[tb303]

Strava has been a hobby business since day one. It used to be a spreadsheet, and they made it into a web app. Neither of the founders are involved in the day to day anymore. The lead product designer responsible for ~2010 to 2016, Alex Mather, also left to do his own thing.

I had been one of their biggest fans for years and had an offer from them on the table in 2010. I turned it down for many reasons, the greatest of which was that they viewed Garmin as a partner and not a competitor, and lacked the hunger to dominate. Here we are in 2019 and it shows, with confusing pricing plans (pay for privacy?) and users paying to advertise for free with limited edition strava cycling kits etc.

I still use it because a) there is no better way to find great running routes than following strong runners in my area and b) i enjoy celebrating the successes of my friends when i log my data. But I agree that it has fallen so far and lacks a vision now.

Sorry to any strava folks reading this. It's not personal. But I imagine none of this would surprise you.