Detailed VC app: Why is the shared electric scooter Bird valued at $2 billion?
In the winter of 2017, in my country, the shared bicycle market was eliminated. In 2018, this once-popular economic model is now not favored by the public.
But abroad, a company that also holds a shared economic model is steadily developing, attracting more and more people's attention.
Unlike shared bikes, this company called Bird shares an electric scooter. Users only need to download the Bird app, open it and find the nearest Bird (electric scooter), then scan the QR code on the body to use it. After the use, Bird will charge directly from the user's mobile phone.
Compared with the shared bicycle that focuses on "solving the last mile", Bird's founders believe that electric scooters are the way to solve the user's "last mile" pain point.
Recently, Bird officially announced the latest round of $300 million in financing – less than 18 months before the company was founded. The young company, born with a shared economic gene, has opened up the market for shared electric scooters, which is growing fast and stable. These achievements have attracted the attention of the industry and the media, and also attracted many questions.
In this article we share today, venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur Mark Suster will answer questions about Bird's questions about why he is optimistic about Bird and investing in it. the reason.
Below, enjoy:
How does Bird's valuation reach the media's $2 billion?
In the current unicorn-level startups from 0, Bird's growth rate is the fastest, and its valuation is also large.
Many media have doubts about Bird's high valuation and growth rate, but if you witness Bird's surge in user demand and explosive growth data, you may even think that Bird's valuation is relatively conservative.
Whenever someone asks about Bird's market share, I will answer them like this: In marketing, Bird didn't spend a penny, and consumers have "voted with their feet."
In fact, I also had doubts about Bird's development prospects.
Last year, when I first saw the pilot service of the Bird Scooter in Santa Monica, I don’t think anyone would want to use it.
In the first few months, I only saw sporadic crowds using the Bird Scooter on the street, but I was amazed by the surge in usage:
When I called in the 6th floor office, about 5 bird scooters passed by me every two or three minutes.
As the number of Bird users grew steadily, I was also excited.
I rode a bird to his office and begged the Bird founder Travis VanderZanden to accept our investment.
Bird's revenue growth is surprising and is in short supply. According to the current development speed, only the “supply” factor affecting Bird's growth rate.
Does Bird have a moat? Will you meet a competitor?
Does Bird have a moat?
This is a doubt for many people.
It is clear to everyone that every time a great company or market emerges, similar questions arise. For example, Ring (who bought it for more than $1 billion in Amazon in five years), Facebook, YouTube, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Intagram, and other top tech startups have all raised similar concerns.
Some people say that Bird has no network effect and cannot implement viral marketing. Anyone can launch a shared electric scooter service. But I think the facts are not that simple, for the following reasons:
1. Capital.
Bird, the first to enter the market and creative, quickly hired a good founding team and quickly reached $125 million in the short term.
Adequate ammunition allows the company to quickly launch services and design future scooters. Many startups are still in the development plan and Bird is already making a profit.
This advantage also allowed Bird to successfully merge to $300 million from one of the top VCs in the United States.
The power of capital can drive the company's growth and enable the company to occupy a larger market share. The higher the market share, the less the other companies can compete with it.
When giants have emerged in the market for shared scooters, investment convenience will no longer choose companies that hold the same model to invest, because latecomers are hard to compete with the giants.
Now, Bird is playing a giant role in the shared scooter industry.
2. Density.
In the field of shared scooters, the biggest advantage of the first-mover enterprise is its high density.
If Bird puts thousands of scooters in a block, it would be difficult for newcomers to deploy the business without capital support.
In addition, due to the identity of the latecomers, it is difficult for them to get more money from investors.
3. Design.
Many people imagine that the future scooter will not make any difference in appearance and usage. It is as if people generally think that after Apple released the iPhone in 2007, the design of the mobile phone will not change in the next 10 years.
But in fact, before the release of each new product, Apple has already planned the design of the next few generations of mobile phones in advance. The same is true of Bird as a pioneer.
Since Bird is the pioneer company that has shared the shared scooter model, they plan for the future even earlier than their peers.
At present, Bird has planned scooters for future generations. If competitors want to rely on the design of Bird to launch services, they will definitely use their existing advantages and sufficient data to quickly launch a new generation of products. Come to a better experience and sit on the position of your market leader.
4. Data.
Bird has taken a significant lead in data collection. The seemingly simple electric scooter is actually a computer with wheels. Bird can collect a large amount of traffic path data through the association between the onboard CPU and the user's mobile phone, including where the user wants to pick up the car in the morning and where to return the car at night.
This will not only allow Bird to plan the right inventory levels for each city, but also maximize the benefits through proper scooter delivery.
Bird can also provide data to city managers to help them better plan their cities.
5. Charging.
Many people think that Bird will form a team to retrieve electric cars for charging at night. But in fact, users in every place can charge electric cars and get the corresponding financial compensation, and then put them in a predetermined place in the morning.
Once a city has two or three large companies competing, it is difficult to have a charging network layout that rivals the first one.
6. Maintenance workers.
Bird has built a scooter repair team in every market. These skilled maintenance personnel can earn a lot of money by repairing the wheels, brakes, cables, batteries, and electronic components of the scooter.
Los Angeles politicians are very happy with the large number of jobs that Bird has created in the repair industry. They hope that more technology companies can stay in the local area. After all, the number of excellent maintenance workers available in each market is limited, and large companies can often pay the highest salary for them, bringing stable income to society. Stability and development are good.
For Bird, getting early access to excellent maintenance workers has become an inherent advantage for the company.
7. Battery.
The biggest limiting factor so far is the supply of electric scooters, and $300 million in financing is very helpful in solving this problem.
Since scooters need electricity, they are charged every day. Bird can design electric scooters with longer battery life, while other companies can only continue to optimize their previous generation, so Bird can earn more per day with every scooter.
8. Brand.
Another obvious advantage is actually a seemingly invisible "brand." When you think about the service of electric scooters, you think of Bird. The more people who regard your brand as an innovator, the easier it is for your company to get media coverage and eventually become synonymous with this service.
For example, when it comes to search engines, you don't think of Bing first; when it comes to online video, you don't think of Hulu first.
The brand is very important.
How is the service of Bird used? How do they make money?
When I was in New York, many people asked me how to use Bird. it's actually really easy.
First, you need to download a Bird app, then bind your credit card and driver's license information and pay $1. Once you've done this, you can start enjoying your own scooter ride experience.
According to this app, you can search for all nearby birds. You only need to scan the QR code on the body to start riding. Bird will deduct the charge from your credit card at a price of 0.15 cents per minute.
I know it's good in Santa Monica, but can it really succeed elsewhere?
Many people will have such questions. We also thought about it when we saw Uber. It can be said that shared electric scooters have entered many markets and have achieved good results.
Obviously, in different regions, the situation will not be the same. For example, in some places this service is used all year round, while in some places it can only be used for 9 to 10 months. But in general, the scope of adaptation of this service is far wider than everyone thinks.
The fastest-growing "unicorn" came from Los Angeles, not San Francisco. Are you surprised by this?
Not surprising. Not to mention that Los Angeles has the second largest market in the United States and the third largest technology ecosystem and the fastest growing entrepreneurial community. Los Angeles itself is a pioneer in the field of transportation solutions. It has been on highways, aerospace, and rocket propulsion for the past 100 years. It is not a surprise that Bird is a leader in the field of deepwater port and new space flight (SpaceX).
It can be said that Bird was born in Los Angeles is a natural thing.
That's why the best Los Angeles funds like Upfront, Greycroft, and B Capital Global all support Bird. With the experienced and capable founders of Travis and the top local executives like Paige Craig, we all believe that this team can perform a variety of strategies.
Why is an electric scooter? Why don't people ride a bicycle or walk?
This question is often raised.
Walking is of course good, I like to walk in Santa Monica, San Francisco and New York, but sometimes the destination is 1.6 miles away, I don't have much time to go back and forth.
With Uber and Lyft, traffic jams may occur, and there are no direct bus lines between the starting points. Electric scooters can solve this problem.
Every day, you may still be riding a local subway or light rail system, but electric scooters can provide the perfect "last mile" solution. If the spread is widened, it can also reduce traffic congestion and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Of course, I also like to ride a bicycle. But from the situation of Santa Monica, electric scooters are much better than bicycles in short trips (less than 3 miles). If you don't want to drive or take a bus, the best distance to use your bike should be greater than 5 miles. I often run into a situation where 50 birds are driving in 3 minutes.
I anticipate that similar scenarios will occur in many other cities when the electric scooter is fully deployed.
Consumers are already "voting with their feet."
Is the scooter safe? Shouldn’t you bring a helmet?
Birds and bicycle users should wear helmets, but bicycles have been fully integrated into our lives, so everyone turned a blind eye to the phenomenon of “riding a bicycle without wearing a helmet”.
But sharing a scooter is a new thing, so using a shared scooter without a helmet is more likely to attract attention.
Bird has already offered 30,000 helmets to users free of charge. Of course, Bird can't monitor all users wearing helmets. So far, there are still many people who don't wear them.
In addition, for user safety, Bird has limited the top speed to 15 mph.
to sum up
Undoubtedly, Bird not only created a new transportation field, but also inspired the imagination of users and investors. This huge success will attract many companies to compete with them, including Uber, which is unlikely to sit idly by.
I am optimistic about Bird's prospects, not only because of its gameplay innovation, but also because the Bird team knows where to focus.
With a valuation of billions of dollars from 0 in 18 months, Bird's performance is unprecedented. Even more rare is that Bird's revenue is increasing rapidly without paying for users.
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But abroad, a company that also holds a shared economic model is steadily developing, attracting more and more people's attention.
Unlike shared bikes, this company called Bird shares an electric scooter. Users only need to download the Bird app, open it and find the nearest Bird (electric scooter), then scan the QR code on the body to use it. After the use, Bird will charge directly from the user's mobile phone.
Compared with the shared bicycle that focuses on "solving the last mile", Bird's founders believe that electric scooters are the way to solve the user's "last mile" pain point.
Recently, Bird officially announced the latest round of $300 million in financing – less than 18 months before the company was founded. The young company, born with a shared economic gene, has opened up the market for shared electric scooters, which is growing fast and stable. These achievements have attracted the attention of the industry and the media, and also attracted many questions.
In this article we share today, venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur Mark Suster will answer questions about Bird's questions about why he is optimistic about Bird and investing in it. the reason.
Below, enjoy:
How does Bird's valuation reach the media's $2 billion?
In the current unicorn-level startups from 0, Bird's growth rate is the fastest, and its valuation is also large.
Many media have doubts about Bird's high valuation and growth rate, but if you witness Bird's surge in user demand and explosive growth data, you may even think that Bird's valuation is relatively conservative.
Whenever someone asks about Bird's market share, I will answer them like this: In marketing, Bird didn't spend a penny, and consumers have "voted with their feet."
In fact, I also had doubts about Bird's development prospects.
Last year, when I first saw the pilot service of the Bird Scooter in Santa Monica, I don’t think anyone would want to use it.
In the first few months, I only saw sporadic crowds using the Bird Scooter on the street, but I was amazed by the surge in usage:
When I called in the 6th floor office, about 5 bird scooters passed by me every two or three minutes.
As the number of Bird users grew steadily, I was also excited.
I rode a bird to his office and begged the Bird founder Travis VanderZanden to accept our investment.
Bird's revenue growth is surprising and is in short supply. According to the current development speed, only the “supply” factor affecting Bird's growth rate.
Does Bird have a moat? Will you meet a competitor?
Does Bird have a moat?
This is a doubt for many people.
It is clear to everyone that every time a great company or market emerges, similar questions arise. For example, Ring (who bought it for more than $1 billion in Amazon in five years), Facebook, YouTube, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Intagram, and other top tech startups have all raised similar concerns.
Some people say that Bird has no network effect and cannot implement viral marketing. Anyone can launch a shared electric scooter service. But I think the facts are not that simple, for the following reasons:
1. Capital.
Bird, the first to enter the market and creative, quickly hired a good founding team and quickly reached $125 million in the short term.
Adequate ammunition allows the company to quickly launch services and design future scooters. Many startups are still in the development plan and Bird is already making a profit.
This advantage also allowed Bird to successfully merge to $300 million from one of the top VCs in the United States.
The power of capital can drive the company's growth and enable the company to occupy a larger market share. The higher the market share, the less the other companies can compete with it.
When giants have emerged in the market for shared scooters, investment convenience will no longer choose companies that hold the same model to invest, because latecomers are hard to compete with the giants.
Now, Bird is playing a giant role in the shared scooter industry.
2. Density.
In the field of shared scooters, the biggest advantage of the first-mover enterprise is its high density.
If Bird puts thousands of scooters in a block, it would be difficult for newcomers to deploy the business without capital support.
In addition, due to the identity of the latecomers, it is difficult for them to get more money from investors.
3. Design.
Many people imagine that the future scooter will not make any difference in appearance and usage. It is as if people generally think that after Apple released the iPhone in 2007, the design of the mobile phone will not change in the next 10 years.
But in fact, before the release of each new product, Apple has already planned the design of the next few generations of mobile phones in advance. The same is true of Bird as a pioneer.
Since Bird is the pioneer company that has shared the shared scooter model, they plan for the future even earlier than their peers.
At present, Bird has planned scooters for future generations. If competitors want to rely on the design of Bird to launch services, they will definitely use their existing advantages and sufficient data to quickly launch a new generation of products. Come to a better experience and sit on the position of your market leader.
4. Data.
Bird has taken a significant lead in data collection. The seemingly simple electric scooter is actually a computer with wheels. Bird can collect a large amount of traffic path data through the association between the onboard CPU and the user's mobile phone, including where the user wants to pick up the car in the morning and where to return the car at night.
This will not only allow Bird to plan the right inventory levels for each city, but also maximize the benefits through proper scooter delivery.
Bird can also provide data to city managers to help them better plan their cities.
5. Charging.
Many people think that Bird will form a team to retrieve electric cars for charging at night. But in fact, users in every place can charge electric cars and get the corresponding financial compensation, and then put them in a predetermined place in the morning.
Once a city has two or three large companies competing, it is difficult to have a charging network layout that rivals the first one.
6. Maintenance workers.
Bird has built a scooter repair team in every market. These skilled maintenance personnel can earn a lot of money by repairing the wheels, brakes, cables, batteries, and electronic components of the scooter.
Los Angeles politicians are very happy with the large number of jobs that Bird has created in the repair industry. They hope that more technology companies can stay in the local area. After all, the number of excellent maintenance workers available in each market is limited, and large companies can often pay the highest salary for them, bringing stable income to society. Stability and development are good.
For Bird, getting early access to excellent maintenance workers has become an inherent advantage for the company.
7. Battery.
The biggest limiting factor so far is the supply of electric scooters, and $300 million in financing is very helpful in solving this problem.
Since scooters need electricity, they are charged every day. Bird can design electric scooters with longer battery life, while other companies can only continue to optimize their previous generation, so Bird can earn more per day with every scooter.
8. Brand.
Another obvious advantage is actually a seemingly invisible "brand." When you think about the service of electric scooters, you think of Bird. The more people who regard your brand as an innovator, the easier it is for your company to get media coverage and eventually become synonymous with this service.
For example, when it comes to search engines, you don't think of Bing first; when it comes to online video, you don't think of Hulu first.
The brand is very important.
How is the service of Bird used? How do they make money?
When I was in New York, many people asked me how to use Bird. it's actually really easy.
First, you need to download a Bird app, then bind your credit card and driver's license information and pay $1. Once you've done this, you can start enjoying your own scooter ride experience.
According to this app, you can search for all nearby birds. You only need to scan the QR code on the body to start riding. Bird will deduct the charge from your credit card at a price of 0.15 cents per minute.
I know it's good in Santa Monica, but can it really succeed elsewhere?
Many people will have such questions. We also thought about it when we saw Uber. It can be said that shared electric scooters have entered many markets and have achieved good results.
Obviously, in different regions, the situation will not be the same. For example, in some places this service is used all year round, while in some places it can only be used for 9 to 10 months. But in general, the scope of adaptation of this service is far wider than everyone thinks.
The fastest-growing "unicorn" came from Los Angeles, not San Francisco. Are you surprised by this?
Not surprising. Not to mention that Los Angeles has the second largest market in the United States and the third largest technology ecosystem and the fastest growing entrepreneurial community. Los Angeles itself is a pioneer in the field of transportation solutions. It has been on highways, aerospace, and rocket propulsion for the past 100 years. It is not a surprise that Bird is a leader in the field of deepwater port and new space flight (SpaceX).
It can be said that Bird was born in Los Angeles is a natural thing.
That's why the best Los Angeles funds like Upfront, Greycroft, and B Capital Global all support Bird. With the experienced and capable founders of Travis and the top local executives like Paige Craig, we all believe that this team can perform a variety of strategies.
Why is an electric scooter? Why don't people ride a bicycle or walk?
This question is often raised.
Walking is of course good, I like to walk in Santa Monica, San Francisco and New York, but sometimes the destination is 1.6 miles away, I don't have much time to go back and forth.
With Uber and Lyft, traffic jams may occur, and there are no direct bus lines between the starting points. Electric scooters can solve this problem.
Every day, you may still be riding a local subway or light rail system, but electric scooters can provide the perfect "last mile" solution. If the spread is widened, it can also reduce traffic congestion and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Of course, I also like to ride a bicycle. But from the situation of Santa Monica, electric scooters are much better than bicycles in short trips (less than 3 miles). If you don't want to drive or take a bus, the best distance to use your bike should be greater than 5 miles. I often run into a situation where 50 birds are driving in 3 minutes.
I anticipate that similar scenarios will occur in many other cities when the electric scooter is fully deployed.
Consumers are already "voting with their feet."
Is the scooter safe? Shouldn’t you bring a helmet?
Birds and bicycle users should wear helmets, but bicycles have been fully integrated into our lives, so everyone turned a blind eye to the phenomenon of “riding a bicycle without wearing a helmet”.
But sharing a scooter is a new thing, so using a shared scooter without a helmet is more likely to attract attention.
Bird has already offered 30,000 helmets to users free of charge. Of course, Bird can't monitor all users wearing helmets. So far, there are still many people who don't wear them.
In addition, for user safety, Bird has limited the top speed to 15 mph.
to sum up
Undoubtedly, Bird not only created a new transportation field, but also inspired the imagination of users and investors. This huge success will attract many companies to compete with them, including Uber, which is unlikely to sit idly by.
I am optimistic about Bird's prospects, not only because of its gameplay innovation, but also because the Bird team knows where to focus.
With a valuation of billions of dollars from 0 in 18 months, Bird's performance is unprecedented. Even more rare is that Bird's revenue is increasing rapidly without paying for users.
Follow Me
Link:Tenco
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