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Spoke to a (well known) VC who saw the Bird deal and passed... the gaps in the model would have been fairly obvious to any suitably critical person. Namely that
by microdrum 8y ago
Spoke to a (well known) VC who saw the Bird deal and passed... the gaps in the model would have been fairly obvious to any suitably critical person. Namely that Bird and Lime dont unite catchment areas thus the coefficient of the network effect is tiny compared to Uber.
Or you could have just looked at—-you know—-actual bike and scooter rental companies. They’re small mom and pop shops. No Hertz for scooters. There’s a reason.
- s17n 8y agoI agree that the economics of scooter sharing are probably fucked but your last argument is like saying "look at cab companies, they're small mom and pop shops, this Uber thing will never take off"
- fourthark 8y agoIs Uber making money yet?
- kakaorka 8y agoIn major metros, yes.
- dvt 8y agoCab companies weren't mom and pop shops, though (at least not in the sense you're getting at). In fact, obtaining a medallion was a substantial investment ($1M+ in some cases[1]). It's not particularly difficult to make the argument that scooters are a niche market at best. [1] http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2011/10/1021-met-TAXIweb.jpg http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2011/10/1021-met...
- s17n 8y agoThat's in New York. In most areas, cabs were relatively marginal, little used services. Uber didn't take their market, it created a whole new market.
- throwaway20148 8y agoThe rest of the country ain’t New York City.
- microdrum 8y agoNo, I don’t mean to say that at all. The beauty of Uber is that it stitches together multiple markets on both the supply side of the marketplace and the demand side. For both small, medium, and large distances, riders know they will have a car and drivers know they will have a fare. Bird investors failed to consider that this isn’t true for scooters. Each catchment area is isolated from the next.
- s17n 8y agoYes, I agree with your argument here. But comparing Bird to mom and pop bike rentals is wrong for the same reason that comparing Uber to traditional taxi companies (or comparing Cragslist to traditional classifieds, etc) is wrong.