we’re exceptionally excited about this conversation!

Mike has helped grow Strava into one of the world’s leading activity tracking apps, employing about 400 people and achieving a valuation of approximately $1.5bn (as of its last funding round in 2020).

The seeds of Strava were planted during Mike’s time as captain of the Harvard rowing team, which helped him develop an appreciation of the benefits of sport, both personally & professionally.

Mike then earned a PhD at Harvard, before becoming an economics professor at Stanford and Dartmouth (and along the way he was also a CFO of a biotech firm).

In this longer-than-usual interview, Michael discusses what it takes to build a brand. He explains why they went “an inch wide and a mile deep” and why it’s best to “listen to your customers, not your investors”.

He also shares how he’s confronted setbacks, concentrating on excellence over growth, why they’ve stayed private, and why patience, persistence and perspective are central ingredients for success. One of my favourite interviews!

The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, IFM Investors and the World Gold Council.

Sign up to our Newsletter | Follow us on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Wall Street Shuffle in the Money Russell.
0:16.0	Welcome to the MoneyMaze podcast. I'm Simon Brewer and along with my co-founder, Will Campion.
0:22.3	We created this show in 2020 to explore and unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the investment and business worlds.
0:31.2	You need the luck to make a buck if you want to be good.
0:48.6	Episodes are available on audio via our YouTube channel and we're active on all major social media platforms. To stay up to date with every episode please do sign up up to our newsletter at MoneyMayspodcast.com.
0:55.8	And we'd like to thank you for listening if we could ask one favour.
0:59.4	We'd love you to tell a friend or colleague about us.
1:02.6	Thank you.
1:04.9	If you wrote a business plan in the 1990s that was way ahead of its time,
1:10.0	a 20th century idea that needed 21st century
1:13.7	technology to work, then put it aside, realizing you were too early and switch your attention
1:18.8	to build an enterprise software business, grow it, have Goldman Sachs sell it, and then several
1:23.7	years later returned to the earlier idea, build it, and today have over 100 million
1:28.6	athletes in 150 countries use it, people might quite rightly say, Bravo. And that's before I
1:35.2	mentioned that you and your co-founder were fellow members of the Harvard Rowing Team, and you,
1:40.2	armed with the PhD, became an economics professor at Stanford. So Michael Horvath, co-founder of Strava, welcome to the Moneymates podcast.
1:48.0	Thanks, Simon. It's great to be here. Thanks for inviting me to this show.
1:51.0	Well, I've been looking forward to this a lot. I'm a very amateurish cyclist.
1:54.8	I'm actually preparing to try and get up Montvanteau in just over a week's time.
1:58.6	I've had my Strava on and rather embarrassingly found myself
2:02.4	in Richmond Park cycling being overtaken by about 99% of the people in Richmond Park. However,
2:08.4	as we prepared for this and we told people we were doing this interview, our inbox grew and it
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -260 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Money Maze Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Money Maze Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.