The Truth About the Scooter Economy — An Insider’s Perspective : Mark Suster

#News(General) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

I’d like to share some insights with you.

Act I was the invasion of scooters that seemed to be taking over many urban environments in 2018 and literally seemed to come out of nowhere. This led to massive funding rounds at Bird, Lime and others. It became such a quick part of popular culture that Jim Carrey rode a Bird in an opening segment of the Jimmy Kimmel show (hilarious if you haven’t seen it).
Act II was “revenge of the luddites” in which some local governments banned them and some annoyed citizens stole them or broke them. (luddite is literally the term for the people in England who put wrenches in the machinery in the industrial revolution and broke things to prevent progress).
Act III was the “I told you so” comeuppance of anybody who was sure that the electric scooter market would fail. The valuations were too high! There was seasonality, theft, tough unit economics and slowing funding rounds.
We are now in Act IV. As an insider I thought I’d offer some views of where I believe we’re at in Act IV and maybe some perspective of the future.

Sub 3 Miles is Up for Grabs
If you read the S1s of Uber and Lyft you’ve now realized that these are very large, global businesses who deserve all of the credit and financial rewards they have received. You may also have realized that both businesses have a meaningful part of their business tied up in rides that are sub 3 miles. These are the local trips that tend to add to congestion and are the ones that are most vulnerable to alternate forms of micro-mobility. This is the reason you’ve seen the massive rise of Bird and the reduction in some cities (Santa Monica and Venice) of ride sharing.

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