That Hoverboard Thingy

I bought one of those “Hoverboard Thingies” last week. It is the most viral physical product I have ever seen, everyone is so intrigued by it. Riding around San Francisco, I have seen so many necks turn and gotten asked so many questions, here are some answers:

Is it hard to ride?

At first, yes. The first few minutes you are going to want to hold onto someone or something to make sure you don’t fall. After 5-10 minutes though, almost everyone seems to get the hang of it and ride without assistance

Where can you ride them?

Anywhere! There are no rules for them yet! So I ride mine on the sidewalk, in the street, at work, the gym, even at bars.

What is that thing called?

I don’t know. I call it a Hoverboard, just because it sounds cool. There is not one company making them, there are multiple. IO Hawk and Phunkeeduck are the two leaders of the pack. IO Hawk’s sell for $1800 and are backordered until next month. Phunkeeduck’s sell for $1500. Both are exactly the same, produced from the same factory in China.  My Errover costs less than $400 with a 2 year warranty from Amazon, and it is exactly the same thing.

If you could buy the same thing with a warranty less than ? of the price, how are IO Hawk’s backordered?

Branding. A couple years from now we are going to be reading about this in a Harvard Case Study. This is a completely new, completely viral technology--something as groundbreaking as the computer or cell phone. All these companies are trying to become the Kleenex of the hoverboard. Kleenex is a brand name turned into a noun, so is Band-Aid, Frisbee, and Q-Tips (see the whole list here). When I am riding in the street, they want people to say “Look at that IO Hawk” instead of “Look at that Hoverboard Thingy”.

It is the first viral, ground breaking product to come out in the Social Media Age. I first saw it in April on Justin Bieber’s Instagram (Yes, I follow Biebs on Instagram). In his first post about it, he he shouts out IO Hawk. About a week later he posts this, shouting out Phunkeeduck. All 39.7 Million of his followers freak out, wondering what this new toy is called and wanting to get the one he has.

From there it turns into an arms race sponsoring celebrities for IO Hawk and Phunkeeduck.  Kendall jenner “Got too cocky” on a Phunkeeduck and got 1 Million likes

J.R. Smith rode on into Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Jamie Foxx rode one on the Jimmy Fallon Show

Wiz Khalifa got handcuffed for riding one at the airport

...And unless you live under a rock you've seen these somewhere

I met Soulja Boy in July at a tradeshow I was at for FEAT. He and his whole entourage were riding Soulja Boards (He was actually on a Soulja Board in the picture above). He is the first smart person with a huge following who instead of accepting the free board these companies sent him, started his own. Soulja Boards sell for $1,500, and I’m pretty sure he’s made at least a few hundred grand of profit off it.

Still, I’ve been riding for a week, and had hundreds of people talk to me about the board, and not once have the words IO Hawk or Phunkeeduck or any other brand name been mentioned. All I have heard is that “Hoverboard Thingy” or “Segway with no handlebars”


What is the solution?

Sacrifice the profit margin to become the name. A company needs to see the long-term value of being the Kleenex of the “Hoverboard Thingies”.  After doing some research, you can buy these in bulk for about $100/unit. Sell them at $200-$300, have smaller margins but push insane volume.

All you will need is:

1. At least 100k in startup capital to get the bulk wholesaling pricing for 100 units to start
2.  A catchy name. IO Hawk is not sexy enough, Phunkeeduck is cool but spelled a little too “funky.” Some names I like are “Hoverboard”, “Roller”, and “Scooty”.
3. A celebrity. You’ll need some people pushing it on their social media accounts to advertise it.
   Incentivize the celebrity with equity and/or naming the product. Imagine if JB started posting about a “Bieber Board” priced at $300. So many people will buy that, and eventually “That Hoverboard Thingy” will be called a “Bieber Board” and sell even more.

You can raise the money, you have a catchy name, and you have access to celebrities and people with big followings, why don’t you do it?

I truly believe these are the transportation of the future, and that a company like this has SO much potential. I have a great thing going now at LinkedIn and making socks, but I’d love to chat with anyone interested in starting something like this!

Thanks for reading my post. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to me. Also, if you are in the Bay Area and want to try out riding on the “hoverboard thingy,” reach out to me! You can reach me at [email protected]