Inboard – Disrupting Urban Transportation | Ryan Evans

 

About Ryan Evans

Ryan Evans is the CEO and Co-founder of Inboard Technology. Ryan has always liked being outside, action sports, and business. When the opportunity to came to start Inboard, he jumped at the chance to build his career on these three passions.

Ryan and his friend, Theo Cerboneschi, founded Inboard Technology in 2014 and raised their goal of $100,000 on Kickstarter in just 48 hours. Their company has built the first electric skateboard in the world with in-wheel motors. They call their flagship product, the M1 and are launching it globally in January 2017.

Prior to founding Inboard, Ryan was the Vice President of Association of Wind & Water Sports Industries (AWSI), the President of the North America division of Pure Action Sports, as well as a sales rep for Best Kiteboarding and a Kiteboarding coach for REAL Watersports.

 

Interview Transcript:

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Ryan Evans. He is the co founder and the CEO inboards. Ryan welcome to today’s show.

Ryan
Alex, great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Alan
So Ryan, for viewers or listeners out there, can you tell us some background of, you know, from from your educational experience, and it’s your first company that you’ve done? Yeah, yeah.

Ryan
So I grew up in Chicago, in the Midwest and went to school there. And I was always into team sports, you know, baseball, soccer, football. But I always loved action, sports, snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing. And so when I was in university, I just had this draw to travel abroad and went to school in New Zealand. And you know, I jokingly say that, you know, that really radicalized me into action sports, I love business. But I also love being outside really kind of pushing myself. And so after graduating from university, I decided to kind of marry the two. And I went full time into the kiteboarding industry, actually. So I started out kiteboard coaching all over the world, and then from there, got into sales, and then from there, got into management, got sponsored by a company, traveled the world for a while, and then ended up ended up working for the company, as the President of their North American operations, really doing a lot more of the kind of hands on business development. And so it was the perfect marriage of, you know, my love for kind of pushing things in the outdoor world, but also challenging myself in the business landscape. And so that’s kind of what led me to where I am today, with Inboard.

Alan
Now is important, your first company, then I guess, yeah. And then in between the behind the inspiration, what made you decide, I want to jump out of my job kiteboard. And, and and go move this forward? Was it was it with a partner initially, or what was the?

Ryan
I love the action sports industry, it’s really fun and engaging, amazing people. But the general consensus is that you’re giving up some salary so that you can, you know, take part in that amazing lifestyle. And that’s great for a period of time. And after a while, you’re like, I kind of want to make that extra money. I loved action sports, but my favorite thing was applying technology to it and really kind of enhancing that experience. And so my current business partner, Theo Serban, Su, brilliant mechanical engineer from France, he was flying drones back in 2008 2009, really, before they were popular, and we kind of created a strong friendship bow, you know, kind of applying drones to action sports. So surfing, filming ourselves surfing and all these cool things that we could do. So whenever there was a new product or a new technology, and we were like, Hey, this is a new application for how we could use it. You know, we really kind of celebrated that. And so when Theo came up with the idea for the manta drive technology, or in wheel motor that pushes our electric skateboard, the first time I saw it, and got to experience it. Immediately. I knew that this was for us. It really was that kind of perfect, perfect marriage of business technology and the sport that we love.

Alan
Yeah. What year was this for you actually started with the the idea and then proof of concept.

Ryan
It was April 2014, Theo had been building electric skateboards for about three or four years already using external belt motors. And there are huge pros to it, you had a lot of power very easily. But there was also a lot of cons. It never really felt like skateboarding. But the kind of skateboarding that we really loved, where you’re able to just kind of push and go, you always felt a bit of a kind of drag from that drive train. And so we just knew from our background, that we really like the aesthetics of really beautiful surfboards of the refinement and kind of how your technology is really best when it’s the least you know, when it’s really a reductive process and that development. And so we really wanted to kind of go into this new emerging market of rideable, you know, these new lightweight electric vehicles with that same kind of ideology. How can we make something that’s really really beautiful, really, technologically advanced, but at the same time, simple?

Alan
And then the why don’t why don’t we hold up for the listeners, or the viewers of the skateboard and maybe go through some of this here. So you have basically this is this is the inboard Yep, this is it right here. And the inboard actually has headlights and a taillight on a equivalent of like a longboard.

Ryan
Exactly, exactly. So it’s, it’s a Longboard skateboard deck shape. And the big USP is that we’ve actually put the motor inside this wheel here. So it’s the smallest in wheel electric motor that is this powerful in the world. And we designed every component of this from scratch. And so you can control the board using this remote. So you’ve got a safety switch in the front that you hold, and then you just push forward to accelerate forward and you pull back to break. And so this really changes the way that people can get around an urban area, it only weighs 14 pounds. So you can really easily get in the back of an Uber or take into a restaurant or a bar. And it still allows you to have the kind of distance at a 10 mile range and the speed 20 miles an hour to get around an urban area pretty quickly. So we kind of put this in the same classes and electric bike, it’s way lighter about a fifth of the weight weighs 14 pounds versus 55 or 60. It gives you a 10 mile range which is comparable to most electric bikes and gives you a top speed of 20 miles an hour, which is really pretty solid. So we tried to think about, you know, what’s a product that really anybody can use, which really has a global issue of transportation. And the one thing that we’ve all wanted is how can I take that transportation with me? How can I have something that’s always on demand, always convenient. And that was really kind of the inception for it, I would be walking around my university when I was in college. And I think, Man, if only I had a way to get from the bottom of this hill to the top and get to that bus stop, but I didn’t want to carry a bike with me all the time. The buses during the kind of peak hours of the day were way too congested and packed to be able to take a bike on. And so you know, I just walked everywhere. My business partner Theo had a similar problem when his bike was stolen and just University three times in a row. And that’s when he really said, You know what, I’ve got these extra drone motors laying around for the drones that were flying. And he applied them to the skateboard. And that’s really how things started.

Alan
Right, and I need to take a quick break. Yeah. And we’ll be right back after these messages and busy here today with Ryan Evans, who’s the CEO and co founder of inboard. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back and visiting here day with Ryan Evans. He is the co founder and the CEO of inboard. It’s a inboard Skate Company, a longboard motorized. And in the first segment, we talked about how you got started in on this, but you’re now starting production. Yeah, how’s it going?

Ryan
So, you know, you go through these different phases of, you know, kind of founding a company and as the business grows and develops, so, prototyping and kind of pre manufacturing is one really exciting. But when you go into manufacturing, that’s really kind of playing with the big leagues now. So for us it was designing every component with that in mind is how can we build a product that’s only beautiful and really refined, but also modular, so it’s easy to fix and replace, and you have to think about how you’re going to manufacture and assemble it. So we’ve been working with a phenomenal contract manufacturing partner. And this allows us to focus on what we do best, which is design, engineering, marketing, and that repetitive process of consistently building a quality product, we’re going to trust one of the best manufacturers in the world with it. So that gives us a lot of flexibility to focus on what we do best, which is create awesome products.

Alan
As you rolling this out. How are you handling with the handling the logistics with the demands? Are you getting a lot of calls saying, hey, I want one of those things?

Ryan
Yeah, the demand has been off the charts. So you always got to hope for the best. But you also have to prepare for the best. Because you know, having a lot of demand, that’s a lot of responsibility to your customers. So we did a Kickstarter last year where we sold just under half a million dollars in product. Since then we’ve continued to sell on our website, a few 1000 boards directly. So we’re actually at our capacity limit for this year. And now we’re moving to a batch style ordering program where customers are ordering for a month batch in the future. So right now it’s for January 2017. And once we fill that up, we’ll move on to February. Beyond that, we’re kind of unique in that we focused on building the product for global distribution. So in January, we begin fulfilling to our distributing partners internationally. So by end of January, February 2017, you’ll be able to find the M one, which is our flagship board, and almost every retail store and every major kind of action sports retail store in the world.

Alan
That’s a huge cost trying to launch a product internationally. Yeah. And so, you know, what are some of the things that as an entrepreneur, and business owner, you walk through, you know, do we do we focus on certain market first? Or do we just go for the whole enchilada? Yeah.

Ryan
So you know, we spent quite a bit of time really focusing on you know, kind of pioneering these new systems. So our in wheel motor, that technology that we call Manta drive, you know, we develop you were the first to have it. So that takes you a bit longer to get to market. So I think it’s some regards, you know, we’re kind of catching up, had we kind of gone with, you know, less new technologies, we might have been able to get out sooner. But the benefit is that we’ve got a huge global demand, and that we really want to be able to satiate that. And, you know, kind of looking at the market, you know, it’s a global problem of transportation, we’ve got a global solution. And so we really feel that you know, one of the companies that is really kind of first to have that global presence, that global support is really going to be the company that really probably does the best. So that’s really our focus is how can we meet the demands of our European customers or your American customers, Southeast Asia and even South America, the demands been really, really high. But that puts a lot of responsibility on us to do it right and until Make sure that we’re very thoughtful and methodical about the way that we do it. And the great thing is we’ve got an amazing team, our chief of operations has worked with some of these big contract manufacturers before, I’ve got a really extensive background in sales and distribution. So it’s kind of making sure that you’ve got the right partners, and then doing everything kind of together.

Alan
When you’re looking at the the customer base, who is the target for on the board.

Ryan
So I think, you know, the interesting thing right now is it’s a skateboard. And so people kind of automatically assume, Oh, it’s for maybe 18, to mid 30 year olds, it’s a higher price point. So you know, people who maybe are business professionals, and well, that’s definitely part of our demographic, it actually skews a lot higher as well. Right now, our main demographic is 35 to 55. They’re kind of early adopters, you know, tech innovators. And they’re buying this product, because they see it as both something that they can use recreationally to get around on the weekend and have fun, but also something that’s gonna allow them to get around in their daily lives, whether they live in San Francisco, or New York, or Berlin. And this is a nice lightweight form of transportation to get around. So as we’ve kind of continued to develop the product, we’re going to see price deflation, so you know, 999 product, and in a few years, probably 699 price points. And that’s when you open up the college and kind of the high school kids. But even more than that, Alan, we really look at this as kind of like a base set of features, you got a motor, a battery, and an electronics. And as you put those into different form factors, you have things with handles, things with seats, you can put into a wheelchair, or you can put into a child product, all of a sudden your demographic becomes, you know, pretty much everybody in the world. And that’s where we’re really kind of see this, this going. And we think about the market and the development of these products. It’s really about how people get around, not how you know, a certain category gets around.

Alan
And visiting here today with Ryan Evans, and he is the co founder and the CEO of inboard. And we’ve been talking about his new product. The M one is an inline skateboard and Ryan, I need to take a quick break, and we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Ryan Evans. And we’ve been talking about his new product, the M one. He’s the CEO and co founder of inboard. And Ryan when we were in the last segment, Palin, you talked about rideable technologies. What is a rideable technology?

Ryan
That’s great question. And it’s somewhat you have strange to be part of such a new product category. Because you’re like checking with other people. Is this what we’re calling it? Is that what other people are calling it. But a few years ago, a few journalists came out about these new lightweight electric skateboards and how they weren’t just skateboards, but people were calling them lightweight vehicles, electric vehicles. And once that started, they started to really kind of understand that shorter bikes, bikes that weigh you know, 3555 pounds, especially electric bikes, there’s a huge new benefit when you can take a product with you that’s very lightweight, so smaller than a bike. And so they started calling all these lightweight electric vehicles that were under 25 pounds rivals. And some of the rivals that you’ll see today are hoverboards, these two wheeled self balancing scooters that don’t really hover. So that was a rideable that this past year, in November and December and Christmas really blew up both figuratively and literally with their battery fires. So that was a writable. But it was relatively slow at a top speed about four or five miles an hour, it was on the heavier side as well. They weigh about 25 pounds. And then you’ve got other radicals like scooters, electric scooters, that have a motor inside their wheel or a belt drive, they’ve got a handle. So some for some people, they’re a little bit easier to use. And then you’ve got electric skateboards, and a whole bunch of new form factors as well one wheels with a big center wheel where if you lean forward, they accelerate, you know, wheels that go between your feet, almost like a like a unicycle, but with no seat on them, you just stand and go. But the bigger thing is that you know, there’s a huge demand, growing demand and kind of awareness for vehicles that allow you to get from the train station to your place of business or to your home or your apartment when you live in urban areas. And even for people who live in suburban areas. They like nice ways to get around so they don’t have to walk across a big expensive parking lot. And the reason that rivals are becoming such a new market today is because of the advancements in some of the motor technology thanks to drones thanks to the rise of electric vehicles. And really, the new battery packs the new lithium ion battery cell ELS that are actually very safe when you look at the volume of cells that are out there. But there has to be a renewed and continued focus on those as well. So it’s an exciting category because as it continues to expand, it’s really going to meet every person’s needs in the world, whether you’re a child and you want to get get irritable, that you literally sit and ride on almost like a power wheel that we grew up with as kids all the way up to mobility products for the disabled, or the elderly.

Alan
You know, the the you talk about the battery pack, yeah. And, and Samsung with their Galaxy had some issues, and also the hoverboard, you know, how do you address? How do you dress what you’re doing with the battery pack versus with these other, these other sets so that you’re not making the same mistake?

Ryan
Yeah, I think what it comes down to is self policing, when you’re a company, you’ve got a responsibility to your shareholders, to your customers, and safety is paramount to all those, it’s in everybody’s best interest. You know, if we’d spent a lot of money and time and energy to build the best battery pack that we can, and that’s what we did. We’re gonna see, you know, good sales from that. But if one of our competitors doesn’t do that, and it creates, you know, lack of confidence in this industry, that hurts us. And so what we want to do is work with our competitors to work with other providers in this market to make sure that they’re doing their best as well. And I think as long as we all kind of look at each other, for best practices, rather than the lowest common denominator, I think we’ll be alright. But that’s it, you really need to have a collective focus as an industry. And those are some of the things that we’re working towards right now. rideable since a young new industry, but we’re already working to create a trade organization, so that we can communicate and you know, you know, share these best practices.

Alan
So we talk about legal and safety challenges, which ones have you run into so far?

Ryan
So, you know, some of them have been, you know, how do you classify this product, that’s it, you know, it’s it’s not a skateboard. It’s not really a sporting good product, it’s really a vehicle. But at the same time, it’s not a car or a moped. So this is a challenge for municipalities for states for any kind of regulator. And so for us, it’s all about how can we work with the regulator to make sure that we’re creating a very open and accessible environment, not only for the adoption of these products, but just the growth of this new industry. And when you talk to assembly members, Congressmen, you know, local boards, they’re very, very, like receptive to this new technology, they realize that, you know, we’re solving some of the pain points of the of the biggest cities in the world, and the biggest pain points parking, public transportation, and it’s over congested Ness, pollution. These are things that these products really solve. And so you know, for one in California, we just this past year passed a bill called AB 604. That made rideable these lightweight electric vehicles in the same classification as electric bikes. So as long as you have a helmet on, you have lights at night, and you have a top speed of around 20 miles an hour, you can go anywhere a bike can go. And that’s really where we see the adoption of this new category.

Alan
You know, when you’re on one of these, how stable are they?

Ryan
So I think that’s the amazing thing. We’re taking so much new technology, stuff that wasn’t even possible five years ago. And we’re putting it into a relatively old form factor a skateboard. And so when most people look at a skateboard, they think tricks they think dangerous. And what we’ve created is something that’s easy to use, and very safe. And so you can create a lot of stability, just by tuning some of the components of the board that we’ve made it very easy to do. And in fact, we actually have a mobile app that you can download on your phone. And you can set different modes. So beginner mode with a top speed of eight miles an hour, and very slow acceleration all the way to that advanced mode where you can go 20 miles an hour, and how long does the battery last. So it depends on the rider weight. And also you know how steep the hills you’re going up and down are. The board has regenerative braking, which means as you slow down or go down a hill that actually charges at the battery, but you’re looking at around a seven to 10 mile range for your average kind of person. And in the average kind of city. You know.

Alan
We’re talking about over the brake the going downhill. There’s a nice feature with this.

Ryan
Yeah, it’s funny you if you give it to an existing skateboarder, you know the thing that they love is the motor. But if you give it to somebody who’s a novice, or maybe apprehension towards a skateboard, when they try the product for the first time, they light up because of the brake. Because for so long skateboards were not something they were in control of it gave them anxiety, because once you start going too fast, how do you stop, but the ability to control not only your acceleration, but the braking, especially down hills, it gives you a lot more confidence. And when you’re more confident, you’re more comfortable. And when you’re comfortable. You progress. And so what we’re seeing is just about 60% of our customers are not skateboarders the people who’ve always or maybe liked the idea of it, but never thought it was something for them.

Alan
So Ryan, if I wanted to get one of these skateboards, how would you go about that?

Ryan
So right now we’re selling it on inboard technology.com. That’s our website and we’re selling them globally. So anybody in the world can go on and preorder one today. If you order one today, we’re going to be shipping them in January 2017. And starting in January 2017, we’ll be able to, you ship them on demand. So if you place an order today, they’ll ship the following day. And then what are these running? No, it’s 1003 99. So the way that we kind of position it as an alternative to an electric bike or you know that monthly car payment over the course of a year, you would have you know, an M one. So if you want to live in an urban area for yourself from a parking spot payment every month and you know, a car payment, this is a great alternative.

Alan
I’m visiting here today with Ryan Evans. He’s the CEO and the co founder of inboard technologies and, and in Bryan electric. Thank you for being on today’s show. And this looks like an exciting project and I wish you all

Ryan
Thanks, Alan. Really appreciate it.

 

We hope you enjoyed this interview; “Inboard – Disrupting Urban Transportation | Ryan Evans”.

To receive our free newsletter, contact us here.

Subscribe our YouTube Channel for more updates.

This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

Alan L. Olsen, CPA, Wikipedia Bio

 

 

GROCO.com is a proud sponsor of The American Dreams Show.

 

The American Dreams show was the brainchild of Alan Olsen, CPA, MBA. It was originally created to fill a specific need; often inexperienced entrepreneurs lacked basic information about raising capital and how to successfully start a business.

Alan sincerely wanted to respond to the many requests from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for the information and introductions they needed. But he had to find a way to help in which his venture capital clients and friends would not mind.

The American Dreams show became the solution, first as a radio show and now with YouTube videos as well. Always respectful of interview guest’s time, he’s able to give access to individuals information and inspiration previously inaccessible to the first-time entrepreneurs who need it most.

They can listen to venture capitalists and successful business people explain first-hand, how they got to where they are, how to start a company, how to overcome challenges, how they see the future evolving, opportunities, work-life balance and so much more.

MyPaths.com (Also sponsored by GROCO) provides free access to content and world-class entrepreneurs, influencers and thought leaders’ personal success stories. To help you find your path in life to true, sustainable success & happiness.  I’s mission statement:

In an increasingly complex and difficult world, we hope to help you find your personal path in life and build a strong foundation by learning how others found success and happiness. True and sustainable success and happiness are different for each one of us but possible, often despite significant challenges.

Our mission at MyPaths.com is to provide resources and firsthand accounts of how others found their paths in life, so you can do the same.