Ride AI

This week, Oliver interviews Kevin Talbot (@Talbot), a General Partner at Relay Ventures, a VC firm based between the Bay Area and Toronto, who are investors in Bird, Populus and Bird Canada, among others. It is a great interview with Kevin about how they’re thinking about micromobility investments and the wider context of venture capital in this Softbank dominated world.

Specifically, we dig into:

- how you got into VC/joined Relay Ventures

- His thesis at the firm and why they're interested in micromobility.

- How they work with their portfolio companies, including former podcast guests Regina Clewlow from Populus.

- How the landscape for micromobility has changed from the early days of their investment in Bird - including business models, regulatory landscapes and supply chains.

- We talk about the Bird Canada venture - what it is, why it was formed, the market for micromobility in Canada and where they're seeing early traction.

- How capital formation in the micromobility sector is interacting with cities, and whether he think this will ever be anything other than messy.

- How their firm is thinking through owned vs. shared, and hardware vs. software investments.

- What you'd recommend to entrepreneurs getting into the micromobility space

- Bonus: his take on micromobility autonomy, and the promise and challenges in this space.

It's a great interview!

This week Oliver interviews Sanjay Dastoor, one of the founders of Boosted Boards and subsequently Skip, who operate a shared scooter service in DC. Sanjay has been around this space longer than pretty much anyone, and has a wealth of insight and experience that were a joy to unpack.

Unfortunately, the audio cut a little for Sanjay right at the beginning but we kick off right where it picks up.

Specifically we cover:

- Sanjay's journey as a Micromobility OG starting Boosted Boards and then on to Skip - his original motivations, how your thinking has evolved, and lessons learned about what works and doesn’t.

- How he's thinking about the current shared scooter space in terms of business models and regulatory response, as well as a discussion about Skip’s foray into subscription models

- We dig into the challenges that Skip have faced in San Francisco and the bidding processes. We talk about what if anything could have improved it, and why Sanjay sympathizes with the city officials for the outcomes.

- We talk about vehicle design, and the opportunities and challenges for shared vehicle design and what he thinks is coming

- How Sanjay thinks through shared vs. leased vs. rented vehicles and reflects on what works and doesn't

- We discuss where and why legacy regulations will result in highly specific solutions for different geographies.

- We talk through capital efficiency in operations, why it’s important, and what creative destruction in this space looks like

- Sanjay's thoughts/critiques on Horace’s thesis around micromobility, including the interplay between hardware and operating systems

This week, Horace joins Oliver on the podcast to talk about hype cycles, capital formation and transport funding patterns historically, and what we can learn from them about the micromobility space now. 

Specifically: 

The parallels between the hype cycles for MP3 players, the internet and personal computers vs. micromobility.

The perils of ‘being early’ in large scale technology adoptions. 

The history of funding for the auto, railway and canal sectors transport systems, and parallels to micromobility and the infrastructure required.

Why pioneers for traditional transport innovations largely end up with arrows in their back. 

Why we’re unlikely to see large scale infrastructure deployments like we used to in democratic countries.

This week, Oliver interviews Joe Kraus, President of Lime.

Lime are the largest players in the shared micromobility space globally, and this episode has been a long time coming. It was awesome to get Joe on to talk about their history and plans, the state of the industry and business model, regulation, the challenge of climate change and where micromobility can assist. Joe is an awesome guest, and in a world of hype, keeps a very level head about the potential of this space.

This episode is well suited to investors, operators and regulators interested in hearing about why the opportunity Lime/the wider industry offers is far more than just a few scooters on the street. 

Specifically we dig into: 

- Lime’s history coming out of 2016 Chinese bikeshare bubble, the move into scooters and rapid growth of that business. 

- The Google Ventures investment and how Joe came to be involved.

- Joe’s thoughts on business model evolution and how the market will shake out in the short/medium term, especially around a global player vs local competitors. 

- We dig into regulation, and whether there are parallels to other global/local companies and traditional public transport funding/operation models. 

- We discuss Lime's policy/operations challenges, using the example of Auckland, New Zealand, where wheel locking issue/death on a scooter lost them the licence in the following round. We talk about how the binary nature of the businesses ability to operate impacts the structure they have for operations/policy teams to ensure they have sufficient local agency to be responsive. 

- We talk about the missing gap of a micromobility industry association in terms of advocacy, research and lobbying and what needs to happen to make this a reality.

- We talk about how Lime is working to avoid the mistakes that Mobike and Ofo made in the Chinese bikeshare bubble, and Joe’s plans to ensure that Lime stays afloat and relevant for the long term.

- We discuss the Call to the Industry that Joe made in Berlin regarding safety, climate and equity of access, and dig in on climate change, and what Lime can/is doing to help push that conversation forward.

- We talk about Lime’s plans to reach the next few billion riders, especially in the developing world, and what is needed to make that a reality.

It’s one of our best interviews to date - highly recommend checking it out. 

Joe will also be speaking at the upcoming the Micromobility America summit coming up April 22-23 in Richmond in the Bay Area. It’ll be an amazing event - we will have industry leaders from all over the world there speaking about the best new ideas in this burgeoning industry. Check out the website (micromobility.io) to get tickets.

This week, Oliver interviews Emily Castor Warren, one of the first employees at Lyft and then Lime in the policy space. We have an amazing conversation about the history of rideshare and micromobility, especially as it pertains to regulation, and where operators are getting it right and wrong. Emily is currently working with Fontinalis, a VC firm investing the future of mobility. She has some of the deepest experience in the weeds with regulating new mobility, and yet at the same time able to see the massive wider vision of possibility for this. It’s a great interview.

Specifically we dig into:

* Her experience as one of the first employees at Lyft, her interest in ride hailing and how she saw the conversation re: cities and technology shift over the 5.5 years she was at Lyft.

* Her view on the quickly shifting regulatory landscape of micromobility, and what the likely predictable outcomes are 12-24 months from now re: particular business models.

* Her post-Lime life working with VC at Fontinalis (the Ford Family Venture arm) and how they, and the wider industry, are thinking about the policy and regulatory implications of their investments.

* What areas she’s excited to see technology disrupt in the transport/mobility space and why

* Where the upcoming challenges for micromobility are coming from in the regulatory space including enforcement, new vehicle types, micromobility autonomy (she’s less bullish than Oliver!), speed of infrastructure adaptation and more.

* What she’d recommend entrepreneurs think about when looking to build companies in the mobility/transport space.

In today’s episode Oliver interviews Assaf Biderman, CEO of [SuperPedestrian](https://superpedestrian.com/), about his background founding the MIT Senseable Cities Lab and then Superpedestrian. Assaf has been thinking about micromobility longer than most anyone we’ve had on the podcast - this was a fun and very illuminating interview.

This conversation convinced Oliver that the ‘intelligence’ that can be infused into micromobility devices has far deeper implications than first thought, especially for driving down operational costs and improving vehicle longevity.

Specifically we dig into:

- The context for why micromobility is such a boon compared to the other transport options that cities can consider for moving people.

- His history founding the Senseable Cities Lab and their early work

- How that led to founding SuperPedestrian, and the early lessons with the amazing Copenhagen Wheel

- The pivot they've made into scooters, the important variables for the next generation of scooter hardware and why they believe that these need

- Why Assaf believes that Superpedestrian's intelligent 'nervous system' combines with mechanical improvements will drop operational costs by over 50% for operators.

- The implications of their approach on thinking of their product as a 'computing platform' and why they see their model as a hardware + SaaS business.

- Their supply chain structure and costs, and why their entirely proprietary approach can actually make componentry cheaper.

- Their recent $20m raise, and what they're planning to do with the money.

It's one of the densest and most interesting discussions to date - hope you enjoy!

In today’s episode, Taco Carlier, CEO of Vanmoof joins Oliver to talk about building beautiful e-bikes, the role of design and how to get the next billion people on bikes in our cities across the world. It’s a great discussion with someone who’s been in the space for a long time (Vanmoof was founded 10 years ago!). Taco is also the first Dutch guest we have had, and so we also dig into Amsterdam and it’s transport system.

Specifically, we dig into:

* Vanmoof’s story from the early stages through to today, including how being based in Amsterdam influenced the company.

* The company's mission 'to build the next billion bikes' - how does this permeate the company and what they choose to focus on.

* We run through their business operations - the design/sales/ops in Amsterdam, manufacturing in Taiwan, where they have their company stores and metrics from their business.

* The move Vanmoof have made into micromobility/electrified and the lessons learnt there from a product/hardware experience.

* We unpack how customers are using the vehicles, including this quote: "Normal bike commuters travel an average of 3km to work, but with an e-bike that figure jumps to 20km. It opens up biking to a much wider demographic of city-dwellers, creating an enormous new opportunity. Almost 70% of people who purchased the S2 & X2 are now using the Electrified as their primary mode of transport."

* Taco’s design inspirations, why they only have two bike types, and who he considered competition.

* How they protect themselves from the traditional ‘red ocean’ dynamics of the Bike hardware industry, with it’s low margins and barriers to entry. We explore what are the things that have kept them out of that trap.

* We discuss the subscription model, and the postponed launch of the upcoming electric models on that business model, including why and how is it higher margin and what they think about the 'job to be done' in this business model?

* We unpack the primary barriers to adoption of higher end e-bikes and why that underpinned their ‘Bike Hunters’ model.

* Their experience with fundraising - why they chose to go for a crowdfunded round in the last raise, who they look to for funding, and why they’ve pursued a hybrid financing model.

It’s a great interview!

In today’s episode, Felix Jakobsen and Enrico Howe from Unu Motors join Oliver to talk about the Global Scooter Sharing Market Report (for clarity, we’re talking mopeds), a recent publication on the state of the shared moped market globally. It’s a great discussion about the expansion of a space that often gets overlooked compared to it’s more well funded kick scooter cousin.

Specifically, we dig into:

* The history of Unu Motors, and how they came to be tracking the shared moped market.


* The crazy + 164% in moped numbers over the last year, where that growth has taken place, and where they see it coming from in the future.


* The Indian micromobility market, and why it’s uniquely different compared to other markets.


* The KPI’s that they track (fleet utilisation, usage duration, fleet availability)


* How they see business models evolving, and what are the adjacent verticals that could potentially get into this space


* The regulatory approaches that they see around the world, and what that implies for users, operators and regulators.


* The funding environment and why they think there is still far more capital to be deployed in this space


* Why this sector is more capital efficient than other micromobility sectors


If you’re interested in reading the report, please check it out here (share.unumotors.com)

On today’s podcast, Oliver interviews Bharath Devanathan, SVP, Growth at Bounce Mobility, about their moped sharing business in India. They recently raised a $150m round to expand their operations across India. It’s an amazing conversation - one of the best so far about the potential of shared micromobility to change transport systems for good in fast growing and highly constrained urban environments in the developing world.

Specifically we dig into:

- The history of how Bharath came to Bounce, and the story of how it morphed into moped sharing.

- The biggest operational challenges that they have in Bangalore and other cities they operate in

- How the governments in the cities they operate in India regulate and view them, including incredible statistics about how much they’re contributing to first/last mile connections in Bangalore

- The rise of Micromobility in the context of the overburdened transport systems in Indian metropolises that need to more 10m+ people a day

- Their plans for growth across India

- We dig into their KPI’s and how the perform relative to international benchmarks for moped sharing

- Their expansion into electric moped sharing and the unique challenges that they’ve faced in user education

I found this an amazing interview, that validated Horace’s thesis that the biggest growth in Micromobility will come in developing markets.

On today’s podcast, Oliver interviews Sam Baker, COO of Wunder Mobility, about their software platform that underpins a number of carshare, carpool, Micromobility and other services players in Europe, and is about to expand to the US.

Specifically we dig into:

- Wunder’s early success in carpooling, and how their strategy differed from Oliver’s experience watching commuting products being built at Uber.

- Sam’s thesis around ‘digitizing the 99%’ of transport operators, so that they can connect in to the forthcoming Mobility As a Service platforms

- Why Sam disagrees that there will be ‘one app to rule them all’, and instead that the future of Mobility As A Service will involve lots of interoperable components.

- What traditional fleet operators can bring to the new world of venture capital funded mobility

- His take on data standardisation for mobility operators

- The potential for examples of full end to end Mobility as a Service platform such as the one that Sixt has rolled out in Europe to replace car ownership.

I found this a great interview - Wunder hadn’t been on my radar, but they are now.