Our CC team uses it so we can keep track of how much everyone is running during the summer/offseason, and how fast, effort levels etc. It helps the coaches frame the training better for the fitness levels people begin the season with. Helps prevent overtraining and undertraining. We find it very useful for our group.
i guess that another platform will pop up to replace it.
Need to find a way to extract the data from Strava however
I knew this was coming. The premium ads have become very annoying the past two years. The Strava business model has made zero sense and to become profitable, they gotta pump it full of ads and restrict more and more free features.
Is there a potential business model that's sustainable? Essentially a more pared back version of the product. I think there's possibly a business opportunity for some clever people. Garmin's app is neat in some ways, but a little, uh, obfuscated for the average joe.
The Strava business model is about harvesting data. I'd say they're doing fine
Agreed. I love Strava, and have paid for it in past, not so much for the premium features but because I am willing to financially support things I like. I also donate annually to my primary running log, (which I highly recommend).
Comprehensive and FREE online running log to track, analyze and graph workouts and shoe mileage. Upload data from Garmin Forerunner. Create and measure running routes. Form your own running community and more!
My parents are on Strava (about 80 years old), and I can make sure they're doing OK by seeing their daily walks. They also get to see what I'm up to from my activities.
Most people I know don't exercise or run particularly regularly, so it's nice to build a little bit of a community with friends on Strava who actually do run or cycle most days.
I don't find their paid features much use as a runner, but I did like them as a cyclist.
I think their biggest problem is just that most people are slackers and don't actually exercise with any regularity. Strava isn't that interesting if you're doing Pilates or lifting weights (lifted weights 30 minutes is way less interesting than reading your own or someone else's running stats, imo). So they just have a pretty limited potential clientele. My guess is less than 5% of Americans run, cycle or swim multiple times a week. At 15 mpw, apparently I run more than 95% of Garmin users of my age and gender (old lady)! And that's just Garmin users - doesn't even count all the people who don't exercise and therefore have on use for a Garmin.
Which only means that all of the data Strava users have donated over the years is worth billions. Or not only donated, but paid for the privilege of donating their data to Strava.
As others have pointed out, after an IPO, watch out for short sighted decisions to extract even more money out of users.
Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a pattern in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, t...