Hey, fam, welcome to the free trail podcast. Of course, I'm your host, Dylan Bowman, here today with Seth

Laroo, the author of Trailwaves, one of my new favorite

newsletters in the great sport of trail running. Trailwaves analyzes the business,

economics, and culture of our community and industry. It has become a key part of my

information diet, as I say in the episode. Trailwaves is an instant open and an instant read

top to bottom the minute it hits my inbox. In fact, as you're listening to this episode, I insist

that you navigate to the show notes, click through to Trailwaves on Substack, plug your email

address, and subscribe to follow what Seth is putting out,

especially if you work in the space, if you aspire to work in the space, or are generally

interested in sports business. Like I said, the newsletter is amazing. So far, the whole

archive is totally free and the value I get from it, at least is super high. Trail waves, some topics that

we discuss in today's episode. We introduce you to Seth the person and talk a bit about his

career in the technology industry. We talk about the birth of the Trail Waves newsletter.

We talk about saturation in the trail running market, satisfies Blue Ocean

Strategy, a term that Seth uses for that exciting French brand. We talk about differentiation

and its role in creating demand in the market. We talk about the role of brand in a saturated

market, cultural impact versus commercial impact of trail running.

We talk about the media landscape and, you know, certain monetization challenges.

We talk about the ever-evolving bidding war between Paramount and Netflix to buy Warner Brothers

Discovery, of course, which is a part owner of the Golden Trail World Series.

What could that mean for the sport? We talk about the state of Strava and its future coaching opportunities in the space,

reviving the North Face 50 Mile championship, and a lot more. Such a fun episode. Just want to flag at

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