Bird CEO: "Places where there are no laws, that's where we go"

If Travis VanderZanden absolutely wants to conquer the world, you'll never know it.

Unlike this other Travis – the former boss of veteran Uber (and Lyft), VanderZanden is happy to note – he's neither exuberant nor aggressive. The 39-year-old executive dressed in sneakers spoke at the top of Vanity Fair's new facility Tuesday on one of the dockless black-and-white electric scooters, with which his up-and-coming start-up Bird became virtually synonymous.

He hastened to smile, rare as a CNBC journalist (and Fortune alum) Julia Boorstin bombarded her with delicate questions. But VanderZanden was deeply reserved, never straying from his message, as he explained the ins and outs of a thriving Southern California business in his hometown of Santa Monica (despite a lively legal struggle), but that it was forbidden in the city where he resided. sitting right now: Beverly Hills.

"Cities just did not think about electric scooters when they adopted laws," VanderZanden said on stage at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center, adding that Bird would deploy them in the streets when There was nothing in the books that explicitly blocks the practice. "There are very few places that explicitly prohibit electronic scooters." Of course, Beverly Hills forbids them. And the most populous city in the United States, at the state level, also bars them – so Bird has "shunned" New York, the CEO said. But, he added: "The places where there are no laws, that's where we come in."

In May, Bird operated in five cities around the world. Now, in the second week of October, there are 100.

What comes first? Does Bird deploy his scooters, or is Bird working to make cities aware of unexpected service, as she claims? "It usually happens at the same time," VanderZanden said. The audience laughed. The CEO's eyebrows rose. "We always make sure to have a license to operate before we enter," he quickly added, with a smile. "We want to have a dialogue as soon as possible. If you wait, it can sometimes take too much time.

Whatever its local legality, Bird's activity has undeniably taken off. The company raised more than $ 400 million from a group of star-studded investors from Silicon Beach and Valley – his flock includes names such as Accel, Greycroft, Sequoia, Tusk and Upfront, among others – valuing the company at $ 2 billion. Perhaps even more telling, former VanderZanden employers joined the fray. Lyft deployed his own dockless electric scooters in Denver and Santa Monica, a clean shot at Bird's forefront. And Uber has rolled scooters called "Jump" to Santa Monica – kaboom! – and invested $ 335 million in Lime, whose lush scooters and bicycles clutter the palm-lined streets of Santa Monica and dozens of others in the United States.

"We were the first in the world to share the electric scooter and we started a little over a year ago," VanderZanden said of his heavyweight competition. "We are the most advanced in terms of supply chain and government relations."

It's easy to run 50 to 100 scooters in a city, he said. It's much more difficult to adapt to more than 100 cities like Bird. "Operationally, this activity is very different from that of Uber and Lyft," VanderZanden said. "It's a lot harder." You have to move the scooters around the city to put them first, reload them and fix them.

VanderZanden also disagrees with the view that Uber's and Lyft's existing customer base of several million people will pose a threat as much as it initially appears to be. Most people see a scooter on the street and then open the corresponding mobile app rather than the other way around. "We do not think that's the way things will evolve," said the CEO.

VanderZanden added, "Bird is a supply-constrained company." He prefers to spend more money on scooters than to fuel increased demand.

But Bird's mission is to replace cars – their low density, their carbon emissions – their nature. Forty percent of all car trips in a city are less than three miles; Imagine if these rides, with the exception of those needed to transport the kids or the grocery store, were done with the help of a scooter. "We basically think it's a better use of real estate," said VanderZanden.

Even if some people think that there are too many scooters cumbersome on the sidewalk? Boorstin asked. "What I see is cars everywhere," VanderZanden replied. "There are many more cars. For me, cars take a lot more space and create a lot more clutter.

It looks like your biggest competitors are Uber and Lyft, Boorstin said.

VanderZanden replied: "Our main competitors are car trips." And then he smiled again.

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