Elbify: "We Focus On What We Do Best."

Describe Elbify in 50 words or less.

Elbify is a premium, electric folding e-bikes manufacturer. We deliver stylish products with the world’s best User Experience.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

We want to be part of the revolution that is changing the way we live, leaving our footsteps in tomorrow’s society. We want to see our products changing the way people move around cities: commuting to work can be fun and we want to be one of the reason of that fun. We want to see what we have imagined becoming reality: it’s not the fame nor the money the driver. It’s passion for doing something changing life in better, and bringing a smile to everyday life.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

We hit the milestone of 1 milion circulating folding e-bikes; car companies, after trying to buy Elbify out, without success, have exited the 2 wheels world. Elbify has also started developing long range 3-wheelers that are used for longer trips and have a reduced cost compared to cars. These have become very popular for families, as they have 4 seats. In certain markets Elbify is offered to the general public with a 50€/mo. subscription fee, as sponsors can advertise on these e-bikes in realtime: JBDecaux has got the exclusive deal but Elbify has the right to refuse some advertisers, and police is using Elbify vehicles to patrol metro areas.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

The answer is focus: we focus on what we do best and we take the best available for the rest. We keep on innovating and improving around User Experience: this is our motto. We listen to what people say and provide superior support. Every customer is an ambassador and has to be treated as such: we try to make their requests into future improvements.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

We are dynamic: no fixed hours, no fixed places, a sparse team always connected and able to meet deadlines in advance. We use technology to speed up and control processes (we don’t want technology to own our lives) and we want our crew members to have a life outside the office. We like to have meetings in open spaces, we need to be close to the people who are – and will be – our customers so we spend time in evaluating that, which means a lot of time is spent cycling around, talking, exchanging and sharing.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

The founders crew have invested their own resources up to now; from now on we are looking for partners to improve the speed of our development and take our first product on the market within this year. We are determined to go on, so financing will just allow our team to grow bigger and get results faster.

What kind of investor are you looking for?

Best case scenario: somebody understanding that the market we are addressing is huge and jumping in! We don’t face problems in being recognized for our team, our product/s, our strategy. I am improving my communication and presentation techniques to present our business case to people out of the bike and e-bike market to show that this is the place to be. And that we are early starters with many competitive advantages, making us unique. I’m on track, it’s just a matter of time.

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

The hardest part was convincing my first partners and founders that:

e-bikes are really cool (many just linked e-bike to some crappy and cheap low quality Far East bicycles seen in some shopping center
that there are some really cool e-bikes but they all lack of transportability and
that we can make the best folding e-bike in the world, and the one with the best user experience.

When they decided to be part of Elbify everything started going super smooth so the next challenge is convincing investors…but this is another story.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

We started early. We started making a new bike around the person: transportability is part of that User Experience that is central in a folding e-bike, especially when you aim at delivering the Best (UX).

We have a vision (and a clear roadmap) of what will be the future development of our first product. At the same time even if most of us are engineers, we are used to adapt to these fast changing markets: we always have a second way to pursue if we see that we need to change something because of market or competition.

What do you look for in team members?

Passion, collaboration, critical positivity, new ideas, attitude towards transformation.

Each team member has to know team targets and has to reach his own individual targets: these targets are discussed together with all team members. Your success and failures are team success and failures. This is what we value most.

Why would a talent join your team?

Because heor she believes in what we are doing and is thrilled by being part of an exceptional team.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

When I received the news that our Elbi P1 was awarded the German Design Award 2016 for Exceptional
Design: apart being proud of such strong acknowledgement Germany is also the biggest market for e-bikes so the GDA has a special value. I have to say a big thank you to our Head of Design and co-founder Paavo Pietola who is the one behind the design and as well the one who decided to apply for GDA. I hope this will be the first of a long series. Thank you Paavo!

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Be passionate about what your are doing and find passionate people to join you as co-founders: especially when things go wrong or there are problems and delays, passion will be the linking force to keep you solid and allowing you to reach your objectives. Dream and try to make your dreams come true: explain your vision and if other don’t see it the way you do, pass over till you find your fellow dreamer. Success doesn’t always come so be prepared to learn from mistakes, make your own mistakes to start again, better.