Target serious runners with training plans that adapt after every run

Phil Carter… of have to niche down as a startup to be competitive, but two, AI is dramatically reducing the cost of software development, which means it's viable to go after smaller niches that previously just weren't worth targeting. And so I think Runna and Ladder are two great examples of apps in the fitness category, which is one of the most crowded competitive categories there is who at least initially focused on underserved niches to get a foothold.

Phil CarterIn Runna's case, it was, okay, Strava's already the dominant app out there for people who just want to do some measure of running and track their performance, but for people who really want to train for their next race, for serious runners who are training for their next marathon or their next 10K, we're going to put together a customized dynamic plan that adapts to your running performance over time, and that's something that Strava wasn't doing.

Phil CarterSo Runna goes and they do that and they create a great first time user experience and automagical onboarding flow and they hyper personalize to their users the stuff we've been talking about, they win this segment and eventually Strava comes along and buys them because they unlock this whole new segment for Strava. Similarly, Ladder has this whole matrix of populations of people who want to get more fit, whether that's at home or in the gym, whether it's men, women, and they've figured out how to identify the market size of each of these different pockets and then target the right coaches and personalities to attract the users in those pockets and then build a product that hyper personalizes the experience around each of those personas.

Phil CarterAnd so more and more, I do think there's just this huge opportunity. It's sort of the classic riches and niches, right? It's niche down and find a very tightly defined early adopter base that you can get traction with. And then eventually you can expand beyond that, but it's always better to start small and really focus on one user persona.