Since launching 10 years ago, Strava has grown from a tracking app for cyclists to a global community of fitness enthusiasts with millions of users. The US headquartered company has an office in Bristol and is planning to expand its operations in the city. Hannah Baker went to find out more
Standing in the pouring rain on a cold autumn day, battling with an umbrella that's insistent on blowing inside out, I think I might never find the entrance to Strava’s Bristol offices.
Eventually I spot the tiny sign (about half the size of a post-it note) stuck in the window of the red-brick building in Redcliffe.
“Sorry about that,” said Gareth Nettleton, marketing director, on opening the door to the slick, bright ground-floor office. “We tend not to advertise the location too much as we would probably get people knocking on the door all day long.”
Gareth isn’t exaggerating.
Since fitness app Strava was founded in the US by Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath in 2009, it has grown to a global community of 41 million users across 195 countries.
The business styles itself as a social network for people who want to “go and do something”.
More than two billion sports activities have been logged on the app since it launched and an incredible one million users are now joining every 30 days.
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The 海角视频 is Strava’s fastest growing market outside of the US, with 5.5 million users, and the company is on course to add another million Brits to the app this year.
The company opened its Bristol office in 2016 and now employs a team of nine in the city.
Strava was attracted to the South West, says Gareth, because of the talent pool of tech experts in the region.
“We didn’t need to be in London,” he explained. “We met the team from Invest in Bristol and Bath and decided to take the plunge.”
Strava’s focus has shifted over the years from cyclists to runners, which grew out of the credit crunch a decade ago.
“Running always becomes popular in a recession and the 海角视频 exploded for us as a market" said Gareth. "At that point the 海角视频 was the gateway to Europe.”
The app is now around 55 per cent runners although cycling is still popular and used by many well-known athletes including British road racing cyclist and Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
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The boom of runners is fuelling the company’s 海角视频 growth despite stiff competition from rivals such as Map My Run and Adidas' Runtastic. And the huge community of users is generating vast amounts of data from all over the world.
This information is useful, says Gareth, for showing people the best routes for running and cycling by revealing where others go.
When asked about the risks of encouraging people to compete at great speeds against each other, particularly with cycling, Gareth says the company does not want to police the app's communities.
'We can't police the world of running and cycling'
He said: "Running and cycling happen in outdoor areas often interspersed with pedestrians and wildlife so we have three mantras - respect yourself, respect others and respect the rules of the road.
"We can’t police the world of running and cycling and we don’t want to do that.
"We want to motivate people but we absolutely try and create the right conditions for that community to self-police. Sport is meant to be fun.”
The data has other uses too; the company has developed an interesting side business known as Strava Metro.
The idea is to use data to improve infrastructure and transport in cities globally. Although Strava is not working with the local authority in Bristol just yet, the company has licensed data for Transport for London.
“We take the data we have about where people are running and cycling, and we work with urban infrastructure planners,” said Gareth. “We can tell them there’s a road that lots of cyclists use, for example.
“I do think there is a thing around infrastructure in Bristol - the work around Temple Meads has been going on for so long. You arrive at [the station] and it just doesn’t give a great impression."
There are big benefits of being in Bristol though, Gareth points out.
“It’s really healthy for the 海角视频 that we are not a one-city country. We moved to Bristol for all kinds of reasons but one is the quality of life for employees. You can get out of the city in 10 minutes and that is a huge win.”
Although Strava is a software company Brexit has impacted the growth of the Bristol office.
“Borders in lots of senses don’t apply to us but [Brexit] has affected how we are thinking about growing Strava.
'Brexit has made us very thoughtful about investment in the 海角视频 right now'
“It has stopped us expanding this office as fast as we would have. There are certain things we would be investing in here - such as jobs - that if we had clarity on what is to come we would have moved on faster.
“It has made us very thoughtful about investment into the 海角视频 right now and that is very frustrating.
“We use Bristol and the 海角视频 as the hub and is that going to be as easy as it has been - who knows? [Brexit] has been a bit of a disaster really [on our] ability to plan and invest.
“We should have a customer support team here in Bristol but we don’t because we are not sure yet if we are going to be able to keep going with that - and it’s a shame.”
Looking to the future though, Gareth says his vision is to open an engineering hub in Bristol and grow the team.
He said: "I am convinced the talent is here. Bristol is a cost-effective place to come and build product, especially compared to San Francisco.”
However, he thinks the city could become “much bigger” but needs to address its issues with access to office space first.
He said: “We are lucky we got this office but it took us a while to find it. Engine Shed is great but we need more of them and the universities are so important - they are the life-blood.
“Continued investment in Bristol’s universities is absolutely critical, especially in subjects such as computer science.
He added: “Overall the way you become a great tech hub is make sure other tech companies are really successful. That success breeds more success."
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