The NFX Podcast Nir Erez from Moovit on Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
"Mobility as a service" is the idea of packaging together one person's entire portfolio of transportation options. Even if it’s a different mode of transportation for the first mile, the bulk of the journey, and for the last mile. Car, ferry, ride share, bike, scooter, whatever - all serviceable in the same app. This is the future that Nir Erz, CEO at Moovit, can see clearly, and why Intel bought Moovit for $900M.
NFX partner Gigi Levy-Weiss sits down in Israel with Nir to discuss how Moovit beat Google Maps in data, why KPIs are pure gold, how to think globally when launching locally, and what the future of transportation looks like.
Highlights from the conversation:
1. Building data and data network effects
How to leverage your user base to build a volunteer workforce of data (the Wikipedia volunteer model) >> pseudo-automatic data capture
Two tricks for launching in new markets: acknowledge to users that the app is not complete, and directly ask them for their help
Why data is central to Moovit's product value (an important factor discussed in our essay on data network effects)
How to build a verticalized data moat (public transit data) that allows you to compete and beat a big horizontal incumbent (aka Google Maps)
2. The Importance of KPIs - "KPIs are gold"
Knowing what the right industry benchmarks are can be extremely valuable for your company. The right KPIs can save you from wasting time and effort.
Why Founders should set clear success metrics for their company or quit
"Guys, those are my best years and I'm not gonna waste my best years on a company that is not going to take off. So my only request to you is -- let's set measurable goals for every stage of the company. If we’re not going to hit those goals, I’m not going to stick around."
3. The future of transport and mobility
The future of transport is multimodal
Cities, in particular, will be multimodal, with different transportation for the first mile, the bulk of the journey, and the last mile.
People will want one seamless solution that allows them to pay for various modes of transport.
"Mobility as a service" is the idea of packaging one person's entire portfolio of transport options at one access point / platform