Micromobility

This week, Oliver interviews Michael Granoff, partner at Maniv Mobility, an early stage investment firm specialising in transport technologies including micromobility. Michael has been around the mobility space a long time, and we had a great discussion about the boom and bust nature of new transport tech. Specifically, we talk about:  - Michael’s background, his journey through energy security and getting into electrification of mobility, involvement with Better Place, and subsequent founding of Maniv Mobility - How his thesis has changed over time from electric, to autonomous to micromobility - Discussion about their existing investments, including Phantom Auto, Bolt Bikes and one of our most popular episodes to date: Revel, and what was compelling about each.  - How to accelerate the development of infrastructure suited to micromobility.  - What he agrees and disagrees about with Horace’s thesis.  - Which city is the leader for micromobility and why New York is still undoing the mess from Rober

This week Horace joins Oliver to riff on a recent mental model for thinking about the job to be done of micromobility, involving escalators, elevators and stairs. It’s Horace at his best - conceptual, funny, insightful as always.  Specifically we cover:  - Which customers pick escalators vs elevators vs stairs, and what insight that might provide to the job to be done of micromobility. - The importance of ‘earning’ an experience - Why Horace thinks that customers who climb escalators are the best customers. - The importance of escalators in the architecture that they enabled. - How the impact of regulation will impact on vehicle design. - The importance of design and brand in solving the job to be done beyond simply A to B travel. - Horace’s travel tip for Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

This week Oliver interviews journalist David Zipper again (following his appearance on Episode 32) about the latest in the war over mobility data that is being played out between cities and shared micromobility operators. David Zipper is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government, where he examines the interplay between urban policy and new mobility technologies. From 2013 to 2017 David was the Managing Director for Smart Cities and Mobility at 1776, a global entrepreneurial hub with over 1,300 member startups and is still a Partner in the 1776 Seed Fund and consults with startups including Optibus, Tortoise, and TransitScreen to help shape their regulatory strategies. David has written a number of articles in Slate, CityLab, Fast Company and The Atlantic covering, among other things, the rise and ongoing saga of the Mobility Data Specification which we see as one of the building blocks to supercharge micromobility’s growth, and underpin the

This week Oliver interviews Colin Roche from Swiftmile. Shared scooters cluttering up the streets is one of these things that have largely been discounted in the hype of the recent explosion of these new vehicles. The Swiftmile team build scooter parking infrastructure and in this episode with Colin, Oliver’s initial skepticism is assuaged as he learns of the importance of the work that they’re doing in the ecosystem. This conversation really enlightening, and I really hope that you do to.  Specifically we dig into: - the history of Swiftmile and how they got into making ‘the gas stations of the future’ - How they pivoted after the initial scooter explosion - The benefits of agnostic charger infrastructure to both cities and operators - How and where this infrastructure is being deployed - Why scooter parking is an important part of the puzzle to social acceptance - How they’re monetizing their offerings Cheers!

This week we have a timely episode with Horace being interviewed by Katie Zandbergen on The Disruptive Voice - a podcast produced by The Forum for Growth & Innovation at Harvard business School a few days after the passing of Clay Christensen. Horace strikes a reflective tone - it’s a great episode that goes into the core of why micromobility is really disruptive assessed against the theory that Clay proposed. For those who are more into the theoretical, this is a wonderful episode. Specifically, they cover: - The impact that Clay had on how Horace viewed the world. - How Horace ended up finding micromobility through this efforts to study disruptive innovation in the auto sector by rethinking through the job that the car was hired to do into trips rather than vehicles, and how that need could be better served by the performance of smaller form factor vehicles. - Why micromobility lends itself to the benefits of software platforms allowing it to iterate faster vs incumbent producers of vehicles. - H

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 citie

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 tal

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 gl

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 Fo

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

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

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

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

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 ca

Today, Horace and Oliver talk about the newly released SAE Micromobility Standards, the Cybertruck announcement and Horace’s latest thoughts on the boondoggle of autonomy. Specifically, they dig into: - Why the new SAE Micromobility standards matter, what they’re competing against and why definitions like this default to lowest common denominators. - The Cybertruck announcement, including discussion about what appears to be a new type of body manufacturing, and the implications of the radical design. Plus, Horace admits to liking it, even if he doesn’t think that the entire category of trucks should exist. - We dig into why Horace believes that autonomy for cars is such a boondoggle, and the implications for wider mobility technology investment and talent. If you’re interested in hearing Horace and Oliver talk in more detail about these issues on exclusive calls plus get discounts on the Micromobility Conference, swag and more, sign up to Triple M here: https://micromobility.io/triple-m Show notes: -

Today on the podcast, Oliver interviews William Henderson, CEO of Ride Report about micromobility data and mobility-as-a-service systems. Ride Report is the reporting dashboard for over 50 cities globally for their dockless shared micromobility operations, and William's team work very closely with regulators and operators globally to build trust among all the different parties. William also has a great historical context for urban transportation and what has/hasn't worked in the past. It's a great conversation! Specifically we dig into: - William's background at Square and how that skillset led him to start Ride Report. - The role of data in building trust among operators and regulators, and why that needs to sit with a third party - A run through of the Mobility Data Specification - an introduction for those unfamiliar, why it works and is problematic and why Uber is suing LADOT. - The necessity of good quality data in building open mobility systems, and which cities are doing it well. - The history of h

In this episode, Horace and Oliver talk though the flood of news post-Berlin, and how the micromobility is being circulated around by the giants of automotive and large tech, as they work out how to best participate.  We also explore:  - the parallels between feature phone experimentation and the extensive discussions over form factor experimentation we’re seeing in lightweight electric vehicles (ie. the rise of the Scoot/Bird Cruiser) - why that has the potential to lead to unifying operating systems that unite the fragmentation, and who the most likely contenders are to lead this. - How implausible the rise of social media influencers seemed when looking at phones in the early 2000’s, and why and how micromobility could also drive such a change - The potential and risks that we have of ‘squandering abundance’ when the cost of movement trends towards zero - How movement towards a transport ‘experience’ requires multiple layers of integrations, and what those will need to be - Why just winning the ‘utility’

In today’s episode, Oliver interviews Mark Frohnmayer, CEO of Arcimoto, a new 1100lb+ electric trike that has just gone into production in Eugene, Oregon. Arcimoto is aiming to a hit a US$12k production price point for a vehicle with 70+ miles of range and able to conform to all roading infrastructure, including highways. We unpack why this is a disruptive solution to the market. Specifically we dig into: - The origin story for Arcimoto and why Mark launched the company - The specifics of the vehicle, including their design tradeoffs and benefits and what ‘rockstar parking’ means - Their planned routes to market, including rentals and enterprise customers - The challenges of getting to production, and where they’ve learnt lessons - How and why they’re interested in adding autonomy to their design platform - Why their manufacturing strategy is disruptive compared to existing vehicle manufacturing techniques today - Their plans for expansion globally - What the capital markets have been like for them as they

In this episode, Oliver interviews David Hyman, CEO of Unagi Scooters about the market for premium, lightweight owned micromobility. David’s background is in software and marketing, having previously been the CEO of Beats by Dre. Unagi has really nailed the owned scooter brand experience, and it’s a great discussion. Specifically we dig into: - Features and tradeoffs that they made in order to deliver the best ownership experience - The origin story for the Unagi Scooter - The overall market potential for the space and how they’re thinking about it - The importance of quality and signalling for something that is personally owned, and how that differs from shared services - What he sees happening for the micromobility space, both owned and shared, in the coming few years - Their recent raise of $3m, who it came from and what they intend to do with it. Thanks to this week’s sponsor Particle. Particle provides an end-to-end IoT platform, from device management to connectivity to hardware for connecting micr