Vc

It is irrational and absurd for Strava to sue one of its’ most important providers of data, Garmin. Every run, hike, climb and other sport that I have done for years comes from either Suunto, Garmin, Apple Watch or another brand. Garmin is huge in the cycling community.

I see people with Garmin devices, wahoo devices and more. People like me have a cycling computer, and a sports tracking wrist watch. With these devices we track our workouts. We automatically feed that data into Strava. Strava is the third party, not Garmin. Garmin is the source of the data that Strava is making money from. Without Garmin, Suunto and more, Strava would be a mediocre tracking app with little to track power and more.

Years ago, when Strava was newer, and more appealing I eventually decided to pay for Strava because I wanted to support the project. I wanted to help make them sustainable. The same is true with Zwift. When both of them got VC funding I ended my subscriptions rather than renewing for another year. This was years ago.

For me, it’s simple. If we are paying for a site like Strava, be patient, and use our money to improve things incrementaly. Never forget that a paying customer is providing more value than a VC. A VC Investor usually wants to extract value, rather than inject it. A paying customer is an investor. The paying customer should be king.