Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I don't really use Strava, so I don't have a horse in this race. But I think it's important to remember that they've always given their service away for free because it makes the service better. People aren't doing anything immoral by taking them up on it, people are contributing their efforts to make segments more competitive, to fill in the global heatmap, etc.
It wasn't just to make it better, it was deliberately to get more users. Classic Internet startup business plan: Step 1) burn a lot of cash by giving something away for free to get lots of users, Step 2) ???, Step 3) Profit!
It's incredible that people defend Strava. The platform has value, but it's not like Strava started with the intention of being run as a charity. They were always trying to figure out how to convert their captive audience into cash. Do you go around shaming Uber users for not paying the full cost of their rides, which Uber's VC money subsidizes to the tune of losing billions every year? Or people who buy Black Friday doorbusters that are cheaper than what it cost stores to stock them?
