The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
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Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#2Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them?
I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street.
On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is seeing a new colour of bike.
The idea is sound in practise, but people seem to place great value owning their own transportation and the flexibility it affords them.
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#3Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
Edit: I'm an idiot. Ignore the below.
This article is about a company that was building bicycles to sell directly to consumers, not a bikeshare company.
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#4Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
Edit: I'm an idiot. Ignore the below. This article is about a company that was building bicycles to sell directly to consumers, not a bikeshare company.
Most of the article is about why the consumer business failed because the sister company tried to do bikesharing
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#5Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
It isn't just you. In a capital rich environment (where getting money for new ventures is easier than normal) a single success (even if it is just perception) and a low barrier to entry, can lead to many copycat companies appearing. And yes, they over saturate the market, and no you can't easily tell which will win and which will lose from the outside.
For the "serial entrepreneurs" this is an easy way to stay employed (it can be surprisingly hard to get a job at BigCorp with CEO on your resume). These folks might just start a new company, raise some money, and voila they are once again on an "incredible journey."
In my experience for each "successful" exit (where the investors made some money) you get a ticket for one free "future" company from those investors. Once you don't have enough tickets to get another company funded you either have to change venues (new people, less history), or change markets (also new people but can be in the same locale).
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#6Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
Edit: I'm an idiot. Ignore the below. This article is about a company that was building bicycles to sell directly to consumers, not a bikeshare company.
You are not an idiot :)
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#7Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
It isn't just you. In a capital rich environment (where getting money for new ventures is easier than normal) a single success (even if it is just perception) and a low barrier to entry, can lead to many copycat companies appearing. And yes, they over saturate the market, and no you can't easily tell which will win and which will lose from the outside. For the "serial entrepreneurs" this is an easy way to stay employ…
> it can be surprisingly hard to get a job at BigCorp with CEO on your resume
Why do you think that is? It's so common to hear advice that bigco's will always want to hire people w/ Startup experience, but does that not extend to the founders?
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#8Another reason to not support large ticket items on Kickstarter.
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#9Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
The main problem with bike shares is the ridiculously short time limit. If you could check one out for a few hours they’d be more useful, instead most are time limited to about 30 minutes. My sister used one once to bike by a lake front and she said she was stressed the whole time about not making it to the next station to reset the time limit before it expired.
Re: The birth and death of a bike company: What happened to SpeedX
#10Is it just me, or are there seemingly far more people trying to invest and profit off bikeshares than there are using them? I've lived in several cities in europe and i'm not actually sure i've ever seen anybody using them. Yet there seems to be tons of competing companies putting out bikes in the street. On top of that, they don't even seem to bother marketing or anything. The first I'll hear of a new company is see…
In Paris, the private bikeshares seem to have been entirely replaced with scooters and a smaller number of e-bikes.
The publicly sanctioned bikeshare is in shambles after an operator change.
The only thing keeping the public system alive is it’s offerings outside the city’s core.