UrmO

Why did you start your start-up, which problem do you address and how do you solve it?

We founded UrmO to make urban transport of the future more sustainable, easier and funnier. We think that in the cities of the future there will be much less individual cars and a lot of other vehicles, like scooters for individual use or more public transport.

We strongly believe in intermodal mobility and our goal is to combine different means of transport as efficiently as possible.

How did you get the idea to start your start-up?

We have always thought that electric cars are the future (in some cases they really are!) Then we realized that it is still no fun to get stuck in traffic, even if it is emission-free. Also, electric cars still can't cover most very short distances, for example to and from public transport. We then tried to build the best electric vehicle for short distances as our first product.

What is special about your business model, what do you do differently?

We have a completely new product for a relatively young market. Thanks to its small size, it can be folded up and taken anywhere and can also be stowed away. This enables new applications, both shared and own: if the product is shared, sharing providers can get rid of the expensive recharging that is necessary for normal scooters. With our product, they can easily use small charging stations in shops or rental cars to charge the devices.

What were the biggest challenges you had to overcome at the beginning?

Building a great team. Finding people for your start-up is easy. Finding great people with passion, knowledge and a good personal fit is a challenge not to be underestimated. Especially when it comes to finding co-founders, as they are probably the most valuable asset in your start-up.

What was the most valuable advice someone gave you during your start-up phase?

Never take it.

What has been your greatest success so far?

Our biggest success so far was our 2018 kickstart campaign, which raised around $200,000, which is a great result considering the planned time to delivery and the high price (for crowdfunding) of the product.

What is the next challenge for you?

As with any new product, the transition from prototyping to larger scale production is a big challenge as new processes need to be defined, the supply chain needs to be managed and people need to be hired for assembly. Instead of going to Asia, we assemble the vehicle close to our Munich office, so we can closely monitor the process and quickly take countermeasures if problems arise. This guarantees a smooth process and quality products.

What would you recommend to other founders?

Try to build a first prototype as soon as possible. Even though this may seem difficult and expensive for a hardware start-up, there are countless possibilities (Makerspaces, Fablabs, etc.) that can help you to build a first prototype quickly and cost-effectively. A prototype makes it much easier to talk successfully to customers, investors, etc.

What has really gone wrong since the foundation?

We got carried away by some of our visions of the future and once tried to attach wings to our UrmO. That didn't work out so well, so we are back to ground-based transport - for now ;-)

Let's assume you are mayor of Munich for one day, what would you change?

We would definitely move our office to where the Munich building and traffic authority is. The transition to sustainable urban mobility requires a change in the design of streets, cycle paths and pavements. A close connection to the traffic authorities would help to speed up these things!