CleanTechies Podcast #175 Micromobility, Software Best Practices, Creative Business Models, Seasonality & More w/ Chinmay Malaviya & Charlie Depman (Ridepanda)
🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.
Today, we are talking to Chinmay Malaviya and Charlie Depman from Ridepanda.
Micromobility isn’t a topic we’ve chatted about recently, and with the new congestion pricing in NYC, what better time to get two industry VETERANS on the pod to chat with us about it.
In this episode, we discuss…
* Why micromobility DESERVES a better rep and demand is actually booming
* How Chinmay’s experience at Lime and foodpanda and Charlie’s experience at Bird and Scoot Networks helps them design the optimal platform for micromobility
* How they’re successfully creative with their business model to overcome adoption challenges
& More. This one is a REAL treat.
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The Guest: Chinmay Malaviya
* Chinmay is the Co-founder & CEO of Ridepanda
* Chinmay's first internship at the World Wildlife Fund ignited his passion for impactful work, leading to his role in the early Foodpanda team
* Next, at Foodpanda, he founded the Singapore and Hong Kong regions, served as their Global VP of Business Development and transitioned the company from cash to online payments in Southeast Asia
* Most recently at Lime, Chinmay was the Head of New Modalities and led experimentation into new form-factors as well as overseeing a 500 car-share pilot in Seattle
* At Lime, he was also the Head of Strategy and Planning where he led market management, expansion and supply topics
The Guest: Charlie Depman
* Charlie is the Co-founder & CTO of Ridepanda
* Charlie started off his career in China where he witnessed firsthand environmental degradation that emboldened him to work at environmental nonprofits
* There, he also saw the mobility issues in big, unsustainable cities - when he was working at NYU Shanghai, he found programming and moved to SF to pursue it further
* He joined Scoot Networks, the first to offer shared micro-mobility via smartphones, and rose to their Backend Technical Lead
* When Scoot was acquired by Bird, he worked on their New Ventures Team exploring their first foray into multimodality
The Company:
One Liner: Offering employers a turnkey benefits platform for e-bike, pedal bike, and scooter subscriptions for their employees
Ridepanda initially launched as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketplace for e-scooters and e-bikes but pivoted to focus on enterprise customers like Amazon, offering subscriptions and leasing for micro-mobility solutions. The pivot was driven by the need for predictable, recurring revenue and the realization that D2C was challenging due to supply chain issues and customer service complexities.
Today, Ridepanda serves major companies like Google, Intuit, and Expedia, providing an end-to-end micro-mobility solution that includes a customized employee portal, vehicle servicing, and a robust data reporting dashboard.
The company recently raised $7.5M from well-known VCs Blackhorn Ventures and Yamaha Motor Ventures to expand its operations and aims to get 100,000 employees on micro-mobility vehicles by 2026.
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đź“ť Show Notes:
Topics
* 03:23 Micromobility and its Reputation
* 12:10 Employer Business Model
* 20:43 Balancing Bike Production and Consumer Choice
* 23:42 Accepting Seasonality
* 28:55 Lessons from Foodpanda
* 32:40 Transitioning to Lime and the Transportation Space
* 35:21 Designing Software for Micro-Mobility
* 46:23 Advice for Founders
Links
* Ridepanda | Chinmay Malaviya | Charlie Depman
* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas
* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
Asks đź‘‹
* We recently launched a listener survey, and we would love to hear how we can improve the show and what you like most.
* Have a specific guest or topic you’d like us to discuss? Leave a comment and let us know.
Here’s the thing: Somil and I both have day jobs, so if you’re in the helping mood, we both have an ask for you today.
Somil: I’m currently seeking to connect with founders in the built environment space for a project I’m working on. If you’re in that space, schedule a chat here!
Silas: As many of you know, my day job is solving people’s hiring headaches in climate - do you have a hiring headache? Well, let me be your Advil. (booking here)
🚨🚨🚨 Early-stage founder looking for top-tier talent - reach out to Silas, and he’ll save you hundreds of hours (and tens of thousands of dollars) with your critical searches.
🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!
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