131: The story of Bird with CEO Travis VanderZanden and Horace Dediu

This week we release the interview that Horace did with Bird CEO/founder Travis VanderZanden at Micromobility World conference from January 2022. It was his first public appearance since Bird went public late last year and it is an instantly iconic exchange between two of the industry’s most important figures - Travis who catalyzed dockless electric scooters at Bird in California back in 2017 and Horace who coined the term micromobility. Travis and Horace discuss mega trends in micromobility and why, in their view, the industry still hasn’t produced a bike or scooter as impactful as the iPhone. Specifically they dig into: - Travis’s background in cell phones and ride-hail - The origins of Bird - Product and business model innovation in micromobility - The chicken-and-egg problem of infrastructure - How cities can accelerate micromobility adoption faster. It’s an awesome discussion, and one you can only hear here on the Micromobility Podcast. Thanks very much for listening!