I think the issue with Strava is they straddle a lot of different functions and the most valuable one to their customer base is one that people have been conditioned not to pay for.
At it’s core, it’s social media and public leaderboards, something like ZwiftPower was for Zwift, but less rigorous. This served as a way of building a user base, but most social media then monetizes the data they gather and I’m not sure where the value is in the data they have, and I’m not sure Strava knows that either. The Strava Labs division is a good attempt at building products that may have some kind of value but it’s not quite there.
All the other features it offers are done better (or free) elsewhere:
- Ride analysis can be done just as well by Garmin Connect and TrainingPeaks (among others).
- Training plans are better with places like Trainerroad, Sufferfest, etc.
- The route builder is great but there are free options such as Komoot that are just as good.
- The safety features are available to anyone who has a Garmin, or even just an iPhone.
It’s a great platform, user experience is great, but they have to decide on what their core product is, and that core product should be something people are willing to pay for. The easiest pivot would be to become more of a TrainingPeaks type of system aimed at self-trained athletes where they have an extensive workout library and training plans available to subscribers that could be used outdoors via Garmin/Wahoo, or on Zwift etc. Other than that their options are to sell the platform to a hardware provider like Wahoo or Hammerhead, or to build a completely new section of functionality such as pick-up group rides, or events, or something like that.