Episode 50: Mark Gainey - Co-founder & Chairman of Strava
b"Today\\u2019s guest is Mark Gainey. Mark is the co-founder and Chairman of Strava, the leading social platform for athletes. Mark grew up in Reno, Nevada and was slated to run cross country for Harvard. However, after being sidelined by an injury, he then got recruited to join the crew team where he would meet his Strava co-founder, Michael Horvath. It would be many years before they would start Strava, and Mark\\u2019s first job after graduating college was at the growth equity firm TA Associates. While at TA, Mark spent nearly 5 years talking with entrepreneurs and learning about their businesses. He wanted to be on the other side of the table. And so, Mark and Michael reconvened in the mid-90\\u2019s and began brainstorming a business that would eventually become Kana Communications, an email management software company. Kana became wildly successful and Mark left the company after four years. After several years of advisory type work, Mark was itching to start something again and thought back to the idea he had of somehow re-creating the team-like atmosphere he experienced while on the Harvard Crew team. He then reached back out to Michael Horvath and they began creating what would become Strava. In this interview, we discuss Mark\\u2019s time growing up in Reno, Nevada, his experience on the Harvard Crew team, his time talking with entrepreneurs at TA, Kana Communications, and of course, Strava.\\nTimestamps\\n00:02:53 Growing up in Reno, Nevada\\n00:07:00 Path to Harvard\\n00:09:50 Harvard Crew Team experience\\n00:16:01 Career ambitions while at Harvard\\n00:17:35 Time at TA Associates\\n00:20:57 Launching Kana Communications\\n00:23:14 Kana overview\\n00:28:51 Unfinished business with Kana\\n00:33:40 Strava overview\\n00:35:33 Genesis of Strava\\n00:38:26 Go an inch wide and a mile deep\\n00:42:12 How the Strava user base has grown\\n00:44:46 Strava's business model\\n00:47:31 Building community at Strava\\n00:50:12 Ultimate vision for Strava\\n00:54:07 What he wants to create 5 years from now\\n00:55:40 Time in Strava app vs. time spent being active\\n00:59:23 His daily routine\\n01:00:50 His driving force\\n01:02:24 Advice for the aspiring entrepreneur"