Decoder with Nilay Patel Recode Decode: Lime president Joe Kraus
Aug 30, 2019
Joe Kraus, President of Lime, is a seasoned entrepreneur with a robust background in startups and venture capital. In this conversation, he shares Lime's evolution from bikes to electric scooters and the unbundling of car ownership. Kraus highlights the significant impact of scooters on urban transit and discusses the competitive landscape of the scooter-sharing market. He also addresses the challenges Lime faces amidst changing user preferences and his company's vision for public offerings, despite the rocky IPOs of rivals like Uber and Lyft.
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Excite's Journey
- Joe Kraus, Lime's president, co-founded Excite, an early internet search engine.
- It went public in 1996 and was later sold to At Home in 1999.
Blue Mountain Arts Acquisition
- Excite acquired Blue Mountain Arts, an e-greeting card company, which Kraus admits was a mistake.
- Kara Swisher advised the owners of Blue Mountain Arts to "take the cash" during the acquisition.
JotSpot and Google
- After Excite, Kraus co-founded JotSpot, a wiki-based collaboration tool.
- JotSpot was later sold to Google in 2006, leading to Kraus's role there.