In this episode of "20 Minutes VC," host Harry Stebbings interviews Brad Bao, co-founder and CEO of Lime, a micromobility startup revolutionizing urban transportation with shared scooters, bikes, and transit vehicles. Lime, which has raised over $775 million from top-tier investors, aims to alleviate reliance on personal automobiles for short-distance travel. Bao discusses Lime's growth, the competitive landscape, and the importance of customer loyalty and quality service. He elaborates on the challenges of rapidly scaling a physical asset business, the company's approach to innovation, and Lime's mission-driven culture. Bao's vision for Lime includes expanding the use of alternative transportation in cities and achieving a significant reduction in traffic congestion and pollution.
20 minutes vc here with me, Harry Stebbings. I would love to see you behind the scenes on Instagram at H Stepbings 90 96 with two b's. But diving straight into today's episode, I've been so looking forward to this one for a long time.
Harry Stebbings expresses his anticipation for the episode, inviting listeners to follow him on Instagram.
You might remember a month or so ago we had Sarah Smith at Bain on the show and she discussed her thesis for the series D investment in Lime.
Harry refers to a previous episode where Sarah Smith from Bain Capital discussed investing in Lime, providing context on the investor perspective.
As for Brad, prior to founding Lyme he was managing partner at Kinsen Capital for close to six years, and before that spent an incredible eight years at Tencent in numerous different roles, including vp of business development for Tencent games and general manager for Tencent's us branch, where he was responsible for Tencent's us operations.
Harry provides a brief overview of Brad Bao's professional history, emphasizing his significant experience before founding Lime.
Yeah, I think throughout my life that I found my biggest passion is to build things, build companies, build team, build culture and build things that matters and make an impact.
Brad expresses his lifelong passion for creating and impacting through building companies and teams.
So Tencent is still one of the most respectful technology company in the world. In my mind. There are many companies in the world, there are not many that have achieved so far, as well as building a really positive culture and impact.
Brad speaks to Tencent's global respect and success, which has influenced his approach to building Lime's culture and product.
I do want to dive into the kind of the product and the landscape that the product sits in. Today though, as we've seen from the headlines over the past twelve months, it's been a crowded landscape.
Harry transitions the conversation to discuss the competitive micromobility landscape and Lime's positioning within it.
"Yeah, I think for any industry that given how fast lime grows as the global leader in the scooter share and bike share business, that we are a company that's two year and five month old, but we're already operating in 25 plus countries and over 100 markets across the world."
This quote highlights Lime's rapid expansion and its position as a global leader in the scooter and bike-sharing industry despite being a relatively young company.
"And the revenue and trips that we're generating, probably one of the fast ever in terms of like a company. Plus, on top of that, as I mentioned, that we don't spend marketing dollars, it's all organic growth."
Lime's revenue and trip numbers are emphasized, along with the fact that this growth has been achieved without marketing spend, indicating efficient and organic user acquisition.
"The product iterations we've done, the users positive reaction to it, and the pollutions and traffic congestions that we reduce."
This quote points to Lime's focus on product development, user satisfaction, and the environmental benefits of their services.
"It's really about how we're making the pie bigger."
Brad Bao stresses the importance of expanding the market for alternative transportation rather than competing for a small existing market share.
"We're together educate the user about the new options for them and the benefit of it."
The quote emphasizes the need for educating users about the benefits of alternative transportation to increase adoption rates.
"There are many markets that we are half of the fleet, that we have way more than half of the market share that representing it."
Brad Bao indicates that Lime experiences customer loyalty, as evidenced by their market share in certain locations.
"That accessibility, the network effect wherever you go, is one of the key thing for a mobility service."
Brad Bao discusses the advantages of Lime's global brand and network effect in launching new cities and winning local markets.
"It's too early in the industry to say that what could happen, but I would say though, some of the learning we have from the history that there might be some form of consolidation, but majority of them, that it will be just smaller ones, will be having a hard time to even survive."
Brad Bao suggests that consolidation may occur, but it's more likely that smaller players will find the industry challenging.
"First of all, we already have dozens of markets of profitable. So it's not how we, or whether it's already so that I could give you the good picture."
Brad Bao confirms that Lime has already reached profitability in several markets and is working on enhancing profitability further.
"One of the things we are doing very different from our peers is that we started building our hardware team and doing the vertical integration starting day one."
Brad Bao explains Lime's strategic approach to hardware development and how it sets them apart from competitors.
"Hardware innovation cycle is two to five years. And we have changed the entire way of how we using digital feedback loop and design and also manufacture and testing them. And that give us a really competitive edge and we'll keep on doing that for however it takes."
This quote emphasizes the innovation in the hardware cycle and the strategic use of digital feedback loops to gain a competitive edge. It suggests a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation over a prolonged period, drawing a comparison to the long-term development seen in the automobile industry.
"Actually, it's more than that. In the hardware business, there's always a saying, right? That you can have all the advanced features and better user experience, or you can have the longest durability in terms of how long did it last, or you can have lowest cost, but you cannot have three at a time. You can have two."
This quote outlines the typical trade-offs in the hardware business between features, durability, and cost. It highlights Lime's ambition to tackle all three aspects, which is a complex challenge in product management.
"Vision and value, that is the key thing when we look at the world class players, that they have a lot of options, right? They have achieved a lot in their career and life."
This quote highlights the importance of sharing a common vision and values when assembling a high-caliber team. It suggests that the most talented individuals are drawn to companies with a strong mission and the potential for significant impact.
"For the company is the earlier the better. So you bring in the very unique set of experience as well as opinions. That's very valuable."
This quote advises that bringing in executives early can be beneficial for a company due to the unique experiences and perspectives they provide. However, the timing must align with the company's readiness to attract and accommodate such talent.
"It's really not about breaking point that we're talking about, it's more about alignment."
The quote emphasizes the importance of alignment over the concept of breaking points in scaling a company. It suggests that ensuring a cohesive team is a continuous process rather than a one-time fix.
"The trust relationship we built over the course of like eight, nine years before we start a company. That really, really helps."
This quote underlines the significance of trust and shared history in forming a strong co-founder relationship, suggesting that these elements are foundational to a successful partnership.
"Good to great. Really lay out the fundamental principles how and why a great company will be built."
The quote shares a personal recommendation for a book that provides insights into the principles of building a successful company, indicating its influence on the speaker's business philosophy.
Today is to align the interest and kind of like drive and also goals for different teams in the company.
This quote outlines the primary objective of ensuring that all teams within the company share the same interests and are working towards common goals.
I would say that first offer. All right, we got a bunch of meetings. So my day started roughly about eight. Normally, I will check the emails in the morning to make sure that any important topics got covered. And I will have series of meetings, I would say 60, 70% internally and then 20, 30% externally. For investors, medias, all that and internal meeting is more about setting the goals and align the team.
This quote details Brad Bao's daily routine, which consists of checking emails, conducting meetings, and ensuring that the team's goals are set and aligned.
I wish I could have known how complex and hard the business is. Everyone look at it. Just, hey, put a scooter on the street, you got a business. Well, you're wrong. And I was wrong too. It's so hard.
The quote reflects Brad Bao's realization of the complexities involved in running a business, which is far more challenging than the simplistic view of just deploying scooters.
Positive. Absolutely positive.
The quote succinctly states Brad Bao's opinion that the public offerings of Lyft and Uber have a beneficial impact on Lime.
There are a lot. So give two one of that, when we started company, that the proven formula, which is a uncommon, common practice to get into, you know, uber established, right? Just go to the city, you launch a service and talk about it with the city after that. And we just deliberately didn't do that.
But I think more than often that we have to make a very independent judgment that what does focus mean or what do we focus on?
These quotes address the advice Brad Bao received and his approach to making independent decisions based on what he believes is best for the company, particularly in terms of focusing on user needs rather than conforming to standard practices or geographical limitations.
To me it's very obvious, but to many that we as a young company, here's what we did, right, we launched the bikes and we didn't focus on that. Well, focus with a quotation mark. We didn't focus on that. We then launched the e bikes and we didn't focus on that. We didn't launch the scooters.
We focus on the user, where they are. If they are distributed globally, as we all know, that's true, then we will go global, we'll meet them there.
These quotes reveal Lime's strategy of prioritizing user needs over traditional business advice, which led to their global expansion and product diversification.
So that's the way I would measure it. And on top of that, of course, that we hope that with better services and product we offer, that will be keep as the leading company globally for the urban mobility and the brand will be recognized very well in terms of the value, safeties and product experience that we represent.
The quote outlines Brad Bao's future goals for Lime, focusing on user benefits, city improvements, and maintaining a strong global brand presence.
Pleasure is all mine. Thank you for having me here.
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These quotes feature Brad Bao's closing remarks and Harry Stebbings' endorsements of different services aimed at enhancing business operations and personal insurance.