We were building, selling, traveling - constantly in motion. But at some point, it hit us: we were never going to be serial producers of electric bikes. It was just too expensive. We didn’t have that kind of capital, and the market was brutal. For me, that was hard to accept. I didn’t want to hear it. I had put so much of myself into these machines.
There were arguments - some professional, some personal. That part still stings. The truth is, I didn’t want to switch lanes. I loved building connected vehicles. I wanted to lead in that space. But eventually I realized… maybe the bikes were never the final product. Maybe they were just the showcase. We started building custom bikes for specific clients, and that worked better. We could charge more. Make each one count.
And then - it clicked!
The most valuable part wasn’t the bike. It was the technology inside it. So I named it IoTaaP - Internet of Things as a Platform. It was our brain. Our smart layer. I started thinking… what if we built a platform around it, to help others connect their devices easily? That pivot worked. We won competitions, picked up early projects, and even closed our first angel investment. More headlines. More TV. It felt like we were going somewhere again.
But here’s the part I didn’t see coming: I didn’t have a clear vision of the product. We started circling. I kept pushing. I didn’t want to admit we were drifting. I burned out without realizing it. I started losing friends. And loved ones. All because I was chasing something I couldn’t fully define - not even to myself. And if I couldn’t explain it, how could I expect clients to see it? People fall into that trap.
I still believe the product was good, just not focused. We didn’t know how to sell it, market it, niche it down. Today, there are platforms doing the same thing, funded by VCs, corporates, with teams of 50. So no - it wasn’t a bad idea. It was bad execution. And the cost of that wasn’t just financial. It was personal.
