Blocker-Reversal Recheck
Revisit a rejected idea when the conditions that blocked it have changed
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 99%
Horvath and Gainey first sketched a virtual athletic locker room in 1995, but advisers identified serious constraints: people were unlikely to share personal information online, and entering workout data would be cumbersome. More than a decade later, the founders re-ran those objections against the world as it then existed. Online communities had demonstrated trusted sharing, and GPS-enabled phones reduced data-capture friction. Conditions that had once argued against the idea now supported it. They then discussed the concept openly; a local cyclist's experiment with GPS comparison helped produce Strava segments. The reusable method is to preserve the reasons for an earlier rejection, periodically test whether each remains true, validate the renewed concept through conversations, and prototype only when the blocker reversal is real.
Origin
Horvath and Gainey drew up a virtual locker room in 1995, then built Kana Software after advisers rejected it. Around 2007-2008, online community and mobile GPS had reversed the old objections, helping the idea become Strava.
Core principles
- 01A bad idea at one time can become viable under different conditions
- 02Record the concrete blockers instead of preserving only a rejection
- 03Technology and social behaviour can reverse old constraints
- 04Personal experience can supply a durable problem worth revisiting
- 05Open conversations can reveal components the original concept lacked
How to run it
- 1
Recover the original problem
Restate the enduring user need and why it mattered, without assuming the old solution should be preserved unchanged.
Pro tip Separate passion for the problem from attachment to the first implementation.
Watch out A memorable personal story is not by itself evidence of current demand.
- 2
Rebuild the rejection ledger
List the specific technical, behavioural, economic, or distribution conditions that made the idea unworkable before.
Pro tip Use concrete blockers rather than the label 'bad idea.'
- 3
Recheck each condition
Look for changes in technology, cost, user behaviour, trust, and access that directly affect each blocker.
Pro tip Require evidence that the condition changed, not merely that time passed.
Watch out One reversed blocker does not cancel the rest.
- 4
Invert the old objections
Identify whether any former reason not to build has become an enabling reason to build now.
Pro tip Horvath points to trusted online sharing and mobile GPS as direct reversals.
- 5
Open the conversation
Describe the problem and emerging solution to people with relevant needs or experiments, then listen for adjacent ideas.
Pro tip Share enough for others to connect their work to yours.
Watch out Do not treat polite similarity as proof of a market.
- 6
Prototype the viable core
Build the smallest version that tests whether the new conditions now support the central behaviour.
Pro tip Focus on the mechanism the blocker reversal newly enables.
Watch out Recheck demand and usability rather than assuming improved technology guarantees adoption.
In the wild
The 1995 concept asked athletes to share workouts and track performance online, but sharing norms and data entry made it impractical. By 2007-2008, online communities and GPS phones had changed those conditions, so Horvath and Gainey returned to the idea and built a prototype.
→ A previously rejected concept became viable when its major social and technical blockers reversed.
Dave Davis Kitchel was comparing his cycling times up a nearby road with GPS. After hearing that Strava aimed to help people live more actively, he shared the experiment with the founders.
→ The conversation contributed the basis for Strava segments, which Horvath describes as a fundamental product feature.
Common mistakes
Keeping only the verdict
Without the original reasons for rejection, a team cannot tell whether the relevant conditions have changed.
Assuming time fixes the idea
The recheck requires direct evidence that important blockers reversed; age alone does not improve a concept.
Protecting the idea from useful input
Horvath credits open conversations with revealing an experiment that became central to the product.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for ideas previously blocked by adoption, infrastructure, data-entry friction, cost, or another condition that can change over time.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the original problem was weak, the blockers remain, or nostalgia is being mistaken for current demand.
From the transcript
“All those reasons why we shouldn't have started that company are now reasons why we should start that company”
“when you explore and are willing to talk to people about your ideas, they respond”
“That became Strava segments”
From the episode
Strava Founder: How I Motivated 100 Million People To Stay Active: Michael Horvath