# Strava: Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-05-02
- Length: 1h 19m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath

## Summary

Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath, co-founders of Strava, recount their journey from a failed 1995 attempt to build a 'virtual locker room' for athletes to the successful launch of Strava in 2009. They detail their pivot to enterprise email software (Kana), which led to a successful IPO, and their eventual return to their original passion project targeting cyclists with GPS data. The episode highlights their strategic decision to focus on a niche audience, the friction of early hardware dependencies like Garmin devices, and the personal challenges that shaped their leadership roles, including Gainey’s health issues and Horvath’s wife’s cancer diagnosis.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=0) Introduction: Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath
- [4:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=297) Harvard Crew and Early Friendship
- [13:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=816) The Failed 1995 Startup and Pivot to Kana
- [28:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=1691) Kana’s Growth, IPO, and Founders’ Departure
- [43:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=2611) Reconnecting and Revisiting the Virtual Locker Room Idea
- [51:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=3088) Building Strava: The Garmin Dependency and Early Launch
- [1:03:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=3835) Personal Challenges and Leadership Transitions
- [1:10:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath#t=4226) Strava’s Growth, Monetization, and Future

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Strava (product)
- Garmin (product)
- Kana (product)
- FileMaker Pro (tool)
- DFJ (company)
- Glycophy (company)
- Merck (company)
- Map My Run (product)

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- [Marketing Lessons Learned with Fraser Vaage, Founder of Snik](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2020-08-31-marketing-lessons-learned-with-fraser-vaage-founder-of-snik) (Predictable Designs Podcast)
- [Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-05-27-rooting-for-the-home-team-with-paul-freedman-and-bryan-carmel) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Ep. 39 - Starting a Hardware Company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-05-15-ep-39-starting-a-hardware-company) (Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast)
- [#035 - How a hardware startup’s product goes viral, with Christian Smith of TrackR, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-08-16-035-how-a-hardware-startups-product-goes-viral-with-christian-smith-of-trackr-us) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Mike Konrad's Journey Through Entrepreneurship, Networking and SMTA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ems-c-level/2025-03-14-the-reluctant-entrepreneur-mike-konrads-journey-through-entrepreneurship-network) (EMS@C-LEVEL)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-05-02-strava-mark-gainey-and-michael-horvath. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.