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We put scooters on sidewalks in Santa Monica without asking permission. The city was furious. Users loved it.
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Each scooter cost 500 dollars. It lasted about 28 days in the wild. People threw them in rivers. The unit economics never worked.
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We reached unicorn status faster than any company in history. Then we reached zero faster than almost any company in history.
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I was COO of Lyft and VP at Uber. I thought I understood mobility. Scooters taught me that hardware in public spaces is a different game entirely.
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Move fast and break things works for software. It does not work when the things you are breaking are actual physical scooters.
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Sequoia invested. Accel invested. The best VCs in the world backed us. Smart money is not always right.