Why The $1 Electric Scooter Will TAKE OVER The World

And for all the young entrepreneurs out there, just realize that sometimes it's the most simple ideas that often do the best. I think we have the natural tendency just to overcomplicate things because we believe the more complicated something is, the better it's probably going to be because it's complicated. Not only that, but the more complicated something is, the more likely we are to deter competition. But with that, I think we should actually go the opposite approach and that the more simple ideas are often better because nobody thinks of them because they think that's too simple to do.

What's up, you guys? It's Graham here! So I like to think of myself not only as this YouTube real estate guy but also someone who appreciates investments and business trends in general. So when I see something that I think has potential, I figured I would share my opinion on it. This is something that I believe we're really at the beginning of that has the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry, and this, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: the electric scooter. Yes, seriously, the electric scooter.

Now, for those of you maybe living out of the country or living in a less densely populated area, you might be watching this video before even realizing that these scooters even exist. But exist they do, very well, especially in big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and now even Paris. They're even catching the interest in companies like Uber, who just made a very sizable investment in these companies succeeding.

So let's start here: what am I talking about? Well, these are electric scooters that are placed randomly throughout densely populated cities. If you come across one of these scooters, you walk up to it, you download the app, and then through that app, you scan the barcode and turn on the scooter for only one dollar. And then after that, it's only 15 cents for every minute that scooter is in use. You could pretty much use this as long as you want to. You can go wherever you want to go, and when you're done with it, you simply turn it off, leave it wherever you are, and walk away.

If you want to find one to ride, you simply download the app, see all the available scooters in your area, then go walk to one, turn it on, and it's yours. These scooters are equipped with GPS and that they could be traced no matter where they go. If someone tries to bring them too far without first turning them on, they have an alarm that goes off.

This is really such a simple concept that I didn't fully understand it until I tried it out myself firsthand. And once I did, I got it. I realized why these things are gonna be the next big thing because they're awesome! Not only can I get from point A to point B for cheaper than I can with an Uber, but it's just really, really fun. I've been in so many situations where I've called a six to ten dollar Uber just to go one to two miles away from where I am. This is a distance that to me is too far to walk, but with the scooter, I can get there in a few minutes at a cost from anywhere from one dollar and thirty cents to one dollar and seventy-five cents. And did I mention they're just really fun to use and cheaper than Uber? It's just a winning combination.

What seems like an overnight success, these scooters are dominating the LA market with almost like a cult-like following. These scooters are everywhere throughout Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Hollywood, and they're only just expanding. I have a feeling these scooters will be in every major city throughout the entire world in really just the next few years. Not only that, but the people who use them really love them, and every day more and more people are starting to use them. In turn, they're just understanding the appeal, and then they're like me and they tell other people about it. The more people use them, it just creates this upward cycle of this network effect where all of a sudden everyone is now using these. It's extremely convenient, it's really affordable, and it's just fun!

So fun in fact, the scooter company Lime has recently been valued at over 1.1 billion dollars. In addition to that, Uber also made a very sizable investment in their three hundred and thirty-five million dollar round of funding to invest in that company. With that, Uber intends to promote these scooters on their mobile app, which gets them just one step closer to interstellar domination. My thinking with this one is that Uber sees that these scooters could potentially take away from their business, so they may as well just invest in these scooter companies and claim a piece of their pie and diversify, which in my opinion is a very smart choice.

Honestly, the way I think about it for really short trips, between an Uber or scooter, I would pick the scooter. But don't think that Lime is the only scooter company doing this. There's another Los Angeles-based company called Bird, which is valued at approximately two billion dollars within one year. With this comes the rush to see who can dominate the market the fastest. The only ones who can move the mall you appeal to these companies' valuations is really within its network effect of how many people actually use it day-to-day. The more people that use it, the more valuable it becomes, and with that, the more self-sustainable it is.

Just like Uber pretty much has the monopoly on ride-sharing, inevitably there will be a battle between scooter companies to see who could scale the fastest, who can get the most users on their network, and who can get in the most cities as quickly as possible. Whoever comes out ahead victorious will really end up solidifying their business and poised to grow in a highly emerging market. Anytime you have a business like this coming up, it usually creates some very unique money-making opportunities, similar to Uber with its drivers, for instance.

With Bird scooters, you pretty much have the real-life version of Pokémon Go, where at night you go and locate these scooters, pick them up, charge them, and return them to predetermined locations. For every scooter you get and find, you get paid anywhere from $5 to $20. There was a really cool article I read recently that showed a high school student was able to clear six hundred dollars in one night going bird hunting for these scooters. Now, I'm sure as more people catch on to this and realize that they can actually make some pretty decent money by doing this, it's going to get more competitive, and with that, you're probably going to end up earning less money. But still, at this point, I think there's a huge opportunity for people out there who want to make a quick side hustle and maybe make some extra cash at night.

Who would have actually thought that this would have been a thing for real? That people can get paid for going on an app, locating scooters, bringing them back, charging them, and then returning them in the morning and getting paid for it and making up to $600 a night? Mind blown!

However, as simple of a concept as it is, it hasn't all been just smooth sailing. Many people have been against these scooters, claiming that people just leave them on the sidewalks and with that, they just obstruct the walkway. There's also a complaint that they are a danger to pedestrians walking down the street when you have a scooter whizzing right by you going 15 miles an hour. You shouldn't be riding these on the sidewalk, and also you should be wearing a helmet anytime you use these scooters.

They even recently received a cease-and-desist letter in Indianapolis to stop operations until they develop a more scooter-friendly framework for transportation. This almost reminds me of Uber's difficult time getting situated in the marketplace when they were up against taxi companies and also public transit, which generally sucks. Entrepreneurs were able to realize this and then solve the problem of getting from A to B as efficiently and cheaply as possible, just like with Airbnb, who went through something similar against the hotel industry because they were taking away business from people going to hotels.

They realized that houses and apartments are generally just more economical; they're better and they're cheaper. With that, there was a lot of regulation that needed to be worked out and fine-tuned, and that's still ongoing. But I have no doubt that Airbnb will only continue to grow from here, and with these scooters, inevitably it will be lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit until this gets worked out. But I do believe it will be worth it.

Well, it's definitely evident that there are many kinks that need to be worked out, just like there would be for any new emerging business. The rush to see who can dominate the market the fastest and gain as much traction as possible really forces these companies to act first, apologize later. Any delays in figuring this out could really be devastating for a company who's trying to grow as quickly as possible and outpace their competition.

So with that said, I think we should really keep an eye on these electric scooters because I really believe that this is an industry that's really just at the very beginning stages and is only going to grow bigger from here. Whether it's renting cars like on Turo or Uber, or renting houses and apartments like on Airbnb, or renting scooters, or maybe in the future, people rent out their driveway parking spaces or they rent out their electronics or just hardware tools or whatever it is, the sharing business model is definitely there.

So definitely keep an eye on this because I think we can look back five years from now and realize that we were there at the very beginning. For all the young entrepreneurs out there, just realize that sometimes it's the most simple ideas that often do the best. I think we have the natural tendency just to overcomplicate things because we believe the more complicated something is, the better it's probably going to be because it's complicated.

Not only that, but the more complicated something is, the more likely we are to deter competition. With that, I think we should actually go the opposite approach and that the more simple ideas are often better because nobody thinks of them because they think that's too simple to do. Now, obviously, besides the legal aspects of actually getting this up and running and being legal in cities, I'm excluding that. But the concept at its core is really just so straightforward and so easy, and it's because of that that I believe that these companies are going to be doing really well.

So if you're an entrepreneur out there and you're thinking of these cool ideas to implement, just know they don't need to be complicated; just make them very simple. The simpler they are, the more likely people are to understand it, and with that, the more likely people are to actually use it.

Also, again, I want to make it very clear: this video is not sponsored by any of these scooter companies. I don't get any incentives, I don't get any money, I don't get any perks, I'm not affiliated in any way with these companies. I don't do that with my videos. Anytime I make a video about something, it's because it's coming from a spot that I just naturally want to talk about it and share it with all of you guys watching, just so you know this.

I realize this whole thing might sound like a big sales pitch; it's not. It's just because I like the company, and I see the potential, and I figured why don't I just talk to a camera in my garage? So with that said, you guys, one quick favor: if you guys enjoy videos like this that are not on the topic of real estate, but more so business and entrepreneurship, and companies, make sure just to give this video a like. It gives me a good gauge of what you guys want to see more of, and obviously, the more likes I get on this video, the more I realize that, hey, you guys want to hear about this sort of stuff and it just makes me want to make more videos on this because they know you guys will enjoy it.

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