Whats the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Netherlands?
How does a company of four compete with the big players in the market?
I sat down with Tom at our recent TNW conference to find out.
Its all in the frame
The companys secret sauce is its locally made frame.
Its a great example of materials innovation.
This creates a strong and lightweight frame that is different from the typical tubular offerings.
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Creating a product locally is highly efficient for ease of prototyping and overseeing assembly.
Mokumono also gets green points for sourcing their other parts from throughout Europe, reducingtheir transport-relatedcarbon footprint.
We got a lot of emails, Are you guys willing to talk?
Crowdfunding thats actually not a scam
Ive written in the IoT space for over a decade.
B2C is a tough space for young companies to raise money to create hardware products.
Crowdfunding doesnt guarantee success.
Heck, I evenworked for a companythat desperately tried to make stuff happen and failed.
Then theres the scams.
Im looking at you,iFindandSkully.
(If youre cynical like me, I recommend you take a look atr/shittykickstartersfor some schadenfreude.)
But Mokumono stands out from the crowd by selling some seriously nice bikes.
Im too short to ride one (FML), but they come in three sizes.
It offers a battery range of 60 kilometers.
A full charge takes two hours.
The Delta C is a couple of kilos lighter and enables riders to sit semi-upright.
Thats why Mokumono focuses on making their designs more modular.
Someones success is not someone elses loss.
Thats a big thing to focus on, especially with investors that are used to internet stories.
Thats not how consumer products work.
Youre not always fighting for the exact same customers.
And they can live next to each other or in one household.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to start their own ebike company?
Its a super interesting market right now.
I would tell you to focus on finding your own niche, and then create your own story.
Watch this space for more news.
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Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
