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E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

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Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#131

Post by alexpetralia »

blunte wrote: post #105
MarketingJason wrote: post #53

Ouch - 150K in a seed funding round from Y Combinator

This makes me wonder about Y Combinator. What this scooter company so new and innovative that it warranted investment? Isn't it one of dozens? Or is it that there's must too much VC money without enough places to put it...? More pessimistically, it's plausible that a lot of VC money gets spent on expenses that directly or indirectly benefit those VCs, so it's less about the viability of the startup and more about the…

It's possible that the goal of VC is _not necessarily_ to make the highest performing investments, but rather _convince_ prospective and existing LPs that the VC is making the highest performing investments. After all, the LPs pay the management fees. In order to do this, you need to sell a good story, and a good one to sell is one that is already established by social proof: "Look at these scooters taking over cities - don't you want to be part of it?"

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#132

Post by just_myles »

bransonf wrote: post #13

If you give $700 to a company that promises to deliver a scooter, and they spend that money on advertising, that’s fraud. They have no plausible argument that they didn’t know they couldn’t deliver or refund customers after they started spending pre-order funds. I hope customers get successful chargebacks and there’s a class action lawsuit. This wasn’t a crowdfunding campaign. Consumers were lied to, and the law shou…

You're not wrong. They should have focused those monies on building the actual product first and then shipping it. At that point, once the kickstarter units are built and shipped, grow your business accordingly. To have nothing to show for the efforts is deplorable.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#134

Post by megablast »

shaneprrlt wrote: post #66

I feel horrible for the people who had to scrape together the $700 for a Christmas present for their kids, who won't be getting their scooter (like the person in the article). For most middle class people, that's a lot of money. I second the comments about successful chargebacks, because this will probably be ruining some kids Christmases out there otherwise. :(

> who had to scrape together the $700 for a Christmas present for their kids

Maybe people who scrape money together should not be on kickstarter? Is that not obvious?

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#135

Post by henryfjordan »

dcolkitt wrote: post #33
rpmcmurdo wrote: post #30

Just wait until the scooter companies and operators get nailed with an injury class action lawsuit. A good friend was seriously injured on a rental scooter, going 2-3 mph, catapulted onto her face, ended up with brain damage and multiple facial fractures requiring reconstructive surgery. A high school physics student could work out that tiny wheels combined with a high center of gravity is a bad combination.

The problem is lack of helmet. If the injured party wasn't wearing a helmet, and the scooter clearly stated that a helmet should be warn, the case will get thrown out. Everybody knows that nobody wears a helmet while riding scooter company. The manufacturers know, the ride-sharing services know, and the riders know. But if a helmet warning is clearly displayed, that gives the scooter company virtual legal immunity fr…

Bird puts out a lot of promotional material without people wearing helmets. They lobbied the CA government to change the law so that helmets are not required. They tried the lobby Oregon to change the same law there but were basically laughed out of the state.

A good lawyer could argue that riders do not know they need to wear helmets on the scooters.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#136

Post by acchow »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #28
bransonf wrote: post #13

If you give $700 to a company that promises to deliver a scooter, and they spend that money on advertising, that’s fraud. They have no plausible argument that they didn’t know they couldn’t deliver or refund customers after they started spending pre-order funds. I hope customers get successful chargebacks and there’s a class action lawsuit. This wasn’t a crowdfunding campaign. Consumers were lied to, and the law shou…

You're not wrong, you're an idealist, which typically are very closely intertwined when it comes to reality. If you gave $700 to a company who promised to deliver you a scooter a few years down the line if all of the dominoes fell exactly as planned... I would argue that you got what you paid for even if it amounts to nothing tangible in the long run. Which is to say, you paid for a pricey digital lottery ticket with…

You are conflating venture capitalists with consumers.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#137

Post by paulddraper »

richardwhiuk wrote: post #21
Someone1234 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A class action lawsuit against who? You cannot sue a company that no longer exists. It is unlikely consumers would be able to defeat limited liability, particularly with the argument that "the company should have allocated resources differently."

If you could prove deliberate fraud, which seems unlikely, then you could probably pierce the limited liability shield. Seems unlikely though.

Yes, LLC don't protect from many criminal charges such as fraud.

It would indeed be difficult to prove this was deceptive and not just really poor, even idiotic, business planning.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#138

Post by paulddraper »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #52
Someone1234 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can quite literally sue anyone for anything. But lawsuits aren't free, and the law isn't on the claimants side here, so they'd lose. So, sure, sue away it is just even more money lost and likely still no scooter or refund to show for it.

> the law isn't on the claimants side here, so they'd lose. That's up to a jury, not an online forum.

More probably it'd be up to a judge who would throw it out.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#139

Post by gilboise »

shaneprrlt wrote: post #66

I feel horrible for the people who had to scrape together the $700 for a Christmas present for their kids, who won't be getting their scooter (like the person in the article). For most middle class people, that's a lot of money. I second the comments about successful chargebacks, because this will probably be ruining some kids Christmases out there otherwise. :(

scrape? $700 scooter? erm.

Re: E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads

#140

Post by detaro »

megablast wrote: post #134
shaneprrlt wrote: post #66

I feel horrible for the people who had to scrape together the $700 for a Christmas present for their kids, who won't be getting their scooter (like the person in the article). For most middle class people, that's a lot of money. I second the comments about successful chargebacks, because this will probably be ruining some kids Christmases out there otherwise. :(

> who had to scrape together the $700 for a Christmas present for their kids Maybe people who scrape money together should not be on kickstarter? Is that not obvious?

Why do people keep talking about kickstarter here?! This company did not run a kickstarter.
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